Water play in the bath and paddling pool
Most children love the water. It offers all kinds of opportunities for playing and learning, from the sensory delight of splashing their feet in a paddling pool to popping bubbles in the bath.
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Whether you're outside or in, there are many ways to let your child enjoy different elements of water play, stimulating their minds and senses and giving them confidence in the water. Below are some quick and easy ideas to try in the bath or paddling pool - the latter being a great way to pass a sunny afternoon in the garden!
Coloured water
Bring a new dimension to bath time by adding colour to the water! Tinti, a German company specialising in creative bath products for children, makes gloriously fizzy bath powder that you drop into the water to tun it red, yellow or blue. Children can have fun before they jump into the bath, too, mixing the different powders up to create other colours. Completely safe and stain-free (they won't stain your child or your bath tub!) they're suitable for children of three years upwards and provide a great springboard for imaginative bath play. Your child can turn the bath into a deep, blue ocean, and sail their toy boats across it, or make a green witches brew they can stir with wooden spoons.
The Tinti range includes some other great bath time accessories, such as bath confetti, coloured bath foam (great for making mad, punk-style hair-dos with!) and crackling bath crystals which pop and crackle as they dissolve in the bath. Find out more and buy online at Tinti.co.uk
Tactile textures
A great one for babies and toddlers, who love experiencing new textures. Collect some differently textured items to put in the bath with your child; things like different types of sponges (natural sponges are great), a loofah, some flannels, a bath toy net bag. Your child will like exploring how the textures change when immersed in the water.
If you can get hold of them, bring a seaside theme to the proceedings with interestingly textured shells, sea urchins or sea weed or kelp (you don't have to live near the sea to get hold of this - try a Chinese or Japanese specialist shop if you have one nearby; some health food shops also stock seaweed and kelp). Your child can feel how brittle it is when dry and how it goes all slippery and silky when wet. Next time you're at the seaside look out for shells to bring home, or browse the local gift shops.
Bubble fun
Make your child's bath really bubbly. Then, bring up a selection of bits and bobs from the kitchen: a wire whisk, a soup ladle, a tablespoon and a muffin/fairy cake tray. They'll have lots of fun picking up bubbles with their ladle and whisking up the bubbles with their whisk. Can they pick the bubbles up with their whisk and then flick them back into the water or onto the tiles? Give your child a spoon and the cake tray, and see if they can carefully spoon the bubbles into the tray to make bubbly cup cakes. Or simply give your child a variety of different shaped cups, bottles and pots to fill with bubbles.
Sink or float?
A good way to bring an extra dimension to play in the paddling pool. Can your child guess which objects will sink or swim in the pool? Offer them a selection of different items to experiment with such as a small plastic ball, some Lego or Duplo building bricks, a piece of wood or a stick, a coin, a toy boat, etc.
Exploring volume
A wonderfully simple way to introduce children to the concept of measuring and early science - and have fun at the same time. Gather up a selection of different-sized plastic containers, cups, a funnel and colander or strainer. Even an ice-cube tray is a good component for this kind of play - can they fill each of the cubes with the same amount of water?
Your child will enjoy filling the different sized cups with water and pouring them into another cup. Which container holds the most water? What happens when you pour a jug of water over the colander? This simple activity - suitable for both play in the bath or paddling pool - helps children develop their reasoning and concentration, and is great for hand-eye co-ordination.
Paper boats
While making an actual paper boat may be a bit tricky for young children (though older siblings can help out and might be able to make some boats without help) your child can certainly have fun choosing colours for their boats and then seeing how they fare on the water. Check out YouTube for some good online step-by-step guides to making simple paper boats - it's basically a case of taking some paper and then folding and re-folding to come up with a boat structure (and though simple it's a bit difficult to explain in writing so an online visual guide is a better option!).
Make a few boats if you can, from different coloured papers and perhaps see if your child can write a number for each boat on one side of the paper. Then carefully launch them into the paddling pool and watch them go!
Washing day
Young children love emulating grown-ups and copying the tasks they see their parents do around the house so they'll enjoy sorting out the laundry and washing their dollies' clothes and blankets out. This activity is ideally suited to outdoor play; your child can either do their washing in the paddling pool or in a basin or bucket on the grass, or in their water table. Instead of using harsh detergents which may make your child's hands sore use your child's bubble bath or shampoo.
When they've finished your child can hang the clothes up to dry. Either adjust your washing line to your child's height or erect a special clothes line just for them - attach a piece of string between two garden chairs for a good, height-appropriate alternative.
Toy time in the bath or paddling pool
Many of the toys your child already has can be used to play with in the bath or paddling pool. Plastic or rubber figurines or animals are ideal. Babies and toddlers will love having lots of colourful rubber or plastic balls to play with as they bathe. Dollies can splash around and have a hair wash, while little boys will like filling up their water guns (or they can use a cleaned-out plant sprayer as an alternative) and spraying everything in sight!
Of course there are lots of toys on the market specifically designed for water play, covering everything from simple squirters and foam letters or numbers to quite sophisticated play sets that transform or make noises when submerged in the water. There's a particularly good selection at the Baby Bath Shop, which stocks everything from bath colouring sets to fizzy bath bombs, traditional toy boats to squirters, as well as useful storage solutions for keeping bath toys organised.
Make a splash
Babies and toddlers that are a little reticent about actually sitting in the paddling pool can still enjoy a taste of water play by sitting on the edge with you and throwing balls into the water. Gather together a variety of different sized balls: footballs, tennis balls, smaller rubber balls or play balls. Which ball makes the biggest splash? Have plenty of balls to hand - little ones love the repetitive element of activities such as this - and then help your child collect the balls out of the pool. You could perhaps help your child to fish them out of the water with a fishing net for an extra dimension to the activity.
Apple bobbing
Who says apple bobbing has to be reserved for Halloween?! Suitable for older children this is a fun activity you can transfer outdoors by floating some apples in the paddling pool. The idea is to retrieve the apples without using hands to do so - teeth come in very handy! Who can get the most apples in the quickest time?
Water play and safety
It goes without saying that your child should never be left near or in water without adult supervision so do not leave your child in the bath or paddling pool unattended for a moment. Small children can drown in just inches of water so always take them out of the bath or paddling pool if you need to leave the room or garden (when the phone or doorbell goes, for example).
You'll be used to checking the bath water temperature before you pop your little one in the bath and the same goes for the paddling pool - no baby or toddler will enjoy being placed in freezing cold water so you may need to add some warm water from the tap or kettle - always test before your child gets in.
Remember also that surfaces around the bath or pool may get very wet and slippery if the kids are splashing and spraying lots of water everywhere so be careful when getting them out the bath or pool that you or they don't slip.
