You won’t exactly have to drag your child kicking and screaming to play with water! There’s almost nothing they like better than to splash about. Here are some ideas for your preschooler to have fun with water, and maybe even learn a thing or two.

1. Fill up two glasses of water, and give her a short straw, and a longer straw. (Tape a couple of straws together to make a longer one). Let her drink though each straw. Which glass empties faster? Is there a difference at all?
2. Fill up a glass of water, and let her count how many sips of water it takes to empty the glass.
3. Plug up your bathtub, or kitchen sink, turn on the H2O, give her a few plastic bowls, cups and glasses, some paper boats and let her have fun.
4. Pour some bubble solution and food coloring in a bottle of water, or use detergent instead of bubble solution.  Let her shake the bottle really hard, and see the beautiful results.
5. Fill a bottle with water, add blue color, detergent, a few small leaves, and a few plastic fish and sea creatures. Let her shake the bottle hard, and look at her “sea globe.”
6. Take a glass, wrap a piece of cotton cloth on the opening, and secure with a rubber band. Put some sand on the cloth. Take another glass of water, put some mud in it, and pour this muddy water into the glass with the filter cloth. Explain the concept of filtration. Why isn’t all the mud being poured down through the cloth and into the glass? For variation, use different types of cloth – muslin, even a paper napkin. What’s the difference in the water in the first glass when you pour through different filters?
7. Throw some water in the yard, and let her clean this up. Give her different materials to clean up – a sponge, a thick cotton cloth, your kitchen mop. Let her figure out how to get the water off the ground the fastest.
8. Have fun with the garden hose. Play a game of Squirt Me Quick, and see who can squirt the other more. Terribly messy, and bad for your hair, but she’ll love it!

Enjoy!