Toddler Water Play, Part II

As I said before in my post about Helen washing dishes, my little toddler loves to play in the water! As do almost all toddlers I expect. My challenge is to find ways for her to have water play fun that do not A. involve her shaking her sippy cup empty all over the house, B. involve her spilling my glasses of water when my back is turned, or C. anything involving misuse of the toilet!

This week we tried outdoor water play, and while we do not have a fancy "Water Play Table" she had a perfectly happy time with a bucket of water and some miscellaneous outdoor toys and cups.

It was nice to just put everything down in the grass and let her play while baby Clare and I sat nearby and watched.

And the really nice thing about "Bucket Water Play" is that when the water is all gone (She had the most fun spilling the water on herself and the grass!), playtime is up. It has a nice natural end that doesn't involve mean mommy taking the fun water toy away.

We will be doing this activity again! I saw over at PreKinders (a resource website for pre-K teachers) that pouring water from one container to another is an important fine motor skill for toddlers to practice. They have a whole list of other fine motor skill activities that we will have try out soon!