Becky Haynes, Nursery Manager Codsall Community Nursery & Early Years Specialist The Early Years Company
Water play is more than just a fun activity for children; it's a powerful tool for learning and development in Early Years settings. It plays a big part in the everyday continuous provision within a setting as well as daily routines. Whether it's splashing in a pool, experimenting with water toys, engaging in simple pouring activities or washing hands, water play offers a myriad of educational benefits. In this blog, we will explore the many dimensions of water play and why it is an essential component of early childhood education.
The Importance of Sensory Experiences
Water play is a wonderful sensory activity. It engages children’s senses of touch, sight, and sometimes even sound and smell. Sensory experiences are crucial for young children as they help to build neural connections in the brain. Engaging in water play helps children explore and make sense of the world around them through hands-on experiences. These experiences support cognitive growth, foster social interactions, and promote emotional regulation.
Cognitive Development
Scientific Exploration: Water play introduces children to basic scientific concepts. Through experimentation, children learn about buoyancy, water displacement, and the properties of different materials. For instance, they can observe which objects float or sink, or how water flows through various channels and containers. These simple experiments lay the groundwork for understanding more complex scientific principles later on in learning.
Mathematical Concepts: Water play also offers numerous opportunities to develop early mathematical skills. Children learn about volume and capacity as they pour water from one container to another. They compare quantities, measure amounts, and develop an understanding of concepts such as full, empty, more, and less. These activities help to build a foundation for future math learning in a hands-on and engaging way.
Physical Development
Fine Motor Skills: Manipulating water toys, squeezing sponges, and pouring water from one container to another help children to develop fine motor skills. These activities strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers, which are crucial for writing and other tasks requiring precision.
Gross Motor Skills: Large-scale water play activities, such as splashing, wading, or even swimming in shallow pools, enhance gross motor skills. These activities improve coordination, balance, and overall physical strength. Activities can also include washing the bikes/cars in the garden, and building a car wash for them to be able to wash the bikes and cars. These types of activities open a lot more learning opportunities for the children other than gross motor skills; it encourages imaginative play, working together, sharing, mathematical development too.
Social and Emotional Development
Cooperative Play: Water play often involves working together, sharing space, and negotiating roles, which promotes cooperative play. Children learn to communicate, take turns, and collaborate with their peers. These social interactions are essential for developing strong interpersonal skills.
Emotional Expression: Water play can be soothing and therapeutic. It provides an outlet for children to express their emotions, whether they are feeling excited, frustrated, or curious. The calming nature of water can help children to regulate their emotions and reduce stress.
Creativity and Imagination
Water play encourages creativity and imaginative play. Children might pretend they are in a boat, create stories about sea creatures, or even concoct imaginary potions. This type of play supports language development and creative thinking, as children invent scenarios and describe their actions.
Communication and Language
Water play will allow children to develop a wide range of enriching vocabulary. Water play also offers opportunities to use a lot of repetition. This will allow children to be exposed to a range of languages and become confident in using these words, for example, splash, pour, tap-tap, trickle, bubbles, blow etc.
Practical Tips for Implementing Water Play
1. Safety First: Water play can be a fun activity within an early years setting; however, we need to ensure that safety is our priority. Always supervise water play activities to ensure the safety of the children. Use shallow water and make sure the play area is non-slip. Also, dry water that is spilt straight away. Make sure that the activity is a small manageable activity so that you can still lead the activity but also make sure that safety is maintained at all times. Water can be fun but can also be highly dangerous as well.
2. Variety of Tools: Provide a range of tools and materials, such as cups, funnels, spoons, sponges, and floating toys, to encourage different types of play and exploration. Enhancing the activities is also a good way of encouraging water play, so if you are putting cups out for the children to do filling and emptying and you have put clear water out, after a little while add some food colouring to change the colour or add bubble bath for the children to scoop the bubbles and pour them in from one cup to another. This will allow children to explore the activity with different concepts.
3. Accessible and Inclusive: Ensure that water play activities are accessible to all children, including those with disabilities. This might involve adapting to the environment or providing special equipment. In my setting we have a little boy with a rare skin condition, which means that he may have different requirements when accessing activities, for example he might not be able to have water with bubbles in it because it will cause him to itch. As a setting, we can’t take away an activity for one child but it's about making adaptions so that the children can access the activities and not be excluded or made to feel different.
4. Weather Considerations: Plan water play activities according to the weather. Indoor water tables can be used year-round, while outdoor water play is great for warmer months.
5. Hygiene: Maintain good hygiene by regularly cleaning water play equipment and changing the water frequently to ensure it is safe and clean. Empty indoor and outdoor water trays regularly to avoid children playing in stagnant water.
Conclusion
Water play is a versatile and enriching activity that offers countless benefits for young children. By incorporating water play into early years settings, educators can support cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development in a fun and engaging way. The magic of water play lies in its ability to turn simple moments into profound learning experiences, fostering a love for exploration and discovery in every child.