Ideas for Water Play

• Four and five year olds will enjoy indoor and outdoor water play. Protect clothing by having the children wear waterproof aprons or plastic rain ponchos. Provide the children with an assortment of objects. Let them test the items to see which items float. Encourage them to sort the objects into a group that floats and a group that does not float.
• Purchase a set of plastic ocean animals and a set of plastic land animals at a discount store. Let the children sort the animals by size, color, or where they live.
• Fours and fives will enjoy experimenting with different sizes of containers for water. Gather an assortment of different sizes of cups, bowls, and other containers. Let the children compare the containers and determine which hold the most water.

Appropriate Water Toys

What Does the Child Learn?

• Small muscle development in hands
• Sink and float
• Sorting skills
• Volume and capacity

Language Development

Water play offers many opportunities to develop the language skills of fours and fives. Talk with the child and discuss:

• Sizes, shapes, and colors
• How things are alike and how they are different
• Numbers