Water play indoors. Yes, I may be crazy...

[DayHomeMama]

I have been toying with the idea of having indoor water play time now that it's too cold to do so outside. My dhk's LOVE playing with water and it keeps them playing nicely for a good hour!

Do any of you 'do' indoor water time? How do you keep it from becoming a huge mess? I also have never done sensory bins either as I'm afraid of the huge mess that will ensue! On my full days I have ages 2, 2.5, 2.75, 3.5, 4, and my own 4 year old.

Thanks :)

[Crayola kiddies]

I have a fellow provider that gets a big blanket and puts it on her kitchen floor and puts the water table on top of that that way there is no slipping and she says its like entertaining the kids and washing her floor at the same time.....kudos to her..... I would never do it.

[DayHomeMama]

If I had Lino or tile I would totally do that, but the builder of my house thought it was a great idea to put hardwood throughout the main area, including kitchen!

Do you do sensory bins at all Crayola?

[mickyc]

Never! LOL. I don't do sensory bins either. My daycare is fully in the basement and it is all carpet except for where we eat.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I am a big believer of allowing kids to be kids :) Let them get dirty, wet, messy, gooey....let them have fun!!!! Let them explore different textures, different ways to play, etc.

Now having said that, I'm not completely crazy! I like to "contain" the mess as much as possible so I try to think about ways to keep it clean while still allowing them to have fun and get dirty! I don't want to spend my whole afternoon cleaning slime off my walls LOL

When they were younger and I only had 2-3, I would put them in swim diapers and let them play in the tub together. We called it our indoor pool lol. Buy one of those long shallow rubbermaid containers from walmart and put that on the table or the floor and use that as your water table. Either make sure you have a spare set of clothes or let them go in their diaper/underwear. All depends on your comfort level. I use towels but a blanket is a great idea!! I will have to remember that. My daycare is also in my basement but I have a full kitchen down there so we do all of our art/sensory/water play in the kitchen, bathroom or hallway which is all linoleum(sp??)

Sensory....we do rice, macaroni, homemade gak,feather bin, homemade play doh, homemade slime. Still havent tried the cooked spaghetti but maybe for halloween we will!! I will also put a long piece of paper on the floor and paint their feet and let them walk on the paper.

We have also done pudding art. I usually just take their shirts off for this, give them some pudding on a paper plate and let them go to town. I don't worry if they eat it as that is half the fun. When they are all done I just throw the plates out.

There is lots of way to let kids explore and learn through playing messy and still not have a huge mess to clean up :) (except glitter...glitter is the devil and I don't allow it anymore LOL

Oh and my kids are a combination of 18 months, 2 years and 3.5.

[Crayola kiddies]

If I had Lino or tile I would totally do that, but the builder of my house thought it was a great idea to put hardwood throughout the main area, including kitchen!

Do you do sensory bins at all Crayola?

My daycare is in my basement and its all carpet except the bathroom and kitchen ..... Yes I do sensory bins ..... Rice, lentils, pasta, metal objects and big magnets ect .... And I have the vacuum handy

[gravy_train]

I love the idea of indoor water play and the pudding art sounds great too! I sometimes get the kids to 'help' by washing the smaller toys (like the plastic food we use in the kitchen). They really love it and the older ones have a great sense of accomplishment and take great pride in their work.
I personally don't use sensory bins because my group is very young and smaller objects are a choking hazard. I also don't believe in wasting food (although I know you can create sensory bins with non-food objects). I also feel like what we do every day is sensory - feeling the mud, holding worms, splashing in puddles, picking grass, etc. so don't really see the need.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Gravytrain...in the summer we did a "car wash" where they got buckets of soapy water and sponges and they cleaned the ride on toys and bikes and they loved it! I never thought to get them to do that with our play kitchen items...thanks for the idea!

I admit I am a huge food waster ( I know, I know, it's terrible :( ) so I don't have an issue using food for play but I can certainly understand why some people do. I buy the cheapest stuff I can for play(I'm a couponer so I stock up when boxes of pasta are a quarter!) and I always buy the cheap no name pudding but I know that for some it's more of an issue of wasting food when so many people are starving everyday!

You're much braver than me....no worm holding here!! lol :)