Water activities not only help your family cool off on a hot summer day, they are also an education tool for your children.
With water toys and activities your children discover new concepts and words to enhance language and communication skills.
They discover new scientific concepts and learn to problem-solve.
Plus, water activities create a fully engaged sensory experience with all five of their senses.
If your children are ready to grow and learn while having fun, try these 10 backyard water activities!
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Benefits Of Water Activities
1. Water activities allow children to explore their senses
Water is very versatile. It can be combined with other textures and frozen to create something completely new.
Adding ice cubes to water play activities allows children to feel the coldness of the ice and how it melts with heat.
Water added to dirt creates mud that lets your child touch a completely new texture that gritty.
2. Water activities increase communication skills
When children discover new amazing things their excitement grows and they use new words to express their joy!
3. Water activities help increase focus and concentration
Engaging water play activities will help lengthen your child’s focus and concentration as they learn to problem solve with water and water play tools like buckets, pipes, ladles, and more.
4. Water activities develop gross and fine motor skills
As your child carries a small bucket from one area to another, he/she is working large muscle groups within the arms and back.
When your child squeezes a sponge or uses a turkey baster to squeeze and release water.
5. Water activities help kids learn math and science concepts
Supply your kids with measuring cups and a water activity helps them understanding fractions, measuring and basic math skills.
Children can guess if an object will sink or float, and introduces your child to scientific concepts like volume and weight.
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Backyard Water Activities For Kids
Water Table
Water tables allow your child to manipulate water with tools to explore the motion and flow of water.
Whether you have one child or six children, there’s something to discover and splash with in a water table!
Best of all, a water table doubles as a sand table allowing for a completely new sensory experience!
You can even add the following water activity toys:
-Rubber Duckie’s
-Measuring cups
-Toy fish
-Ball pit balls
-Sponges
-Ladels
Splash Pad
Splash pads are not just for toddlers! Older children can get it on the fun too! Splash pads let your children splash safely in a wadding pool.
Many splash pads can attach to a garden hose for a built-in sprinkler and the water pressure can be adjusted for spray height.
My family has one and it’s well worth the price (they’re fairly cheap) and provide hours of fun for a hot summer day!
Plus, they still allow even the youngest children to play safely with water activities.
Water Blob
A water blob is just that… A giant blob filled with water. Although you can always create your own giant water blob, you can also purchase one.
A giant blob filled with water gives your children a completely new experience with water activities.
They can jump, belly flop, and create wave patterns and vibrations of the water.
The blob can also have a relaxation affect if your child simply lays on it!
Water Balloons
Try using water balloons for these water activities:
–Pinata’s (Just hang from a tree or clothesline and have your children bat at them)
-Placing water balloons on a trampoline and jumping on them
-Filling balloons with non-toxic paint and throwing darts at a large piece of paper to create ‘splash art’
Sink or Float
This water play game involves testing whether objects will sink or float in water.
All you need to do is gather objects or toys that are considered water safe and have your children guess whether they will float or sink.
Another way to add more depth to this activity is to have your child sink a floating object.
For instance: Have your children guess how many rocks will need to be added to a plastic bowl to sink it.
The sink or float activity introduces your child to the concepts of buoyancy and density.
If you don’t want to head outside, fill your bathtub with water and add ball-pit balls! I’ve done this before and my boys love it!
Kid’s Pool with Ball Pit Balls
A small plastic kiddi pool is great for hot summer days! But placing ball-pit balls in with the water will create an extra element of fun for your kids.
Build a Dam
Challenge your kids to build a dam with a water table, sand, rocks, sticks, and some water.
This not only helps with focus and concentration, but your children will have to use some problem-solving skills.
Soapy Bubbles
Similar to the idea of throwing ball-pit balls in the pool, bubbles make another element of fun for your kids.
You can then add in plastic fish or rings for your kids to find.
Waterfall Discovery Wall
This waterfall discovery wall lets your child scoop water into a bucket and watch how water moves from obstacle to obstacle on the wall!
Washing Station
Take a water table or two large plastic containers (one with dirt or mud and one with soapy water).
Next, add plastic animals like dinosaurs, safari animals, or farm animals in the “dirty” container with mud and have your kids ‘wash’ the dirty animals in the container of water with sponges, scrub brushes, and toothbrushes.
Don’t forget the towels for drying them!
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Final Thoughts
Through movement and flow water gives your children the opportunity to discover new water activities, language, and a little science.
While some of these activities are simple playtime with water, other water activities involve a bit of problem-solving skills.
Thankfully, there’s something for everyone on this backyard water activities list!
So what are you waiting for? If the weather’s nice head outside and let your kids discover all that water can do!