9 Ways to Incorporate a Water Sensory Table in Your Classroom

Posted by Ryan Owens on Jul 13th 2015

Running a nursery or daycare center entails much more than providing a safe environment and making sure the needs of your young charges are adequately met.

As a long-time provider of sturdy and well-designed preschool furniture, we know that daycare practitioners also need to provide creative and interactive activities for their students. A water sensory table in your classroom may just be what you need. Read on below to find out why.

Water Play

You don’t have to go outdoors to give your students a chance to engage in supervised water play. Most children find water endlessly fascinating. Lifting and pouring buckets of water gives them a great motor coordination workout.

Sand Play

There may be some days when playing with water will not be advisable. You can fill a water sensory table with sand instead and give the children a heightened sensory experience. Touching and manipulating the sand will aid in the development of their fine motor coordination.

Water and Sand

Fill a sensory table with the right mix of sand and water and give the children buckets of varying sizes (or plastic cookie cutters). Then stand back and watch them create shapes and structures using wet sand as building blocks. It’s an excellent way to encourage even very young children to tap into their creative side.

Shaving Cream

Provide an altogether different tactile experience for children by using shaving cream instead of water and sand.

Soapy Water

Here’s a good way to make sure the kids keep clean and have fun at the same time. Fill the table sections with soapy water and throw in bubble blower wands of varying sizes. The children will have fun blowing bubbles and cleaning up after the activity will be a breeze.

Keep Boredom at Bay

Keep the children guessing. Fill the table with a different item on each day of the week. Dry pasta, beans and rice work quite well. The different textures and sounds will hold their interest and stimulate their creativity.

A Wonderful Slimy Experience

Children are not easily grossed out; in fact, most of them find new sensory experiences to be quite fascinating. Cook and color spaghetti noodles using a variety of bright colors, and fill up the sensory table with it. Then let the children handle the spaghetti to their heart’s content. Its slimy, slippery texture will likely hold their attention for hours.

Give Them Permission To Get Messy

A water sensory table gives children a chance to make a “supervised mess.” This can encourage creativity, stimulate purposeful curiosity and increase attention span.

Made for Children

Water sensory tables are built for young children. This means they are sturdy, safe and easy to clean.

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