To continue exploring the items the children found during their nature walk, along with their love for water play, Celine thought, “Why not put them together?” Celine set out three buckets of water with the nature items placed around them. She wondered if the dandelions would expand when added to the water, as they had shriveled up overnight.
Leona, Bennett, and Abir went right over to the buckets and started splashing. Bennett picked up rocks, pinecones, and dandelions and placed them into the buckets. Isaiah found the rocks on the blanket, picked them up, and threw them into the water. Leona noticed the rocks Isaiah had put into the water and took them out one by one. She continued exploring each bucket and found a pinecone, which she placed into the water. Celine and Melody asked, “Does it sink or float?” We discovered that it floated.
Micah joined when he saw a rock in the bucket. He would pick it up and then drop it back into the water, repeating this action over and over. As Abir splashed in the water, Melody brought over his favourite rock from the day before. He quickly grabbed it and placed it into the water.
Eloise began her exploration by feeling the water and putting the dandelions in and out of the buckets. Then, all of a sudden, she started splashing! She moved to another bucket and bent over far enough to dip one side of her head into the water. Melody found a stick and showed Micah how to stir the water. He took the stick back from Melody and began stirring the water himself.
This gave Celine the idea to add dish soap to the water to create another sensory experience. As the water was stirred, bubbles began to form, and Celine also added paint for colour. This transformed the activity into a whole new exploration. Isaiah took a stick over to another bucket that had not yet been mixed and began making bubbles.
When Eva arrived, she seemed very interested in joining right away. She picked up a stick and started mixing the bubbly water. She then used her hands to splash gently and placed bubbles onto her hands. Bennett, Isaiah, and Eloise also joined in by placing bubbles onto their hands. Eloise began placing bubbles onto Bennett’s head as if she were washing his hair, which made Bennett smile. Eva used the soapy water to wash her body.
Eloise then continued her “hair washing” by moving over to Isaiah. When Isaiah touched his head, he seemed to notice the bubbles, which encouraged him to reach into the buckets, gather bubbles onto his hands, and place them into his hair. He continued doing this for quite some time. After washing her peers’ hair, Eloise seemed to decide it was her turn, as she went to the buckets to gather soap and place it into her own hair. She moved from bucket to bucket collecting more soap to continue washing her hair.
Leona and Abir joined each other at one bucket and began splashing together, which made them both laugh hysterically. To extend this activity further, we could set up a baby bath sensory experience.
