Activities for your Paddling Pool

Children love water and if its in a paddling pool on a summers day it's even more exciting!  There are some great games and activities you can get the children to enjoy which are fun and also promote learning through playing.

Listed below are a few ideas:

• Coloured water: how about adding a few drops of food colouring to your paddling pool and floating boats on the blue sea or turn it green and hide some underwater sea creatures under the waves.
• Weights and measures: Find a few plastic containers (yogurt pots, empty milk containers, plastic cups etc) and fill and empty them with the water.  See who can pour from one container to another; see how many little pots fill a bog pot etc.
• Flower pot fun: clean out some old flower pots and use them to play in the water.  Find big ones and small ones.  Put them inside each other; make a tower and fill them with water to see how it pours out through the holes.  It's like a shower!
• Witches Cauldron: get some bits and piece that are waterproof and make a special witches brew!  Add some plastic play food, plastic flip flops... anything crazy that the children think of!
• Texture play: add some smooth spoons, rough pine cones, squishy sponges, watery flannels and look at how they feel and look different in and our of the bath.
• Sink or float: find some bits and pieces round the house and see whether they sink or swim.  Gently place them onto the top of the water and see what happens. Try a coin, a straw, a crayon, a bead, a leaf etc.
• Bubbles in the garden: add some bubble bath to the paddling pool and see how many bubbles you can splash in the pool.  Try blowing bubbles too and have lots of bubbly fun.
• Wash the babies: get some dolls and give them a good bubbly wash in the the pool.  Wash their clothes too.  Chat about needing to wash each day to keep healthy and clean.
• Big balls: get a selection of balls and play with them in the pool.  Which makes a big splash?  Show sinks?  Which spins on the water or is most slippery?  Try playing catch with wet balls... a bit more tricky!
• Blocks in the pool: bring some toys into the pool that don't normally get wet.  It will be a great novelty.  How about building blocks or bricks.  Watch how the children play or do things differently with the toys in the water rather than out of the water.