It's Hot and No Pool

It is hot out.

Two of the days that I look after the little one there is a neighbourhood wading pool that we go to but today wasn't one of the days.

So what do you do to stay cool?

Play with the hose and fill whatever size tub you can find.

Her mom had done this last week and I was quite happy to do it again.

She didn't start in the tub. She started by watering the garden.

And exploring how the water came out of the nozzle, how it feels to slap her hand against it and how it felt when the water ran through her fingers.

By this time she took a closer look at what she was watering and we talked about if the strawberry was ripe enough to pick and eat.

Then she noticed the water running off the side of the concrete.

Dripping down below.

We sang' "drip, drip, drip".

 Looking for more things to water we decided to take care of some that are in pots.

These are mom's herbs that they planted together after Mother's Day.

This is Dad's new plant that he got from his mom for his birthday.

 Then she was interested in filling the tub.

 I brought bubbles to blow but they didn't work very well so I poured some into the water and we used our hands to make lots of bubbly water.

She spent a lot of time washing this little toy in the bubbles then rinsing it off under the hose.

After we were playing for about an hour we heard the neighbours sprinkler start so we peeked over the fence.

Pond Play Indoors

Not everyone could go to the Little River Pond on Mondays

so I set up a pond play in our water table.

We introduced lots of animals and talked about where they would live,

 in the water or on the land.

We started with some fake plants and rocks,

then added sticks.

After the first week visiting the real pond we started to help the beavers build a lodge.

Airplane Sensory Bin - Water

Last week I posted about our Airplane Sensory bin with blue salt.

This week I cleared out the salt and added blue water.

Sponges replaced the cotton for clouds.

Water play is an attractive activity for many children, especially toddlers.

The sponges were a new sensory experience for some.

They practiced squeezing them under the water and above the water.

They used them to wash the planes.

We pretended the sponges were clouds and wondered:

What happens when clouds fill with moisture?

They make rain!

Changing to water was a fun way to extend our airplane project.

Ramps in the Sensory Table

Last week as the children’s interest in ramps continued to grow I wanted to offer
                        experiences in different parts of the room.
    
           In the water table I placed one of the half pvc pipe ramps.

               
          This week it was replaced with lots of pom poms and pipes.
   
                         
                    

Sensory Table – Wooden Board Idea 2

Week two at the sensory table using the piece of wood that my husband made. 
                
I placed funnels in the holes in the wood and partially filled the tub with water.
   
The children and grown ups loved it.  Scooping up water and pouring it into the funnels over and over.  The water disappeared through the funnels but there didn’t seem to be much interest in where it was going.
      
I saw a couple of adaptations; the first was using a chopstick to prop a smaller funnel above the larger funnel.  With this structure the children could see the water run from the small to the big funnel then disappear.
 
The second adaptation had the funnels stacked inside each other with the chopstick coming out the bottom.  This structure slowed the progress of the water through the funnels and allowed them time to see the water coming out the bottom.

Mrs Wishy Washy

I introduce Joy Cowley's, Mrs Wishy Washy by being Mrs Wishy Washy while I tell the story using props.

Then I leave the props and book available for the children to retell the story.

This book comes off the shelf every year and with it we always play with mud on the art table.

The mud is chocolate pudding that was made with water instead of milk.

Along with the 'mud' there are farm animals to jump, roll and paddle through the mud.  And tractors that slip and slide and make wonderful tracks in the mud.

I leave the book out and encourage the parents to read it out loud while the children are playing.

And when the animals or tractors become too muddy they go in the tub for a wash.

"Wishy-washy, wishy-washy"

Look the math that happened.