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Johnny isn’t stable enough to stand and play with water, so I tried this indoor water play activity. I put a small amount of water on each tray along with some bubble solution, and gave them IKEA utensils to play with in the water. Both kids loved it, but it made a big mess.
I think I will do this activity again, but I’ll make a couple adjustments:
- Place each tray on a bath towel – this would minimize spill damage and keep the floor from getting slick
- Eliminate bubbles – the bubble solution was messier to clean up, and made the water slicker when spilled. If you do use bubbles, spraying a water-vinegar solution helps eliminate the slippery effect. I learned the vinegar trick at the Acton Discovery Museum, where they put bubble play things out near the parking lot in good weather.
Possible enhancements (probably best for slightly older children):
- Let kids add their own water using a dropper
- Add some corn starch at the end and play around with the funny goop that forms
Any other enhancements/suggestions?
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Loving all these great suggestions :)
You could have a car wash with their toy trucks and cars. Also, giving baby dolls baths in the water like mommy does. You could have them wash the baby doll clothes and hang up with clothespins to dry on a line. Would be great for their fine motor skills!
More great ideas – thanks!
My daughter liked working with the turkey baster. Also when she was about 1.5 I started giving her a muffin tin or ice cube tray with water in half the spots and put some food coloring in some of them so she could watch the colors mix when she moved the water around. I usually use a double tray strategy, and a towel under that. So I put a cookie sheet under the ice cube tray with a towel under that, or whatever.You can also let them rip up paper or toilet paper to make gooshy stuff in the water.
Thanks for all the great ideas, I’m sure my kids will love trying these out!
Try adding dish soap to make the bubbles a little goes along way and I don’t believe this will make the floor slippery. I have even made tons of dish soap bubbles in my sink and skimmed the bubbles off and put them on my daughters highchair tray when she was Johnny’s age. (Old enough to not eat them depending on the child.) One of our favorite bathtime activities in the winter is to hang our bubble machine up somewhere in the tub and use baby shampoo and water to make the bubbles winter bubble fun with little mess. Another fun bath activity my girls have enjoyed this winter is occasionally I will throw a bunch of ball pit type plastic balls in the tub with them they love it. (I jsut hang the ball in a mesh bag to dry.) As for water fun in the kitchen bins (and the tub) my girls love to play with soup ladles, wooden spoons, plastic measuring cups small plastic teapots strainers anything to pour water and things that the water can run through. They like to pretend they are cooking soup etc.
I should try the corn-starch goop with my kids. They would love it!