Messy Learning Lab: Just Add Water

Is water really messy? I planned all these activities with water and the answer is decidedly, "YES!"

Luckily, my wonderful, amazing, fantastic co-worker, John, had the foresight to put a tarp down, or the hard wood floors may have taken a hit. I filled two under-the-bed storage totes with water. I added some toys to one and floating things to the second.

We used spray bottles at both craft tables. Possibly a favorite activity involved children spraying EVERYTHING. Spraying really works those motor skills! One table had relief painting with liquid watercolors.

The other table used the tried and true method of staining regular paper with tissue paper.

I recently purchased egg shakers to use in storytimes, so these homemade sand shakers got a new life. I poked holes in the bottoms, so the kids could shake, shake, shake the sand into some water. I just love the feeling of wet sand.

No water program is complete without water beads! You can see my hand turning the small tote so both boys could reach at the same time. I really needed a bigger tote for this activity. I just didn't have many beads left after the last event. I paired the beads with sand toys. They enjoyed fitting as many beads as they could into each shape.

Another simple activity made new by adding water. Cover a chalkboard, or sidewalk, with chalk markings, then use water to paint. Draw and repeat.

This mat is a chalkboard banner! I've used it several times since this event and I love it, but the first time it was super stiff even after ironing. I added water to cornstarch and food coloring to make chalk paint. It dries with a cool texture.

I saved the favorite for last. The Ooey Gooey Lady had an obstacle course set up for a conference on Facebook recently. This is my take on it. I taped bubble wrap to the floor and added blue balls to the parachute (water and umbrella).

Adding water is easy, cost effective and so fun. Have you added water to any activities? Leave me a comment with some links! I'd love to see what you've been up to this summer.

Messy Learning Lab: Water and Glowing Fun

The slime I made for the Water and Glowing Messy Learning Lab was a failure. Yep, I think I let the solution sat in the Borax too long. It would stretch a little, then break apart.

It still had an interesting texture and looked beautiful mixed together. Oh, and it bounced!

I found some test tubes and goggles at Discount School Supply that are perfect for preschoolers. The water is tinted with food coloring, yellow, red and blue.

Little scientists work really hard.

In addition to water beads and baby water beads, I also set up watercolor painting on the "water" side of the room.

On the glow-in-the-dark side of the room, I made GID playdough. You add GID paint to any play dough recipe. I didn't like the texture of the play dough after adding the paint, though. It was really sticky. Maybe I should use less paint?

A local furniture store donated a large box for me to poke holes in and stick lots of glow sticks all over.

I expected the glow sticks to wind up in little hands and was not disappointed. At one point, they spanned the length of the room!

The glowing sensory box had hedgeballs, beads, stars, rocks, glow sticks and rattles.

As all the glowing materials need time to charge, I left the lights on in the room for several hours before opening the doors. I also left mini-flashlights at the door for the children to use while in the room.

I set up a black light station with items I had on hand that would glow.

The yellow highlighters worked best on the coloring mat. The white farm animal puppets also worked great under the black light. I have an inexpensive point and shoot camera, so it was difficult to get good pictures in the dark (what with the constant movement).

Not pictured is the glow-in-the-dark silly putty, which turned out to be a favorite with the parents. It's great to play with on hard wood floors and easy to pick up. And that wraps up the water and glowing fun!

Sharing with Tuesday Tots and For the Kid's Fridays.

Water Table Activity

I added water to our mirror box to use some of our ocean theme figures.

Glitchy pic- It demands this odd rotation!

Setting up the temporary water table was so easy. The tote fit perfectly on Bobo's picnic bench. I put out a colander of rocks and gems, a small pitcher, a squirt bottle with blue water and a bucket. Bobo is working on cutting out the dissolving dinosaurs to put in the water. He insisted on using scissors, so he could do it himself. Those scissor skills are getting pretty good!

I took this activity outside, but it wasn't that messy. I would feel fine taking everything to the basement for the winter or colder weather. I originally wanted to leave the table outside, but Bobo loves it too much and prefers it in the living room. Surprisingly, or maybe not, it matches the decor.

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