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Playing with Water
   
Most children welcome any excuse to splash about in water, whether it's at the seaside in the summer, in muddy puddles in the winter, or in the bath. Once they start at playgroup one of the most popular activities is always the water corner. Apart from having a great deal of fun, children can also learn a lot from this activity. Try making your own water corner at home, even if it's only with the paddling pool or an old washing up bowl and some everyday things you'll have around the house.
   

Keep things interesting

  • To make the water a little more interesting colour it using food colouring.
  • Make some bubbles by adding a little washing up liquid.

Some things to try

  1. Have a selection of things on a tray that will exhibit different qualities in the water; things that will float like corks, toy boats, feathers etc. and heavier things that will sink like coins, pebbles.
  2. Get a selection of their smaller (waterproof!) toys and ask them to guess which will sink and which will float. Use this guessing game to make it fun.
  3. Surprise them with things like apples, which although they feel quite heavy will float.
  4. Let them experiment with a sponge. Let them see that it floats if placed on the water, and then as it absorbs more water the sponge will sink.
  5. Dissolve some salt in the water and see it disappear. Then use something else like sand and see that it does not dissolve.
  6. Get some ice blocks and let the children see that they float and then gradually get smaller as they dissolve and eventually disappear.
  7. Get some funnels and let the children practise filling containers.
  8. Let the children experiment with sieves.
  9. Drop a pebble in the water and see the ripples it forms.
  10. Fill the bowl with heavy objects and see the water level rise.
  11. Have a race blowing toy boats across the water.
  12. Use a straw to blow "holes" in the water.
  13. Have toy kettles or jugs to see how water pours.

   
If you understand the physics of why things float or sink or how water is displaced then have a go at explaining it to your children as simply as possible. If not it doesn't matter. It's important for children to just have a go at experimenting with different objects and seeing for themselves how they react and interact with water.
   
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