Watertable Questions

[Unregistered]

How do you guys do water table play? Do you let them play in it/with it on certain days, like M,W,F? Or whenever? Do you have parents bring in extra clothes or bathing suites with towels? I need some info on how you run your water table play. First summer doing it. Thanks :-)

[Cat Herder]

I love my water table....

I use it outside, only.

I require each child to have water shoes and bathings suits to leave here.

Sometimes we drop food color in to change colors.

Sometimes we make bubbles/foam with baby shampoo.

Sometimes we put the little sprinkler in it on low and feel it and make it go higher or lower depending on where the fingers go.

Sometimes we just bail it out, then it is done for the day.

Sometimes we do squirty rubber duckies and chase each other around with them.

Sometimes we dump those melty packing peanuts in it to watch them melt to a gross foamy mess.

Sometimes we dump sand in it to form "mountains under the ocean".

Sometimes we put little boat in it and blow them to the other side.

I am sure we will come up with lots of other things this summer....

[SilverSabre25]

This will be my first summer having one, too, but honestly...if we're not in bathing suits already and they get soaked...oh well. It's warm/hot, clothes dry. And if they don't, that's what spares are here for.

[Unregistered]

I'm blueclouds29 who can't seem to post anything, so i'm unregistered guess. Anyway, do you do the water table everyday? Every outside time. Anytime they want? Or certain days? Thanks for the help, those are great ideas

[Cat Herder]

This will be my first summer having one, too, but honestly...if we're not in bathing suits already and they get soaked...oh well. It's warm/hot, clothes dry. And if they don't, that's what spares are here for.

I just like to have the pictures of them in their "summer" duds for their Christmas calendars...

These suits are soooo cute now!!

[ammama]

I do a water table inside in the winter some weeks (I change up the sensory table every week or two, whenever they start to bore of what's in there). It will be water next week.

I use an underbed storage box laid on a child height table. Everyone rolls their sleeves up, and I don't really have a problem with them getting soaked. Anyway who is splashing others is removed, and they dont usually do that again.

Mind you, I only started my sensory table a few weeks ago, and have only done water in there for 1 week so far, but so far, so good.

[Abigail]

A good tip to remember.....children don't need a lot of water! LOL, even just an inch is good. Make sure to have a towel available and a basket for the water toys. Have some plastic spoons, measuring cups, and even floating toys available. Make sure if you have toys that should NOT be in water that they are no-where near the water table.

I've seen water tables on the floor in a small container so only two children can play in it at a time and I like the idea of the larger flat under-the-bed plastic container that can go on the table. Whatever you do, just start out with a few options until you're sure they know how to use the water table nicely. You may wish to stay with sensory items before bringing out the water to see how they listen to keeping it in the bucket. You may also wish to put a shirt or art smock over each child to help keep them dry.

[QualiTcare]

I'm blueclouds29 who can't seem to post anything, so i'm unregistered guess. Anyway, do you do the water table everyday? Every outside time. Anytime they want? Or certain days? Thanks for the help, those are great ideas

blueclouds, i don't know if the problem has been fixed already, but i did send michael a message to let him know you're having trouble.

[blueclouds29]

Aww thank you .. you know what? It was my fault, i changed my email and didn't confirm it!! LOL so its ok now! Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate it!

[heyhun77]

I have water in my sensory table about one week a month when we're stuck inside. A PP mentioned that kids don't need much water to be happy playing in it and they're right. In fact best practices for water play is no more than 1 inch of water for children under the age of 3 so in mixed ages I always just divert to that as our guideline. When we have water out it's one of the activitiy stations they may choose from throughout the day with a cover on it when we are doing group time, meals, naps, ect. I have an "emergency kit" in a box under the sensory table with different sized towels for different sized spills and the kids are responsible for cleaning up their spills. I usually put a set of foam floor tiles under the sensory table with a large picnic blanket over that so most drips are caught but the toddlers are known for taking water away from the table with them.

Outside (once we can see our grass again!) I have a larger sensory table and that has water in it daily which is changed (or in most cases refilled) throughout the day. It's next to the giant sandbox so most of the time the water is carried to their sand creations. On water days we do all sorts of water play with the sprinklers, slip n slide, ect but every day is a water play day.

Mine don't seem to get all that wet during inside water play so other than the normal change of clothes in their supply boxes I don't ask for extras. In the summer I bump extra clothes up to 2 sets but since we're outside more thn in they are usually dry by the time it matters. Most days you can't tell the difference between water and sweating anyway.

[blueclouds29]

So basically you all have it out everyday and don't have a problem with them getting to wet? So i don't have to worry thanks

[heyhun77]

I do have it out most of the day and it's usually not a problem. Since it's water you do have to stay nearby with the younger kids because they can drown even in an inch of water but for the most part the kids respect that activity station like they respect the rest of them. When they make a mess they clean in up, when they are done they put things back how they were to start and go choose something else to do.