Simple Summer Fun: Squirt Bottles

The item that has occupied my children the most this summer cost me a total of $3.18. It is the squirt bottle. I bought three at the dollar store, and oh how much I have loved them.

All three of my children (6, 4, 2) are enthralled by the squirt bottle. They love to squirt plants, cement, flowers, trees, rocks...they love to see what happens when they squirt and see the designs they can make. They can also squirt themselves and each other when they are feeling too hot. 

Such a simple thing, but it teaches some science and works those fine motor muscles in the hands. 

Surviving Winter: Bath Play

Last summer, we ran a popular series on simple summer fun ideas. I live in a very wintery climate and have had questions both from friends here and from readers on one of my other blogs on how to entertain children during a long winter. So I will be doing a Surviving Winter series this winter! Hurray for surviving winter!

We can easily have snow on the ground from October until May. Last "winter," we ditched the snow around the end of March/beginning of April, but it literally rained and rained and rained until Father's Day (which is odd for us because we live in a desert climate). So we can get a little house-bound and need to come up with ideas for keeping our children (and therefore ourselves) sane.

First up...Bath Play!

At my house, bath time has ALWAYS been just another playtime. This is true year round. A couple of months ago, my neighbor asked me for ideas to keep her almost four year old occupied in the day. He is the fourth child in their family, and his older brothers are all at school. I listed off things I do with Kaitlyn, and playing in the tub stuck out to her. She started doing that with her son each day and says he LOVES it. He loves to play in the tub and will stay occupied for a long time.

My kids also love the bath. The bathtub is one giant water play activity. You can easily get at least 30 minutes out of a bath. Oftentimes, I have to force my kids out after an hour! 

So what do you play with in the tub? Anything you would use with water play and more. We have several posts on water play on this blog. Here are some ideas:

• Bubbles
• Spoons/measuring spoons
• Cups of various sizes
• Pitchers
• Measuring cups
• Washcloth (my kids like to wipe the walls)
• Squirt bottle
• Goggles 
• Paint brushes
• Tub Painting

There are also a whole lot of bath toys out there!

• Bath Letters are great for adding some fun letter learning to bath time
• I have written a Toy Review on Bath Toys
• I have also written a Best Toys For Children on bath toys, and it includes care guidelines of bath toys

And what about you? What will you do during this loooong bath play each day? Here are a few ideas:

• Play with the kids
• Sneak extra learning in there (like with the alphabet letters--"What sound does A say?"
• Sit and quietly read a book. This is very relaxing! It is nice and warm and humid! 
• Clean the bathroom
• Call a friend if you can still focus on the kids
• Take pictures--enjoy these sweet moments
• Get ready for the day
• Sit and do nothing! How fun does that sound?

Paint-free Painting

Painting can be really fun, but it can also be a mess! A deck (or fence or sidewalk) can be the perfect canvas for a little water painting. I filled up a few bowls of water, gave both girls multiple brushes (roller, sponge brushes, large and small paintbrushes) and let them have fun. The deck dries quickly and leaves them with a fresh drawing surface about every minute or so. Again, no clean up necessary. Plus, a lot of kids like to lay down and paint/color. You may find that if your munchkin doesn't enjoy painting while sitting in a chair, he/she might like it when they get to lay down. And even better...for the ones that still like to "taste" everything, no harm done if they manage to sneak in a little sip. :)

Pouring Yourself a Drink

I ran across some of the cheapy plastic pitchers when I was out shopping one day, so I picked up a few. One activity most kids would LOVE to try, is pouring their own drink. And after watching them try, you can see that it's quite a challenge. Managing the sloshing liquid, aiming where it should go (and actually getting some in the glass), not pouring so fast as to knock the glass over, and not dropping the heavy pitcher...it takes some practice to say the least.

To encourage my kiddos to practice this skill without any cleaning on my part AND to help keep them hydrated on those oh-so-hot summer days, I fill up (yes, completely, otherwise you'll make multiple trips to fill up the pitcher) a pitcher with ice water and bring out one plastic cup per kiddo. I just set it out and told them to pour themselves a drink if they got thirsty. My 3 year old said, "By myself??" I just smiled and nodded. Their faces lit up and they poured themselves drink after drink...and drank it all.

Well, whatever managed to get in the cup.

Outdoor Bubble Bath!

To make our tiny swimming pool a bit more fun and interesting, on one of our 100+ degree days, I put a little bubble bath in while I filled up the pool. They loved it! When the bubbles start to disappear, I just sprayed the water again with the hose and they reappeared. Easy and fun!

Just for the record, regular diapers are really absorbent! I think I'll use a swim diaper next time, though. :)

Simple Summer Fun: Water Play

This has got to be one of the easiest activities to work in naturally in the summer. When it is hot, we seek water, right? Of course we all need to be very careful around water--whether you are at the public pool or letting baby play with a tub of water in the backyard. It only takes a minute, and it only takes an inch. Water play is not the time to busy yourself across the yard from the kids. Safety first! Have fun right along with your children. There are lots of different ideas of what to do with water fun in the summer. Here are a few:

THE BEACH
If you take a bucket and a shovel along with you to the beach, your children are sure to spend hours filling and dumping and filling and dumping water. Bring along various toys for your child to experiment in the water with. You also have the unique fun of waves, and the beach merges two of the best activities for a child: water and sand.

THE SWIMMING POOL
Going to an actual swimming pool can be lots of fun, too. This is an important time to talk about water safety. I think an important thing for you to do is teach your children to swim, whether it be through swimming lessons you pay for or from you if you feel qualified. While I despise swimming lessons because it takes over my life for two weeks, I think it is important for children to learn to swim.

THE WADING POOL
Our kids love to put water in our Little Tykes little pool and play around. They take toys in there, and we actually always keep it either right by or in the sandbox so they can play with sand and water. We do empty it out when we are done. Try taking out various household objects to experiment in the water with.

THE SPRINKLERS
Isn't this just one of those portrait of childhood experiences? It is for me.

THE WATERING CAN
My children love to fill up a watering can and water flowers. I found some watering cans at Dollar Tree. They are small, but large enough to have fun in the pool and to water plants around the yard. While doing this, you can throw comments in there about how plants need water to grow.

SQUIRT BOTTLE/WATER GUNS
The other night, we were at a water activity with a bunch of families. One mom had brought a squirt bottle along for her three year old son to play with and squirt people (and the little dear only squirted his mom :) ). They had an extra and Brayden had lots of fun with the squirt bottle. The next day, we got out our squirt bottles and Brayden and Kaitlyn ran around the yard squirting things an each other. The squirt bottle is great because you can change the type of spray, so you can talk about why the water goes further or spreads out more.

LITTLE TUB
For the younger children, you might want to fill something up like a little tote/tub of water to play with outside. I don't like McKenna to lean over the wading pool to splash in water, so this is a better object to use if that is all she wants to do or if she isn't in a swimming suit.

THE BATHTUB
One time, a blog reader from one of my other blogs commented that the bathtub is playtime for us. This is very true. Every day includes water play in the bathtub at least. I am a sucker for toys, and we have lots of bath toys. Children have so much fun. They fill and dump, splash, color, play with bubbles...all while practicing motor skills while they pour water over and over.

YOUR IDEAS
If you have any additional fun things you do with your children that involves water, please share!

Tub Painting

When you've been trapped inside due to weather or for whatever other reason, sometimes you need to liven the routine up a little. We've been known to throw in an extra bath time during the day. Nothing like a little body painting to chase away the midwinter stuck-inside-too-long blues. At least that's the motto in this house. :)

An easy (and cheap) way to make bath time, day or night, a little more fun is to make bath finger paint.

I let Charis help mix it together using measuring spoons. The measurements don't have to be exact. I add more or less of any ingredient to get the consistency of finger paint.

Recipe:

1 T cornstarch

2 T liquid soap (shampoo, body wash, etc)

food coloring

Mix cornstarch and soap together. I usually double or triple the recipe. Then add a few drops of food coloring to get the desired color. Last time I did it I did 2 T cornstarch and 3 of soap and it turned out fine.

So far it hasn't stained anything and washes off the walls perfectly. Great time to work on colors or cause and effect from mixing colors!

Scooping-Water Play

Materials
-2 large bowls or pots
-a variety of spoons (including measuring spoons)
-a towel or bath mat

Preparation
-fill one bowl halfway with water
-set up activity in bathroom, kitchen, or outside where it's safe to get wet

Actvity
-let your baby or toddler play in the water :) Show them how to scoop water from one bowl into another using the spoons. This is a good preparatory activity for children who are almost ready to feed themselves using a spoon.