Explore the joys of spontaneous water play as Mary Jackson , development officer at Learning Through Landscapes, continues our outdoors series based on the four elements
Water play has long been a feature of play in the early years. Water play is one of the most accessible activities for children and adults to share. Everyone loves to play with water, whether it's at the seaside, in the back garden, on the street or in the nursery garden. With just a bit of planning and a few extra resources, it's possible to transform your water play from contained indoor water tray fun to outdoor extravaganzas involving lots of children and practitioners too.
Curriculum guidelines
Ideally, in a setting offering children 'free flow' indoor/outdoor access, children would be able to choose water play at any time. The water activities suggested here are intended to be self-chosen and self-directed, but they will often involve other children and adults as the games develop and become more complicated.
The Foundation Stage guidelines make clear references to water play in the 'examples of what children do' sections, and each of the six areas of learning can be enhanced through imaginative water play opportunities. Here are just a few examples:
- Personal, social and emotional development Children show curiosity, investigate and plan together, share ideas and invite adults to join in their play. They show persistence and relate their experiences to their lives outside the setting.
Daisy wonders what will happen if she empties the measuring jug into the colander. It sprays on to her shoes, so next time she asks Theo to hold the colander between them.
- Communication, language and literacy Children discuss how they are going to use the water resources, and ask questions of the adults around them.
After reading Meg at Sea, Callum uses the water resources to make a small island in the sand pit, and plays with the stuffed toys to recreate the story.
- Mathematical development The water play resources are ideal for counting and sorting games, as well as developing shape and size recognition.
Freya wants to sail her paper boat on a pond. She soon realises the bucket is not big enough. She looks at all the other containers, but decides that the best pond is actually the big plastic tidy box. She empties the resources out and fills it with water.
- Knowledge and understanding of the world Exploring the properties of water is an investigation children will never tire of.
After a rain shower, Daisy enjoys making mud pies, varying their consistency and colour by adding paint. Now she wonders what would happen if she poured water into the sand pit.
- Physical development Children learn to handle unfamiliar objects (for example, hose attachments) and develop hand-eye coordination skills, as well as listening to and following instructions.
Ben wants to know how the hose attachments join on to the hose. After being shown one of them, he tries the rest of them out for himself.
- Creative development The water play resources can be used as 3D objects in their own right. Many of them will fit inside one another, or make different noises depending on their water level.
Alice and Pip build a huge tower using all of the water resources. They then stand on the climbing frame to shower water over it from the hosepipe. Later they use chalks, paintbrushes and water to illustrate their experiment on the tarmac.
Water play resources
Creating a varied and stimulating collection of outdoor water play resources is easy and inexpensive. Much of what's needed can be donated by parents, or picked up from jumble sales and charity shops. Even the items you'll have to buy (such as a hosepipe on a reel) are often on special offer at the big DIY stores.
Start with the largest tidy box with a lid you can find space for and put out a call to parents for freebies. The more resources you have, the more ambitious children can be in their play, so try to get at least two of everything in the 'must haves' list.
Essentials:
- An outside tap with a hosepipe connector (comes with the hose)
- Hosepipe - at least 30m long, on a free-standing or wall-mounted reel
- Hosepipe accessories - sprinkler guns, lance, brush and so on
- Hosepipe water stop connector - this allows you to change accessories without having to turn the water off at the tap
- Towels.
Must haves:
- Buckets of various sizes
- Colanders and sieves
- Plastic measuring jugs of various sizes
- Coloured pavement chalks
- Paintbrushes of various sizes, from poster paint size up to wallpaper paste size
- Containers made from different materials, such as saucepans, Tupperware, wooden salad bowl
- Ladles and wooden spoons
- Carrier bags with air holes in the bottom
- Poster paints
- Sweeping brush/dustpan and brush
- Lengths of rope and string
- Squeezy bottles - not water bottles, as these don't retain their shape when squeezed
- Watering cans of various sizes (try to get a seedling one, which is tiny)
- Cardboard boxes of various sizes for target making
- Quoits and hoops
- Traffic cones
- Masking tape.
Wish list:
- Barrel (can be sawn in two - one half for water play, one for planting out)
- Different lengths of plastic drainpipe, whole and half sections
- Children's waterproofs and wellies, stored in a visible, freely accessible place
- A hand pump
- Water play table (see the website www.eibe.co.ukfor examples of their 'acqua' range).
Key points
Painting with water should always be available to children, as should access to water. Add food colouring to containers of water.
Watering cans should be available for children to water the plants.
Use lengths of guttering to watch water flow.
Buckets and brushes can be incorporated into imaginative play themes outdoors.
Imaginative role-play ideas include painters and window cleaners, a car wash, a garage with petrol pumps, washing of dolls, clothes, furniture and anything that needs it. Extensions of imaginative play might involve the need for signs or other writing and counting to be incorporated.
Celebrate and join in with children's imaginative and creative play, for example when they spread mud mixed with water on a leaf like jam on toast. Look out for the possibilities in what children can do with water when they have free access.
Afterwards
So, are you convinced and ready to go outdoors? Here are a few final thoughts: Don't let poor weather stop you. One of the best water play training events I've done with early years practitioners was in the pouring rain - and everyone got involved. Practitioners told me, 'Doing this has proved that the rain shouldn't stop us - it made it even more fun.' They all went away determined to get wet, rain or shine!
Don't re-use old water from the water play session, as this can encourage the spread of bacteria. Once the games are over, empty out all the containers into your flowerbeds - they'll really appreciate it.
Let parents know that you are encouraging their children to be creative with water, and explain why. This way they'll be more understanding if their children come home a little damp after nursery.
