Water Table

I bought the sand-and-water table about six months ago and so far, I have to say that it's the best toy that I've invested in. Although our sand-and-water table has not met sand before (hence it's called water table in our home), it's been played lots and lots of times with water, ice, water beads and soapy water. And the added paraphernalia to the mentioned media is just endless! In fact, the little girl uses it for her play at least once a week, unlike some toys that have not seen daylight after being played for only a week.

Recently, we've had two water play which I absolutely loved with the water table. For the first one, I had wanted her to do some colour-mixing with coloured water. I had seen some activities with coloured water in a group at Facebook and I thought of trying it out. So I threw some transparent containers, a scoop and some water birds into the water table, with blue and yellow coloured water, for her to explore. 

The initial set-up of the water table

The little girl realised that something was not right

I wondered what she was going to do

She wanted the penguins to "hold hands"!

Then she grouped the ibis and flamingo together

At this point, I realised that the activity wasn't going in the intended direction but I was okay with that. I let her continue on her own to see where it was going. She was the least bit interested in any scooping, transferring or mixing. After a while, she took all the penguins out of the water, lined them up and asked for some fish. Immediately, I knew where it was heading. She wanted to feed the penguins! Obviously she was re-enacting our penguin-feeding at the Bird Park a few weeks ago. She even asked for a glove, as I had worn one while feeding the penguins, but unfortunately we didn't have one at home which was small enough for her.

Queue up for some fish, penguins!

A few days later, we did another activity at the water table. The little girl loves to stand on the stool in the kitchen and watch me as I do this and that, asking me once in a while if she could help. So I thought - why not let her have her own "sink" of dishes to wash? She could have fun with soapy water, be a little like Mummy, and help me with some housework all at the same time!

Her own dishes to wash

Grab a plate

Soak the sponge

Scrub away!

And when you are done, always wash your hands

I thought she had so much fun washing the dishes that she would want to do it again but when I asked her the day after, she didn't want to. I guess she realised that real housework isn't half as fun as it look. In fact, it is actually tiring. Haha!!!