Water play at Crawford Childcare
At Crawford Childcare lots of the children love to play outside and play with water. Although we have a good few puddles at the moment some of the children were worried that they might dry out. We fitted a water butt to one of our drain pipes outside to give the children easy access to their own supply of water.
The rain water is collected by the shores and stored in the water butt itself ready for use. The water butt has been placed high enough to fit a collecting bucket under but low enough for children to operate themselves. The water can flow out quite fast and some of the children love the sense of control it gives them to move the tap to vary the speed and pressure of the water coming out.
Conor, Aoife and Eoin love to make their own puddles and really enjoy jumping up and down in the water making splashing sounds. Eilish likes to a watering can and transfer it to other pots, containers or even down a sink drain. A lot of the children have got very skilful at turning taps on. Ella, Roisin and Sam also like to collect water from the water butt to collect in and fill the water table. They have used cups and watering cans after learning their hands were not the most efficient way to hold water.
Exploring with water gives many language, science and mathematical learning opportunities and it is so much fun! The water butt and the conservation of rain water also models a strong environmental message to the children. Water play outside is best in full all weather gear and wellies so if you haven’t done so already please supply for all children in the Toddler and Montessori rooms.
The water butt has been so successful we decided to install one in the baby outdoor area as well. We don’t recommend wellies for children in the baby room but all weather gear and perhaps a pair of outside shoes certainly adds to their experience.