Water Table Ideas for Preschool & More

When kids need to cool off fast, I pull out our Little Tikes Fish ‘n Splash Water Table and let them have at it!

They are so excited to splash around in a circle of water at just the right height! I’m glad I don’t have to fill a pool up – and they get just as wet!

Our new water table even comes with some great activities:

• Trying to land the frog on the lily pad
• “Fish Bowl” Fill and Spill bucket
• Fishing pole action – kids can try to hook the frog, crab, turtle and fish!

So many water table ideas for preschool kids!

Lately, I was looking for some new water table ideas for preschool aged kids, and there’s tons of great things you can do besides just use water! We’ve already done some of these over the winter in our basement:

• Pom-Poms
• Water Beads
• Ball Pit Balls (these bounce out pretty fast! ha!)
• Pasta
• Mini figurines
• Fall leaves, acorns, pinecones
• Holiday decor

I decided to try bubbles in the table!

It’s so easy – all I did was squirt a line of bubble bath around the water table. Then turned on the hose with the sprayer nozzles attached, and sprayed! The sprayer really beats up a huge pile of bubbles!

After I got the bubbles nice and high, I added in a bucket of hot water from the sink, because spigot water in spring is so cold!

Now the kids have more water table ideas to try!

• Pile up the bubbles
• Try to fish without being able to see the toys (hey, that’s kind of like REAL fishing, right!?)
• Search under the bubbles for the toys with their hands
• Throw bubbles in the air
• Create more bubbles by swishing the water around (my nearly 3 year old came out after his nap, and the water looked all fizzled out, but after a few minutes of splashing, he’d gotten a nice layer of bubbles back!).
• Plus they can wash all the toys clean when they’re done playing!

I love water tables because they cool my kids off, let them get wet without a bit “to-do,” and encourage fine-motor skills. Besides, what other toy lets multiple kids play together so easily as a round table!?

Well… there is our little grill set!

Pretend play grill sets let kids emulate their dad (or whichever parent does the grilling, but it’s certainly NOT me in this house!). It’s the perfect idea for a Father’s Day toy that dad and kids can play with together!

Our five-year-old got the thrill of “building” his Backyard Barbecue Get out ‘n Grill set from Little Tikes with his dad. He read the instructions, handed my husband tools, found the right parts, and generally kept the assembly going smoothly!

Then he got to grill like a pro! I even overheard our little guy saying he was grilling “like Daddy!” That just blesses my little mama heart!

Besides the role model play, the grill set is another chance for them to practice fine motor skills with the tongs, and learn to share. There’s a sink, and upper and lower grill, and I have to say, my boys have learned to navigate the grill together, taking turns playing at the sink while the other cooks!

It’s so sweet to see them flipping a pretend burger (onto the grass!) and offering me meal after meal from their playtime fun!

This post is brought to you by Little Tikes and I was provided samples to facilitate this post! All opinions are my own!