Water play

Ages 0 to 2 A grown-up reads and plays along · about 10 minutes

Read together

Splash, splash! The water is wet.

Pour it in. Pour it out. Splash!

Do it

1. Put a few centimetres of warm water in a washing-up bowl, on a towel on the floor.
2. Give your child a plastic cup, a spoon and a sponge.
3. Let them pour, splash and squeeze. Say “pour”, “wet”, “splash”, “all gone”.
4. Stay beside them the whole time, within arm's reach. When you finish, empty the bowl at once.

Talk about it

• What happens when we pour from the cup?
• What does the sponge do?

For the grown-up

Water play teaches the first science: wet, pour, full, empty. It is a calm activity many children love.

Think of it as a thank-you for water: “Thank you, God, for water.”

Mark as done

Next lesson →

Where this comes from

• American Academy of Pediatrics, “Prevention of Drowning” (policy statement), Pediatrics (2019)
• World Health Organization, UNICEF and World Bank Group, Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development: A Framework (2018)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.