Water play is a great pastime for preschoolers to explore, create, and enjoy! Water play can happen year-round, with a variety of preschool water activities to use to keep your little ones busy!
These are 23 of our favorite water activities for you to try with your preschooler! Whether learning, practicing motor skills, or just having fun, these will quickly become some of your favorite preschool water activities!
1. Pouring Station
Simple and easy, this homemade pouring station is a fun way to get hands-on with water play indoors or outdoors. This is a great way for preschoolers to experiment with water and work on hand-eye coordination through pouring from one container to another. Just a tub of water and some random containers can pair together to provide tons of fun!
Learn more: Busy Toddler
2. Water Wall
Another fun water activity for a steamy summer day is the water wall! This activity would be ideal for a bored toddler or preschooler. Making a homemade water wall is quick and easy and only requires household items and water. Preschoolers will enjoy watching the paths the water makes down the water wall.
Learn more: Happy Hooligans
3. Floating Boats
Floating boats are fun ideas for indoor play! This science activity is a fun way to let preschoolers build their own boat out of marshmallow peeps or sponges and toothpicks and paper. You could bring out other items to try to determine if the boats sink or float in containers of water.
Learn more: Make and Takes
4. Fishing in a Pool
Hot summer days are great for outdoor water play! Add cold water to a kiddie pool and let your little one practice catching floating foam fish with a small net. This is definitely preschooler and toddler approved and can provide lots of fun for them as they splash and play. But beware, they may have a water fit and not want to get out!
Learn more: I Can Teach My Child
5. Water Bead Sensory Bins
Water beads are all the rage right now! Little ones love touching these little gel beads and feeling them move in their hands. Fill a tub with these water beads and add objects that will help with fine motor practice, like spoons or strainers. Children will enjoy moving these water beads around and feeling them squish against their skin. This is a fun and simple water activity for preschoolers!
Learn more: One Lovely Life
6. Pom Pom Scoop
Little ones will enjoy this activity and will be provided with several learning skills. They can practice color recognition skills, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. Super simple to set up for parents and teachers is a big bonus too! Just get a bin and fill it with water, dump in some colorful pom-poms and hand them a spoon to scoop up pom-poms. Add the element of counting in by having them use the number on paper cups to add that same number of pom poms that they scoop up.
Learn more: Happy Toddler Playtime
7. Muddy Car Wash
Let little ones engage in realistic play by setting up a muddy car wash. Let them muddy the cars and play in the dirt and then take the cars for a spin through the car wash. Kids will enjoy using soapy water to clean the cars.
Learn more: Happy Hooligans
8. Colored Water Experiments
Adding food coloring to containers of water gives the containers of water a new color and allows for lots of fun when mixed or observed by children. They can use the colors to mix them to create new colors.
Learn more: Happy Hooligans
9. Water Balloon Math
Water balloon math can be great for kids of all ages. You can use different operations to create math facts and let students practice. They could write the facts after they solve!
Learn more: Virtual Book Clubs for Kids
10. Water Gun Painting
This water activity is fun for kids of all ages! Fill the water guns with water and squirt watercolor paintings or fill the water guns with paint. Either way, you'll end up with colorful artwork and tons of fun!
Learn more: Virtual Book Clubs for Kids
11. Ice Boats
Ice boats are fun and easy to make! Some ice cubes, straws, and paper are all you need to build your boats. Children could track how long they float and see how fast they can melt them!
Learn more: Busy Toddler
12. Rainbow Water Xylophone
This STEM activity is always a big hit! Students will enjoy watching the colors and playing sounds on the glass jars. They can even make their own songs. Students could even add the food coloring to the water to tint the shades.
Learn more: Mama, Papa, Bubba
13. Pool Noodle Water Wall
Pool noodles are great for the pool, but they are great for a water wall too! You could cut the noodles or leave them their original length and have them twist and turn down the wall. Kids will have fun using funnels to pour water down the water wall and catch it in a container.
Learn more: Teaching Mama
14. Rainbow Bubbles
Soapy water plus a little food coloring make for some magical rainbow colors! Students can play in the suds and blow the colorful bubbles! Different sizes and shapes of bubble wands will add to the excitement of rainbow bubbles!
Learn more: Gift of Curiosity
15. Phonics Water Balloons
Water balloons can make all studying and learning a little more fun! Use them to build CVC words and have students practice blending. You could also do water balloon tosses to see if they can read and hit the words.
Learn more: Mess for Less
16. Pumpkin Washing Station
The pumpkin washing station is fun and practical. Letting students practice using brushes and watering cans to clean objects like pumpkins. You could substitute other items for the pumpkins. This could be done indoors or outdoors in a sink or a container.
Learn more: Busy Toddler
17. Sponge Water Bombs
Water sponge bombs are fun alone or for a group of little ones! They can squeeze the water bombs and transfer water or have a water sponge bomb playtime. Preschoolers could even help make these little water sponge bombs.
Learn more: Messy Little Monster
18. Water Balloons
Water balloons are fun for learning but fun for playing too. Water balloon fights are fun, safe, cheap, and easy. Let little ones help make the water balloons and get a little extra fine motor practice as well.
Learn more: Artsy Momma
19. Feed the Ducks Sensory Bin
Rubber ducks are always a hit when there is water. Add them to the bath or add them to this sensory bin! Practice catching items to transfer or pretending to feed the ducks are good fine motor skills for practice. Students can also count the ducks.
Learn more: Toot's Mom is Tired
20. Water Transfer Pipettes
Water transfer is a fun and easy activity but try this twist: do it with different tools! Try using a pipette or a turkey baster. Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination will get good practice as well. Students can also count the drops!
Learn more: Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds
21. Pencil Water Bag Experiment
Fill a gallon size bag with water and do this pencil experiment. Push pencils through and let students see that the bag won't leak. This is a fun experiment that will get students thinking, wondering, and asking more questions as their curiosity sparks.
Learn more: Paging Fun Mums
22. The Shapes of Water
Water transfer is fun but using different shaped containers will add a different dimension to their thinking. You could add food coloring to the water to help them distinguish the visuals better!
Learn more: Stir the Wonder
23. Sink or Float
Making a sink or float bin will help students learn to make predictions test out their hypothesis, and they could even document it through an observation journal. Let students pick which items they want to test or have them collect items from nature.
Learn more: Laughing Kids Learn
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