water table Archives | happy hooligans

We’re on a roll with our water play bin this week! Today was the third time that I switched up the contents and turned it into yet another cool activity to entertain the Hooligans.

Earlier this week we had an Ocean Bin and a Dinosaur Water Bin, but I think today’s may have been the most popular yet.

I left the pebbles and rocks in from the previous two days and added several large flat rocks from the garden. I had to dismantle a small Inukshuk to get the stones but it’s ok. The garden has sprouted up so much, we couldn’t see the Inukshuk anymore anyway.

I scooped all the pebbles and rocks over to one side of the basin to make a “shoreline”, and stacked the larger flat rocks along the opposite side to form a “rocky cliff and caves”.

Five or six drops of blue food colouring, some boats, a deep sea diver , a couple of sea-shells and a few plastic marine animals and we were good to go.

This little guy spent most of his day here, staging boat wrecks, dives and rescues. He loved the tiny lobster. And he claimed that the octopus was the lobster’s mama.

After nap-time he was the first one out the door, literally running to the back of the yard where to where we had the bin set up under trees, and he was still there when his Mom and Dad showed up to take him home.

Making a simple water play bin is such an easy and inexpensive way to provide hours of open-ended imaginary play for your child. There’s no need to purchase anything special. Here’s our fancy-dancy DIY water table: a stool and a storage container:

I collected most of the rocks at the beach one day last summer, including a bucketful of the tiny pebbles. Just wash them up first so they don’t muddy up your water. Then look around your home and garden for interesting items to fill your bin with. If you’re like me, you’ll have as much fun putting it together as your child will have playing with it.