Monday, March 23

Toddler Water Transfer

This is a new activity I put together for my youngest daughter (17 months).


I found these little metal buckets at Walmart for a dollar. The activity stays on my daughter's shelf and I fill one bucket 1/2 full when she is ready to use it.

She wears her apron and uses the scoop to transfer the water from one bucket to the other. When she is finished we dump it into the bathtub and wipe up with the towel. She then puts the towel in the designated spot and gets a new one for the tray. She really enjoyed it and was very focused.


Recent Update Activity:

This one is very popular and has been on her shelf for awhile now, and she still loves it. With this set up she can scoop the water into the small bowl and then pour the small bowl into the bucket. It satisfies her need to scoop and pour.

8 comments:

Jess said...

Tilly loves these type of water activities, but lately had stopped doing them as much. I put out some coloured water for a change and she took to it again with gusto - which is great as needs some more pouring practice. Ill put up a post with it soon.

TheFiveDays said...

I am just learning about Montessori and haven't started in on any work with my girls yet. I have a 20-month-old daughter and I think if I gave this to her she'd pick up the cups and try to dump them. Did you start with another activity to show your daughter to use the spoons? Or how do you go about correcting this if she wants to dump the cups?

I love the little tubs!

Erin said...

Oh, how fun! We were just doing some water activities here today too, in preparation for our teas party. I was going to post some new pics tomorrow. :) I love the tub idea though.. we
just do ours on a tray, but that makes much more sense!

Amy said...

Thanks for all the nice comments. I enjoy hearing about what works for everyone else too. I will try to answer TheFiveDays question: In the Montessori world, solids (in small amounts) are always introduced before water- because the child can clean up easier with solids and see their mistakes easily. So, I introduced spooning with cereal (in the previous post) before using water. When using the water, expect it to be experimented with and even spilled. The towel helps and the apron, and make sure you in an area that you are ok with getting wet. I stay right by my daughter's side the whole time. When she picks up a container to try to pour I try to quickly hand her the scoop to see if she will take it. When she does pour it-and it does go everywhere- then she sees the water is gone. I say "all gone." I encourage her to help clean up. The natural consequence helps her learn what happens when she does this- and I try to handle it in the most positive way. It is good to have a pouring alternative among the choices available too.

TheFiveDays said...

Thanks so much for your info about using spooning with solids first. We'll give it a try! :) You just saved me a lot of dumped water, I am sure...

Also, I am going through a lot of your older posts...I am so in love with your blog! I appreciate all the info, especially for use with younger children because that is difficult to find. I have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old with autism, and I think a lot of your activites will be a hit with them as well as the littlest one. :)

I just saw your post on Waldorf art and the wet-on-wet technique. I do love the way Waldorf teaches this from what I've seen, but I am looking for a book to give me more info on actual technique. Any suggestions?

Also, I love the little set of watercolor paints you have for your daughter (in the wooden tray?) in the same post. I tried some watercolor painting with my 3-year-old yesterday and we definitely don't have good enough quality supplies...it was a muddy mess. So if you have any suggestions there, too, I'd appreciate them. I do have the Stockmar liquid watercolors in the primary colors but I am not sure how to best use them and they are expensive so I am waiting until I have more info before I break those out for the kids...lol..

Sorry, so many questions. Many thanks. :)

~Tamie

Jennifer Howard said...

As always...I sitting here absolutely lovin' your ideas. Thank you for sharing. What fun.
PEACE
Jennifer

Amy said...

Tamie- On the side bar of my blog, under toys there is a link for Nova Natural Toys (my favorite store ever!!). Under "Learning" on their site you will find jar holders and the book they recommend for teaching painting- Painting with Children- I believe. It is also available on amazon for $8-10. That reminds me it has been awhile since we used them!=)

Anonymous said...

Your displays are wonderful and welcoming, but it would be worth thinking about making sure that you leave your 'spooning' item in a central and vertical position to allow right handed and left handed children the opportunity to decide their 'handedness' on their own.