Water play with infants and toddlers

As the temperature heats up water play becomes more and more tempting.  There are definitely safe ways to introduce water play for infants and toddlers that are tons of fun.  As long as children are supervised when playing with water these activities are a great way to cool off and have a lot of fun!

One great way to introduce water play is with sponges and small bowls of water.  These are great for outdoor play because little ones can soak their sponges and then squeeze them right onto themselves.  This is a great way to explore cause and effect.  Here are some other great ideas for using sponges;

Sponge Balls
Sponges and Soap Suds
Sponge Necklaces

Splashing is a favorite activity for infants and toddlers.  You can create perfect splashing opportunities using shallow trays (or cookie sheets) full of water.  Child can use their hands, or other utensils like spatulas and flyswatters to see how far they can get the water to splash.

Little ones also love to dump and pour water, fill up small plastic containers with water and let the kiddos get wet!

This last idea is one that I am dreaming of trying (just because I think it looks like tons of fun, I would probably use it more than the kids).  Have you seen these water blobs?  Leisha over at Homemade Toast has a super easy tutorial for making one that looks like a ton of fun.  Can you imagine the little ones crawling all over this thing?