Water, Water, Everywhere

© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care. All rights reserved.

Water is everywhere. Babies can splash it, dribble it, or make themselves all wet. They watch water pouring into their bathtub, squirting out of a sprinkler, or falling from the sky. No wonder babies are fascinated with water!

Give babies safe opportunities to play with water and always supervise carefully while they play with water. Here are a few activities to get you started.

• Fill two containers with water—one with warm water and one with cold water.
  • Hold a baby’s hand over an empty plastic bin. Pour warm water and then cold water on her hand. Dribble a slow stream on her hand and then a fast pour.
  • Encourage her to push the water around in the bin, splash it, or blow on it to see how it moves.
  • Talk about similarities and differences and about what she is doing and seeing. Use science words such as dribble, stream, slow, fast, cold, and wet.
• Fill a plastic bin with water. Cover an area of the floor with plastic bags and place the bin on top.
  • Let a baby drop, place, or push objects into the water. Include things that sink (for example, a lemon or a wooden block) and things that float (for example, a plastic straw or piece of cork).
  • Introduce science vocabulary such as float, drip, sink, splash, up, and under as you talk about what she is exploring.

Let older babies squeeze sponges, pour water on the ground from small watering cans, and watch raindrops dripping off leaves. Talk about how water moves.