Easy Water Play Ideas for Children

There are few more fun things to do with children in summer than to indulge in some water play, whether at the beach, the park or your own garden. Here at Garden Play, we love fun and games as much as anyone, so we put together some easy water play ideas that will keep children entertained, engaged and learning, hopefully for hours. Whether it’s a little bucket of water to keep a toddler happily splashing for hours, or a more organised game for older children, there’s plenty of options. Easy, inexpensive, and fun, these great water exercises are guaranteed to keep your children laughing and learning in the garden this summer!

Window Foam Art

This will keep really little ones entertained and cool for a long period this, with toddlers loving when the baby care window foam art is set up for them to play with. Toddlers who like making things and playing with water will adore this fun and simple outdoor art exercise. You can make window art with foam water and shapes. It’s easy to set up, mess free, and a great way to amuse children at home on a hot summer day.

Ice Age Bin

This one combines an exciting activity with a learning tool, and begins by freezing items into a bin or bucket of water, so that they become encased in ice. For a child, melting the ice with warm water and/or salt is an engaging learning exercise. There are loads of options with how you could go about it, with the potential to catalogue each item that you find and keep a journal of what came out of the ‘Ice Age’ bin this time. You can keep children busy for hours excavating frozen valuables out of the block of ice. It is one of the most fun science exercises out there.

Garden Soup

Another fun water-based sensory exercise for children to do in the garden is this exercise, which is effectively allowing them to examine their backyard and pick items to make interesting concoctions. It can be a messy one, so make sure that you have a dedicated bucket or washing up bowl that you can set aside for this, and that the young ones know which items they can and can’t add to the ‘Garden Soup’ as you don’t want your prize roses ending up as an ingredient!

Colour Laboratory

The colour laboratory is one of our best-loved garden science exercises. Similar to the Garden Soup in that involves letting them mix in different items, this one is more focused on colour blending and can involve items from the kitchen, bathroom and/or garden. Children can be little scientists, blending potions and colours in the garden on a warm summer day. Raid your kitchen cupboards and bathroom for some colourful solids and liquids, as well as using old containers to play with; pump bottles, squeeze bottles, whisks, spray bottles, and Ice cube dishes are all good for observing the transformation in watercolour.

Deep Blue Sea Activity Bin

The deep blue sea bin is an exciting small sphere activity to set up for your children if you are studying an underwater theme or ocean theme, make a below-the-sea small sphere with a tub or bin of water with a range of items with an underwater feel.

We hope these few ideas have given you some ideas for how to make the most of water play, but here at Garden Play, we’re also well aware that sometimes, all you need is to grab a water pistol and a bucket and you’re all set!