Wednesday Group - Dumping, Pouring, and Splashing Oh My!

This week water play was enhanced by the addition of cups, spoons, funnels, siffters, and other items that can hold water. As the children explored these new materials I watched as they tried dumping, pouring, and drinking the water. As well as placing items in the containers and bring other items to the water.

Dumping, Pouring, and Showering Down Water

When children first begin to pour water they tend to either grab the container by the rim or by the sides with two hands. If they grab the container by the rim they usually will end up dumping water on themselves or to the side of the, like throwing water over one's shoulder. Watch as Sebastien and Max discover dumping, pouring, and showering down water!

Drinking Water

When a child grabs a container with two hands, like you do when you hold a cup, they end up drinking the water from the container. Zadie and Max know how this is done.



Bringing Items to the Water

I find it so interesting that Zadie usually gravitates to one item (mostly a ball) and keeps tabs on that item for most of the time she is at playgroup. This week a orange ping pong ball went with her each time she visited the water table and sometimes a spoon left the sensory bin in her other hand. Sebastien also brought a rhino to take a swim in the water and a string of beads into the table. Watch Max as he keeps trying to take the beads out while Sebastien keeps dragging them back in. When children bring different items to the water table, I think of them as little scientists trying out cause and effect, filing away their research of 'what happens when I add this item to water'.



Putting Items in Containers

Zadie encounters an interesting dilemma while experimenting with placing her orange ping pong ball in a cup full of water. Max spent most of his time at the water table trying to figure out how to fit the egg halves together. You could tell he understood that they went together but kept fitting them in one another. Both his mother and I demonstrated how the eggs went together and he did try but ultimately kept putting on into the other instead of filling them together.

Friday Group - More Items that Sink and Float

The Friday Group dove right in to the water table filled with new and familiar items. It was interesting to watch as children spent more time with a particular item that interested them. While each child would touch, taste, manipulate different items some items were explored longer and in a variety of ways. Kaia found the cellophane to be a familiar material but in a new context. She tries with all her might to pull it apart. Later she discovers that water flows off it in surprising ways. Kaia also involves Sebastien in her exploration but he's not so pleased by the gesture.

Sebastien spent a great deal of time slurping water from a sea shell. He dips it in the water over and over again. Of all the items to use to get water the sea shell is a tricky one and presents an interesting challenge.



Bryce, the exuberant splasher, finds that the slinky really is a great item to enhance his splashy fun. He also finds the mylar and cellophane too intriguing as he crinkles them in his hands. He watches the mylar and cellophane so closely as it moves.



Theo was the dumper of the group. Every item he touched he would drop (very nonchalantly) out of the bin, although not everything would land on the floor. He also spent some time fishing for those heavier items that were at the bottom of the bin. I always like to include items that have weight to them in children's exploration because it impacts their physical moves in a challenging way. At the end of this video is Theo's response to being splashed one to many times!

Thursday Group - More Items that Sink and Float

This session of playgroup continued with water play, combining some familiar and new items to the water table. Some of these items sank and some would float on the water. I included large stones and shells, metal napkin rings, cellophane, mylar, silk fabric, ribbon, square tin platter, bubble wrap, plastic eggs, a slinky, wood blocks, musical shaker eggs and hollow oval foam pieces. Splashing is still a popular activity at the water table and once one gets going the others can't help but join in.

Zadie rejoined group this week after a few weeks away. When she first came to the table she brought a ball that she had found with her. This limited her explorations because she wasn't ready to let it go. She used one hand to explore the other items until she finally let it free. Every item in the water table had many different ways a child could explore it. The plastic eggs, for example when put together would float but once taken apart would fill with water and sink. One could also place items inside a half of the egg. Zadie discovers this a little while later.



Sebastien explored many of the items orally (he even showed me a few items needed to be removed... leave it to my son to bite off a piece of bubble wrap). He also interacted with a wood block once he noticed how it moved when the water was moving, he watched it bob up and down before he picked it up. Then he pushed it down in the water, like he was slashing and finally he threw it. Another aspect of his exploration was to find an object and then walk away from the water table to take it elsewhere, almost like the water was distracting him from the object. I can't help but wonder what his plan was.



I could tell that Max was a little disappointed that the water table wasn't full of balls. He began his exploration by very methodically taking each item he came in contact with out of the water and dropping each one on the floor. The metal napkin ring made a great sound as it hit the floor and then rolled around which made Max happy. As Max mad peace with the fact that the water table was minus his favorite item he soon found a wet piece of fabric particularly fun to whip around.

Friday Group - Which Balls Sink, Which Ones Float?

The Friday Group found the water bin full of balls surprising and exciting. Watching the different ways the children interacted with the water and the balls was fascinating. Theo practiced throwing/dropping the balls out of the water. He really puts his whole body into the motion.

Sebastien brought some new items to test in the water. First he tries out his wooden tow truck and then he brings over the wooden bell.



Bryce really engaged with the water once a few of the other children left. He was really into the splashing aspect of the experience. He really gets the water moving by waving his hand back and forth under the water, creating waves. A few times during his exploration he would bend down and look at the balls move from the side of the table. I didn't catch this on video but I did want to show what it looked like from that angle when the water was really sloshing around.



Kaia explored every ball, really diving her hand down to find the balls that sank. She also would follow a floating ball to catch it in her hand (they're not as easy to grab when they float!) In the middle of the following video she picks up a golf ball, moves it under water and then drops it (it makes a plunk noise). I found her exploration of the balls and her persistence in grabbing a ball intriguing.

The Jam Session

Lastly a fun little moment with Chris, Bryce's dad.