Gross Motor Water Play Ball Toss

My kids love to throw the ball around.  It seems to be more fun in the house even though they know it is not allowed, lol.  So this afternoon I set them up a gross motor activity tossing the ball OUTSIDE. Now everyone was happy.  The Gross Motor Water Play Ball Toss kept all 3 kids busy and having fun this afternoon.

Color Recognition Water Play ~ the color orange

My oldest LOVES the color orange!  We have lots of orange in our lives over here at my house.  When learning colors I think we all know which one is orange during play and review. When asked one afternoon what type of water bin they would like to play in, "an orange one" answered my oldest.  I set out to set up orange colored water bins for playtime. We had 3 water bins in all.  Each one just a little different, but all orange.

10 Water Play Activities Kids Love

It is time for another 10 Things Kids Love.   With the weather warming up I deiced to put together 10 water play ideas we love.  I hope that a few of these ideas may become favorite at your house too.

Octopus Water Sensory Bin

We love water play at my house.  It was one of the first activities my 2 oldest started enjoying together at a young age.  As they have gotten older they still love it.  Now we have to include baby brother in water playtime.  I love that this became an activity they can all enjoy and bond over.  Since the youngest is 1 yr and the oldest is 5 yr I have to try and find something they all can enjoy. This Octopus Water Sensory Bin was enjoyed by the 2 younger ones.  As the mom of 3, I have also found for my kids they like to have simple setups at times and then add their own "stuff" to it.  So for today's water bin set up I left it easy peasy for me and then let them grab whatever they wanted that was water safe.  I enjoyed sitting down to watch them and they enjoyed wetting mommy.  Fun afternoon at my house.

DIY Water Wall- kids activity for summer

So I have been seeing water walls all over pinterest since I logged in over there about 1.5 yr ago.  They always look like fun.  So this year I decided as part of our summer bucket list we would make our own.  One day while in Lowes for another reason I went down the aisle with pipes and remembered that the water wall was on our list.  I started looking through all the pieces to find ones I thought would work and that didn't cost much.  We also got some zip ties while we where in there.  And of course before we left the boys had to go sit on ALL the lawn mowers.  I swear you would think they have never seen one before, they get so excited each time we go!  I love it though, seeing their smiles and joy from those things.  We finally made it out of there and back home.  We then got to work on our new water wall for the kids.

Tub of balls and bowls-water play

 We play outside with water a lot during the hot seasons and it is getting hot here.  We had been outside with some bowls of water this week and I kept having to come back in and fill them up every time they dumped them out.  Well you can imagine this got old fast for me.  So this day I took a rubbermaid we had that was empty and filled it with water.  I thought this can be our "refill station".  Add some balls for extra fun and now we had the perfect way to send the afternoon.

Spider-Man Water Bin

In the USA we are getting ready for our big 4th of July celebration coming up this week.  Our country flag is red, white, and blue.  So for the holiday I often set up play activities for the kids with that color scheme.  We often add stars...  This year with growing superhero fans I thought we would mix up the holiday play.  This year we are playing with a red and blue color scheme but adding in some Spider-Man fun!!  Today I am sharing a super simple(which we love) Spider-Man Water Bin.  My 1yr, 3yr, and 5yr LOVED this bin.  I loved the easy setup and almost no clean up.  Keeping them cool and busy on a hot summer day was a plus too.

Pool Noodle Boats Water Sensory Bin

Last year I cut up some pool noodles for a pool noodle water bin. We have since had a lot of fun with these pool noodles.  One of the things we tried last year was pool noodle boats.  They kids had a lot of fun with them in the bath tub.  A year later and we still have our cut up pool noodles for playtime.  I decided to make some new and improved Pool Noodle Boats for the kids this year since I had plans to use them in a sensory bin.

Star Wars Ice and Water Bin

At the end of last year my boys became more familiar with Star Wars.  Ever since, they have grown more and more in love with the characters from the classic movies and newer ones too.  At the top of their Christmas list were Star Wars toys.  When little brother's spring birthday rolled around, he had to have a Lego Star Wars party.  Ever since, Star Wars and kids has been on my mind.  Since they played with the Star Wars characters so much, I wanted to come up with a way to include them in some of our sensory play activities.  If you have ever seen the Star Wars series you can't help but think of Han Solo and ice or freezing.  The idea to freeze the toy characters came to mind first.  Here is how we played with an Ice and Water Bin Star Wars Style.

Sight Word Water Blast

Last summer I set out to introduce sight words to my 4yr old.  I wanted to make sight words fun and exciting.  We found many ways to add sight words to our everyday play.  This Sight Word Blast learning activity was just one way we did that.  This was a fun way to spend a hot afternoon.

Little Blue and Little Yellow- color mixing activity for kids

This week's Preschool Book Club brings you Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni.  We had never heard of this book before the book club.  So glad we now have a new book to enjoy in our growing home library.

I knew we would have to do some sort of coloring mixing activity to go with this book but was not sure what we would do.  Then one warm afternoon inspiration hit.  Water play would be the perfect afternoon activity so incorporating color mixing with it would be a great book extension activity.

Fruit salad pool-water play

On a hot afternoon I love to set up a water play activity for the kids. Letting them have fun and stay cool at all the same time.  This day I had an idea for a fun Fruit Salad Pool for water play. Water play is great to explore senses and most often involves lots of scooping and pouring which is a great way for the kids to work on their gross motor skills.  We had a fun afternoon staying cool in our fruit salad pool playing and learning along the way.

Swamp Water Bin~water play for kids

We are really excited about this weeks theme in our Play The Summer Away: Water Bin Play For Kids Series with Sugar Aunts.  We have yet to play in anything Swamp themed.  So this was fun and new to us.  We used items we already had at home but had never put them all together this way.  If you would like to read more on sensory play in water bins and keep up with our water bin series for the month of July CLICK HERE.  It will take you to the home page that will have a total of 10 water bin play ideas for you and the kids at or by the end of the month.

Beach Luau Water Bin- Sensory Play For kids

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So in case you missed it last week we have teamed up with Sugar Aunts to bring you a fun series Play The Summer Away: water bin play for kids.  If you would like to read what a water bin is and pin or bookmark our home page for the series click here. This page will at the end of the series have 10 different water bins for you to look through.  

Ok so lets get talking about this weeks theme.  This week we bring you a Beach Luau Water Bin. I had so much fun setting this one up for the kids with all the fun and bright items I found at the dollar tree.  They boys were excited to see their water bin when it was ready.  I think I wanted to play as much as they did.

What I used:

Fun glasses, plastic coconuts, lei, tiki cups, flamingo stirs, flowers, grass banner, and dive toys.  ( Almost everything I found at dollar store. I did get dive toys at walwart in the dollar section.)

What I did:

I filled the water bin up, added most of the items and set them up on the picnic table.  I taped the grass banner on the bin( which is a storage container).  These water bins would work great in the water table, bath, or sink too.  Last, I set the rest up on the table for them to grab if they wanted.

I made the kids stay inside with daddy and watch from the window as I set it all up.  It took maybe 5 minutes.  Then I snapped a picture and out they came ready to play.  This is great for our hot summer days here.  It is also great since my 2yr is not really into getting completely submerged in the little kiddie pool we have.  Water bins are great for staying cool and having fun.  

For this bin we added a little learning by talking about the colors of the items.  We saw what would sink or float.  The kids worked on  their motor skills and hand eye coordination when pouring and scooping the water.  And since water is a wonderful sensory material they got to learn through sensory exploration.  Kids learn so much this way.  My boys also got to learn how to share and play together(team work).  They got to problem solve as they wanted to carry water from the bin across the deck to their water wall...  There is always more learning going on than I even think of while we are playing.  

We had a lot of fun with our Beach and Luau themed Water Bin.  I can't wait for you to see what Sugar Aunts came up with for this week Island Luau theme in their Water Bin.  To see what fun we had last week with our Lavender Themed Water Bins click HERE.

We have a Water Bin and Water Table pin board set up just for you to help you find fun ideas from around the web and to help you keep up with the Water Bin Series.  We still have 3 weeks to go!

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check FSPDT out on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter,Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids to keep up with all the fun we get into.

We love water play over here.  Here is a post you may like with 10 of our water play ideas all in one spot.

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  Outdoors Play Party

  

Calming Lavender Water Bin- Sensory Play For Kids

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Are you ready for five weeks of water bin fun?  We have teamed up with Sugar Aunts to bring you Play The Summer Away: water bin play for kids.  Click HERE to read all about it.  Our first theme this month is lavender and the color purple.  We had a lot of fun playing as a family in this bin.  Since daddy was home he got in on the fun too.  Water play is great for kids to explore their senses and for the whole family to have fun together.  It's also a good way to stay cool too.  The kids had a lot of fun pouring water on mommy and daddy and we didn't mind.  Even baby brother got to get his feet wet.

What we used:

color tablets for the tub(get at walmart)

bath toys and containers

lavender bubble bath(get at walmart)

foam circles from dollar tree

What we did:

We added water to the water bin.  Next daddy added red and blue color tablets to the water and went over with the boys how red and blue mixed together made purple.   I added a little lavender bubble bath to their squirt containers and let them add it to the water.  Now we had a calming scent to play in.  I set all the toys and containers up on our plastic box outside for them to grab what they wanted.  I also had set out the water bin on their picnic table outside to raise it off the ground.

Making purple water

The boys couldn't wait to start playing in their calming lavender and color purple water bin.  They have so much fun with just water and containers most days that they loved some new added fun.  We did this before bath time to try and relax for the night.  They scooped and poured lots of water and squirted water from their containers( all which helps their motor skills).  They always like to see what will sink and float in the water.  We talked not only about the color purple but also about the toys and other things we had out.  The foam sheets were circles so we went over the shape too while playing.  We planted our flowers down in containers of water.  Somehow while playing it turned into a "pedicure" for us in the water bin. My oldest had gone with me that day for a pedicure and he wanted to recreate that in his bin.  We all took turns putting our feet in the water and pouring more water over our feet.  We all had a  nice relaxing time playing in our water bin.  This themed water bin would also work great in a water table, sink, or tub.  There are always so many ways we can play and explore with water.  Make sure to come back next week to see what new fun we get into this week.

Want to see more ideas for how you can play in a lavender water bin?  Stop over to Sugar Aunts to see what fun they had this week in their Relaxing Lavender Water Bin.  I always love seeing the ideas they have for a project and think you will too.

Pinterest board for WATER BINS AND WATER TABLES HERE if you would like to follow along.

More post you may like:

10 Water Play Ideas

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check us out on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids.

we linked up 
  

affiliate link

20+ Water Bin Play Activities For Kids

Excited to be teaming up with Sugar Aunts to bring you Play The Summer Away: Water Bin Play For Kids.  5 fun weeks of water play ideas for you and me.  Can not wait to see what Sugar aunts Shares.  This is the homepage for the series.  At the end of the 5 weeks it becomes a collection of fun and easy water bin activities for the kids.  Hope you can find a few fun ideas for play time too.

12 of Our Most Loved Activities/Crafts of 2012

2012 was the beggining of my blogging days.  It has been a fun way for me to share our fun with others in hopes they may find something fun too.  I wanted to put together 12 of our most loved posts from last year.  This is not all of our loved post.  I didn't include our most viewed single activity post which is Apple Playdough.  You can see that in my best of the best post I did as part of a blog hop. Also I didn't include my 10 Things Kids Love series that has been enjoyed by others.  I must say it was hard to pick 12 post but I tried to pick ones we loved and others did too.  So here is what I came up with.  Thanks for following along and letting me share my ideas with you.  I hope to continue to share fun ideas with you in 2013.

Paint with Water and Colored Ice

This a great fall activity for our weather.  We are having some cool morings and evenings but our afternoons are warm.  That is when it is is a good time to get out water and ice.  We play with colored ice and water all the time but never together like this before.  Painting with both water and ice is a cheap way to entertain the kids and it is a fun sensory experiencs for them as well.  You can also add a little learning with the colored ice. You can go over colors as you play.  With the water we painted shapes and went over them.  The rest is just fun, fun, fun!  This was a hit at my house.

What you need:  colored ice cubes( fill ice trays with water and food coloring and freeze.  I leave these in my freezer at all times bc I never know when we are going to need them.), bucket of water, and paint brushes.

What to do:  put ice cubes in a bowl and set them out with the bucket or bowl of water and let the kids have fun.

Our play.

They couldn't wait to get their hand on the ice cubes.

My oldest painting with the ice.

 Our water shapes we made.  This is our circle.

As always we hope you and your kids can have some water and ice fun too.



More post you may like 10 Water Play Activities 

Please do come and visit us again. We would love to have you back.

All kids are different and only you can decide how you let your kids play. And with what materials you let them play with. My children are supervised when playing. Please keep this in mind with any post you read of mine!

Check us out on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter,, Google+,

and our G+ community, All Things Kids.

We linked up at Saturday show & Tell and the sunday showcase

Super Sized Ice = Super Sized Fun-sensory ice play

It's no secret we love water play at my house.  It has been our go to activity for outside fun.  Having a preschooler and toddler, for me it can be hard to find things for them to do together that are the same.  With this activity they get to do just that.  A lot of our water play has elements of learning sprinkled throughout them all.  Even if its just simply going over colors and letting them work on their motor skills.  I love water play because once they are set up I can sometimes sit down right next to them and play.  ( being a pregnant mom this is a plus to me)  Having fun with my boys is always a  must.

Sweet Tea Sensory Bin- more fun while learning

We love sweet tea down south so I thought why not make a sensory bin around that.  I thought my boys might really enjoys this.  We love going outside and playing in the water bin together and learning new things.