Waterplay in Winter

The very thought of water play in winter makes our adult brains scream NOOO, NOOOOOOOO, its too cold! The very thought of water play in winter makes our childcare brains scream NOOOOOOO, the kids will get wet and their clothes will get wet! The very thought of water play to child in winter is the same as what it is in summer.

I bravely let out children participate in mud pie making today. My colleagues looked at me as if I was crazy. The children looked at me as if I was the best person in the whole wide world!

The trick is to incorporate it. I did this in the form of mud pie making.

I set up this little table

A tray of sand, a pot of mint leaves from our slightly over-grown vegetable garden, and a little pot of dirt. 

I knew this would eventually end up in making mud pies. Or in this case 'mud salads,' apparently....

Once the children had been involved in making these 'mud salads' for a while, I offered them water. Of course they jumped up and down at this opportunity. I did explain to them though that we would only get one watering can of water so we needed to use it wisely.

So we still got to use water, we just incorporated it. The children didnt get wet or muddy or dirty (much to my colleagues delight) and we still achieved water play in winter.




Update: 18/06/2011