Water Table Learning!

Water Tables are a staple in the Summer, it doesn't even have to be a formal table. You can DIY with a large bowl or bucket...anything you choose! One way I love to make teaching fun is at the water table. We use foam letters (when wet, they stick to the walls of the table) to work on spelling words. I say the word and the use the tongs to grab the letter and wet it on both sides, then they spell the word. It can easily be adapted for an early learning to just find letters as you call them out!

Even younger learners can still have fun by developing their fine motor skills by using tongs to grab things by color or shape! We use these plastic ice cubes in a bowl for our young friends! When a color or shape is called out, they use the tongs to find what we are looking for! So simple and so fun, they don't even know they are learning!!

Happy Wednesday my Friends!

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Water Fun!

The warm weather is here and the kids are eager to play in the water! I had a few projects ready to roll! First is our Garden and it needs a lot of watering! The kids love to water, but often fight over the hose or the can. This plan has them each with their own watering can that they made and decorating themselves! I saved 3 milk jugs and washed them out, after that we headed outdoors with a hammer and nail. They each hammered holes using the nail into the top of the cap while it was screwed on.
*NOTE: Bubble station info can be found HERE & HERE!*

Before they each decorated their own, they had to test it out! How fun! Each child also has their own container garden, while the raised bed is the family garden.

My THRIFTY SANDBOX POST has seen a lot of action with the warmer weather and today I wanted to share one of the other versions it has been adapted to! We use it as a water table as well. My children are too big for the toddler tables but still love to play, this allows my kids and a few neighbor kids to all have fun at the same time. What toys do we use at the water table? Recyclables of course! They can all be thrown away when broken and they are of course always readily available. When using as a water table, we store the sand in a rubbermaid bin in the garage, other bins hold dirt for mud play and miscellaneous stuff like shaving cream and the like, in the winter we leave it outside to fill with snow on a day when it's falling strong and have indoor snow play! This is always a fun way to make 1 bin do so many jobs and the cover allows it to stay clean at all times!

Have a great Mother's Day my friends and remember to enjoy every minute.

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Sail Away With Water Play!

The water is warming up and the kids are eager to get into the water play! I am bringing back the boats we made a couple years ago! These are such a blast to make and play with! All you need is a straw and a piece of paper cut into a perfect square and decorated, Sponge cut into a boat shape. Assemble the parts and enjoy!!!

A quick tip for all! Keep your eyes open in all departments for the perfect items to put into your home! I love these darling little milk jugs for the kids to take their drinks on the screen porch as we read and enjoy the weather. I found these in VASE section of IKEA!!!

Take chances and enjoy every minute my friends!

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Busy Busy Busy!!

We've been in the pool all weekend! How about you?

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Water Play!

 

 My daughter was working a car wash for her school and of course it gets all kids wanting to play in the water, rather than wash cars! I knew just the activity for them once we got home, off to the water table we went!  I filled some squeeze bottles with water (Hobby Lobby .71!) and put a couple drops of food coloring into each and it became a mixing station! Colors were made, soup was created and an all around good time was had! I was sure to put them in play clothes and as far as the water table we used, it was one that we picked up at a rummage sale for 2.00! So needless to say, it's the perfect base for getting creative and colorful!! It's amazing how an ordinary and fun water table becomes an absolute blast for more hours than before.

After packing up all the water toys last year, I knew that this year I wanted to go with something different and fun for the table. I decided to fill it with 'toys' that are ordinarily found in our rubbish bins or in the kitchen! I picked up measuring cups, eye droppers, measuring spoons, scoops and funnels, pitchers etc. all at tag sales and thrift shops! We bought a pack of sponges at the dollar store and cut 1 of them up into strips for them to use too! Jars and yogurt cups and soap bottles rounded it off and now they want to be out there non stop! The best part, is that it really encourages imaginative play with a little math snuck in! Today I heard:
Gabriel: Autumn, let's make some soup!
Autumn: YEAH! WE need 1 cup of soup
Gabriel: No 1/2 a cup, so we need to get rid of 1/2
Roman: I mix it mix it!
Autumn: Gabriel add 1 small spoonful of purple water (MOM! What is 1 small spoonful called)
Mom: 1 Teaspoon

And on and on it went! So much fun!

What do you do with your water table?