Water play

So the weather is hot hot hot at the moment and Doof is spending a lot of time outside - with water play being the perfect antidote to the soaring temperatures. Here are some of the things D has enjoyed in the last 2 weeks:

1. Bucket play

We did this when D was at his grandparents house as space and equipment was limited (see HERE for other creative play ideas we did when away from home). It was super simple - just filled up a large tupperware with water, collected an assortment of plastic animals together and then let D play. I love watching him enjoy such simple activities - he had so much fun just splashing in the water, making the animals go for a 'swim' and trying to balance them in the boat.

 2. Paddling pool

Everyone enjoys a nice cool paddle when they're hot. Doof is no exception. So we filled up his pool, put in some balls, scoops and animals and let him play and cool down at the same time.

 

3. Coloured water

We've had lots of fun using our "color dropz" in the bath (see here) and when I saw this post on Two-daloo's blog I thought we had to try using them in outside water play too.

The set-up was really easy - I filled 3 large plastic boxes with water, added a different colour dropz to each tub and then added corresponding colour plastic balls from our ball pit. Doof was very excited to see the different colours and I'd definitely recommend using see-through tubs like we did so they can see the colours easily. As well as the obligatory splashing and pouring, D enjoyed picking the balls out of the water and then posting them over the fence. He even managed to straddle two of the boxes with one foot in each (proud mummy moment!). 

 

This is quite a nice activity to set up at the start of the day and then just leave in the garden so it can be re-visited on several occasions. I only put the boxes out at around 3pm and Doof still played with them on 3 separate occasions before bed so next time I'll definitely make them in the morning instead.

4. Water slide

This is definitely one of Daddy's favourites and Doof loves this soooo much too. You do need a hose and a garden with average-good drainage so ours lives at grandparents house for us to use there. 

Initially we set it up on a slight slope so it acted like an actual slide. However D wasn't very interested in sitting and sliding (probably because the water was coooold and not that nice to sit in!) but he did really enjoy playing in the sprinklers and setting up plastic tubs to collect the water.

The next time we set it up on the flat and showed Doof how he could run along it whilst getting showered with the sprinklers. He LOVED it - after each run he would frantically sign "more" and run back to the start! We held his hands for each run as it was way too slippery for him to do on his own so we got lots of exercise too :) it was so cute hearing him say "ready steady go!" before each run.

  

******

What water fun have you had with your little ones recently?