Water Play

We have a visual timetable.  I've made lots of laminated little cards for every conceivable activity and they go on our weekly timetable.  I've blogged about this before.  Currently Little C has a sticker chart for saying Please and Thank-you (this was very successful, so we've made it harder and he only gets the stickers if he uses the words without a reminder, or to somebody outside our family).  When he gets ten stickers on the chart, he gets to choose from six activities, and his choice fits onto the next available slot on the calendar.  Today he chose "Water Play".


Here's how we did it today:

While the two of them were having their snack I set up the kitchen.  I put a big tub and a washing-up bowl in the middle of the floor, and laid out four old towels around the outside.  

In the tubs I put bath toys, a sprayer/mister, a couple of jugs, some bowls and cups, a sports bottle, a bucket and an empty plastic milk bottle.  I filled four of the containers with water, and put a couple of drops of different food colouring in three of them.  We had red, yellow and green water.

I then got them down from their snack and undressed them down to vests.  I sat them on the towels, and told them that we needed to keep the water within the towel area so it would be easier to clean up.  We then got stuck in.  I showed them pouring and spraying, mixing water colours and so on.  After a few minutes I stepped back to allow them to get on with it, and I sat nearby, reading the paper.  Close enough to be there if needed, but far enough away that they could explore freely.

Little Sis just grabbed things and was surprised every time that she got covered or spattered with red water.  

Little C learned about pouring.  I think he poured every single container from one to the other.  Then, when I took Little Sis for a nap, he practised spraying.

This activity kept them both absorbed for over an hour.  Cleaning up was very easy.  Little C put all the items back in the tub.  We rubbed the floor with the towels and put them into the washing machine ready for the next load.  I put the bath toys back in the bathroom and everything else in the dishwasher.  Job done!


(and what were the six activities he could choose from?  Baking, Walk in the Woods, Watch a video, TV time, Wet Play, Train Set - I'm always fascinated by his choices...)