Water Play with Toddlers

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What is Water Play?

Water play is using any form of water to play with. A lot of the time the children won’t even realise they’re doing any learning as it just seems like fun to them! However, there are so many skills they could be practising: turn-taking, measuring, pouring, problem-solving, gravity, concentration, motor skills, squeezing, stirring and the list goes on.

Why is Water Play So Important?

Water play is so important for kids as it allows them to practise a lot of skills without even realising it. The benefits of water play are immense.

Water play can also be a tool for teaching children about how to be safe in and around water.

How Do I Keep My Toddler Safe Around Water?

Toddlers and people in general can drown in just an inch of water so it is vital that we either teach them the rules of safety around water, or we keep a sensible adult with them at all times when there is water around.

Swimming Pool Safety for Toddlers

Swimming pools will have ratios of adults to children which must be followed.

It may be necessary for your toddler to wear armbands or a buoyancy belt and use floats or pool noodles. Always stay within an arm’s length of your toddler when in the pool with them.

We bought our girls swim vests which provide an extra layer of warmth while in the pool.

Alive Solutions conducted an experiment to see which colour of swimsuit was more visible in a swimming pool and the results for some colours were shocking. See the full results here with an image.

The results showed that white and light blue swimsuits disappeared in the water making the child very difficult to see. The winners were bright neon colours like pink and orange which made the child much more visible in the water and therefore easier to spot if they went under.

Bath Safety for Babies and Toddlers

Make sure the water is at a suitable temperature before putting your child in the water.

Do not have anything hot, dangerous or breakable on the edge of the bath as your child may try to get it.

Only fill the bath 1/4 full. It is easier to catch a baby and stop their head from going in the water if they slip over in less water.

When your toddler is in the bath, always stay in the room with them. Don’t pop out for a minute or even a second.

Why not also take a look at my blog post about bath time here?

Get everything ready before you put them in the bath: towels, flannels, nappy, clothes, toys etc.

Information from the NHS can be found here.

Are Toddlers Allowed in Hot Tubs?

Toddlers and young children under the age of five should not go into hot tubs due to prolonged exposure to warm temperatures which is not good for temperature regulation in their bodies and can lead to dehydration. See advice here.

What Water Activities Can I Do With My Toddler?

Bath Time – Water play at bath-time can make a chore into fun. Adding fun toys and bath books into the bath can add excitement to what can essentially be quite a boring task.

Swimming – this can be a swimming lesson or a family splash session. It will help build your child’s confidence in and around larger pieces of water.

Splash Pad – We love going to splash pads when the weather is beautiful. With your toddler, it’s worth seeing whether any splash pads near you are open during the week as they tend to be quieter than on weekdays or in school holidays as the big kids will be in school. Splash pads are loads of fun, running through sprinklers and paddling with other kids.

Water Tray – Provide your kids with a tray of water and any toys of theirs which are suitable for water. It could be their plastic jungle animals or a play tea set and let them play with them in the water tray. The tray could be a baking tray like a swiss roll tin or rectangular pyrex dish or it could be a Tuff Tray where your child can also sit in the shallow water.

Melting Ice – Make some large ice cubes or freeze plastic animals in water and let your kids try to melt the ice with warm water and different tools for hacking away at it. We did this with frozen plastic spiders for Hallowe’en. There are loads of toys and items you could freeze for your kids to rescue from the ice.

Flower Potions – Collect some fresh flowers and pop them in some water for your kids to make potions with. Provide mixing bowls, jugs and spoons.

Filling & Transferring – Collect different kinds of pots, watering cans, funnels and bottles and let your child pour and fill to their heart’s content. You could make the water bubbly by adding bath bubbles or coloured by using liquid food colouring. Washing-up liquid isn’t advised due to its harshness on skin.

Sinking and Floating – Explore floating and sinking with different items. Can they predict what each item will do? See whether they’re right or wrong.

Water Fight – Pick a nice day and have a water fight with buckets of water, sponges, water bombs and sprinklers. Just make sure you do it where the floor doesn’t get too slippy so grass is good for this and wear appropriate clothes or have spares.

Lemons & Limes in Water – I chopped up a lemon and we looked at what it looked like inside. We then saw how it floated and how it smelt and tasted when squeezed. You could do this with different fruit. It then turned into making “tea” for everyone with the water and lemon.

Car Wash – If you’ve got any outdoor toy cars or bikes, have a car wash with a bucket of soapy water, a sponge and a paintbrush and let them give them a clean.

Ball pit pool – Playing with balls in a ball pit is fun. But add some water and it’s next level fun! This one will need to be done outside on a warm day but it’s so much fun. Just make sure you’re always present and that the ball pit isn’t left somewhere the kids can get to by themselves.

Letters and Numbers in Water – We have foam letters but really need some foam numbers too! When wet, they stick to the side of a bath and are fun to play around with in water.

Wash Muddy Animals – Pop some of your child’s plastic animals in some mud or make your own dirty mixture and then get them to wash the animals. They could even use an old toothbrush to give them a scrub.

Paint the fence/patio with water – All you need for this is a paintbrush, a good day and a bucket of water. When they paint the fence with water, it looks like it’s really getting painted as the wood changes colour. But once the sun shines on it, the water will evaporate and dry the fence and everything will be like it was before.

Paddling at the seaside – This is one of those life experiences that everyone should get. Being out in the fresh air, feeling the sand between your toes. You could collect water for a sandcastle, search rock pools for crabs, or simply watch the waves coming in and out.

Colour Mixing with Water – Using food colouring, you could make cups of different coloured water and then when your toddler mixes them, they can find out what colour it makes. This is perfect with primary colours: red, blue and yellow and will teach them how to make secondary colours: orange, purple and green.

Earth Day – Clean Our Oceans – Provide a tray of plastic sea creatures and some junk that you’re likely to find in the sea such as plastic straws, plastic wrap, bottles or any form of rubbish. Your toddler’s job could be to use a scoop to collect the rubbish and clean the ocean for the animals.

Have fun trying out these water activities with your kids!