Hands playing and having fun in water develop brain connections and help kids with kindergarten readiness. And water play can happen at the kitchen sink, in the bathtub or outside with a tub of water. Containers, plastic bottles, spoons, straws and sieves will provide kids with tools so they can scoop, pour, fill, and measure.
Water play stimulates the sense of touch, of course, but also hearing and seeing.- As kids play in the water they learn some basic science: water doesn’t have it’s own shape, it pours down most of the time, but goes up when it’s squirted. Water stays in containers as long as there are no holes. Some things float and some things sink.
- Kids learn some math concepts such as size, more, less, and how much.
- There’s lots of language as kids talk about what is happening and use words like full, empty, more, pour, squirt, drops, puddle and others.
This is only a small part of what children can learn as they play with water. Did you know that water play is also very relaxing and can help calm kids who are anxious or over-stimulated? There’s lots of fun and learning and clean-up is quite easy. Does your little one enjoy water play?