Washing Toys with Dyed Water - Color Theme

Some of the chores Miss E helps with are cleaning counters and doing laundry.  Washing toys is another chore she helps me complete.  For this months Color Theme, I thought I would make washing toys more fun by using colored water to clean them.

Here is the cleaning station I set up.  If your child is not tall enough to reach the counters with a stool, this could be set up on the floor over a blanket.  

The Force of Water

During this summer, one of our favorite summer activities has been going to the splashpad. A splash pad is a fountain park for children. Miss E usually soaks up all water fun, but once in awhile I splash a bit of learning into the play.

We were luckly the last time we went to the splashpad because a kind park employee found a beach ball and gave it to us. Ela loved the addition of the ball into her water play, and I quickly realized how I could use the ball to show her the power of water.

We threw the ball into the different fountains, and we observed the effects the water had on the ball. As we observed, we discussed the different things that water can do.

Water carried the ball.



Water bounced the ball.




Water pushed the ball.




Water held the ball.




Water stopped the ball.





Water spun the ball.




To take this lesson to the next step, we could bring varying balls to the splashpad to notice how the balls behave differently. This activity supports science skills such as observation and experimentation, and it also builds physic concepts such as force and energy. This could be incorporated into a weather unit to model the effects of floods, hurricanes, and tsunamis. At the root of it all, it gives children the notion that forces of nature, such as water, can be powerful. If you don't have access to a splashpad, you could model the force of water with sprinklers, a hose, shower, bathtub, or the kitchen sink.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:At the Splashpad

Metal and Water Play

We are lucky our city of Austin has numerous splash pads to keep our little ones cool. A splash pad is a park with child friendly fountains providing children a wonderful place to play during the summer.

I usually bring along plastic buckets and cups to the splash pad because Miss E enjoys collecting, pouring, and dumping water. This time I decided to bring a collection of metal containers. I wanted Miss E to explore the different sounds water made on the metal while having fun playing at the splash pad. If it's a hot day, keep the metal in the shade when the toys are not being played with because the sun makes the metal quite hot.

She noticed different containers sounded different.






She observed the sounds the metal made together.



She listened to the sounds of the different fountains on the metal.







If you don't have access to a splash pad, children can observe the sounds of water by placing metal containers in the shower or under a hose or sprinklers.

This activity helps develop children's ability to compare and contrast, and they can work on focusing their sense of hearing to discriminate subtle differences in sound. Activities which involve observation skills are important because careful observation is a key component to scientific experiments. Bringing toys to a public park helps build social skills because it gives children an opportunity to share.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Splash Pad