Water play?

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  • AuntTami
    Daycare.com Member
    • Oct 2014
    • 891

    Water play?

    How do you guys "do" water play? I want to get a sand/water table, or something similar but how do you let your kids play in it without them getting soaking wet? Or do you let them and change their clothes? That seems like a LOT of work to change everyone's soaking wet clothes but I also can't let them all run around in diapers!
  • Kabob
    Daycare.com Member
    • Jun 2013
    • 1106

    #2
    I have a couple different types of sand/water tables. I only have 5 kids from 11 months to 3 years. The older ones mainly stay dry and if they get wet they are usually dry by the time we go in. I have one that gets soaking wet no matter what so her mom sends a swimsuit for her as well as extra clothes every day...she usually gets messy even without water anyway so I'm changing her after outdoor play regardless of whether she used the water tables or not.

    I wanted to add that I don't worry so much if they get a bit wet when playing as long as they are comfortable temperature wise until we get inside. If it becomes too much of an issue then I lessen the amount of water outside for a while.

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    • AuntTami
      Daycare.com Member
      • Oct 2014
      • 891

      #3
      Originally posted by Kabob
      I have a couple different types of sand/water tables. I only have 5 kids from 11 months to 3 years. The older ones mainly stay dry and if they get wet they are usually dry by the time we go in. I have one that gets soaking wet no matter what so her mom sends a swimsuit for her as well as extra clothes every day...she usually gets messy even without water anyway so I'm changing her after outdoor play regardless of whether she used the water tables or not.

      I wanted to add that I don't worry so much if they get a bit wet when playing as long as they are comfortable temperature wise until we get inside. If it becomes too much of an issue then I lessen the amount of water outside for a while.
      All of mine are little so I KNOW they're gonna end up all wet from splashing, at least until they learn the "no splashing" rule. And I don't mind if they're all wet but I'm not sure how parents will feel. But the idea of leaving them out until they're dry is a great idea! Water play right away and THEN everything else!

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      • Kabob
        Daycare.com Member
        • Jun 2013
        • 1106

        #4
        Originally posted by AuntTami
        All of mine are little so I KNOW they're gonna end up all wet from splashing, at least until they learn the "no splashing" rule. And I don't mind if they're all wet but I'm not sure how parents will feel. But the idea of leaving them out until they're dry is a great idea! Water play right away and THEN everything else!
        I always tell parents from the beginning that their kids will do messy things here but I will send them home in clean clothes, which means they will need an extra pair or two of clothes here at all times.

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        • Laurel
          Daycare.com Member
          • Mar 2013
          • 3218

          #5
          I only did water play outside with bathing suits on. I put a water table on the grass and then a sprinkler next to that. I only turned the sprinkler on very low (about waist high on them). It was just a cascading waterfall type one that they could fill up buckets with. It was pretty much a summer activity even though I am in South Florida so they 'could' do it all year.

          I wouldn't even consider doing it in the house. I did work in a preschool where they did it inside but the children were ages 3-5 only. No littles. They wore an apron and had rules about splashing and also it was limited to one child at a time.

          Laurel

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          • Unregistered

            #6
            Originally posted by Laurel
            I only did water play outside with bathing suits on. I put a water table on the grass and then a sprinkler next to that. I only turned the sprinkler on very low (about waist high on them). It was just a cascading waterfall type one that they could fill up buckets with. It was pretty much a summer activity even though I am in South Florida so they 'could' do it all year.

            I wouldn't even consider doing it in the house. I did work in a preschool where they did it inside but the children were ages 3-5 only. No littles. They wore an apron and had rules about splashing and also it was limited to one child at a time.

            Laurel
            Same here. Water play is only a summer activity that we do once a week. The dcks bring their swim wear. I have a water table which I switch out different toys/materials every week, and either a sprinkler type toy going or a wading pool. Sometimes throughout the year we'll do spray bottles as water play or in spring when we talk about rain the kids will bring umbrellas, rain coats, etc and we play in the "rain". I don't have space inside for a water table. When I worked in a preschool I put newspaper under and around the water table to soak up spills.

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            • jenboo
              Daycare.com Member
              • Aug 2013
              • 3180

              #7
              I've done it a few different ways. In Vegas, the only way to go outside in the summer is to get soaking wet. Otherwise you would die from the heat.
              I had 6 kids all ages 2 and under. I had a pretty good assembly line/routine and would get everyone change into bathing suits and back into regular clothes when we came back in. Bathing suits stayed at my house and I washed them on Fridays.

              When it wasn't that hot, we had a water table and the kids shirts would still get soaked. I would close it up 30 min before going inside. If someone was still wet then they just ran around inside without a shirt on.

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