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Preschool Study Unit: Water

September 19, 2011 by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience, Unit Themes 9 Comments

Water  is everywhere in our lives.  Without much thought, we bathe in it, drink it, cook with it, and wash our hands over and over on a daily basis.  And in spite of its everyday status, there’s still something mesmorizing about it, especially for children.  They’ll scoop, pour, and explore, over and over and over again. 

Water is a great study unit that you could explore for weeks or even months!  Children can explore the physical properties of water, the changing states of water, rain and water’s role in nature, the many uses for water, and the change that water can quickly bring about.  If you plan to explore a water unit in the near future, here are a few activities to help you out!

Sensory and Science Activities:

More Fun with Oil and Water Density {Almost Unschoolers}

Does it Dissolve? {The Picky Apple}

Exploring Science with Water {Karen Cox via Teachers.net Gazette}

Photo via I Can Teach My Child

Make Your Own Tornado (or Whirlpool) {I Can Teach My Child} (Add a little toy boat, fish, or glitter for extra interest!)

Moving Water: Siphoning {NJC}

Traveling Magnets {Tinker Lab}

Colorful Ice Sculptures {NJC}

Wonderful Water Play {Irresistable Ideas for Play Based Learning}

Making it Rain {I Can Teach My Child}

Drops on Penny {Zoom}

Pitched Roofs {Tinker Lab}

Creative Activities:

Kids Art: Drip Painting Continued {Childhood 101}

Painting with Tissue Paper {The Little Red Hen}

Photo via Tinker Lab.

Straw Blown Watercolor Painting {Tinker Lab}

Wet on Wet Art {Nurture Store}

Tie Dye for Preschoolers {Teach Preschool}

Block Area:

Pipe Dreams {Brick by Brick} (Take them outside and add water!)

Sea Scape Area with Mirrors {Sun Hats and Wellie Boots}

Dramatic Play:

Create a beach scene.  Better yet, go under the sea, with a cardboard box submarine! 

Set up a puppet theater with an ocean story.

Outdoor Activities:

Water Balloon Yo-Yos {Frugal Family Fun Blog}

Aluminum Foil River {Filth Wizardry}

Water Walls for Water Play {Let the Children Play}

Photo via Preschool Daze.

PVC Pipe Sprinkler {Preschool Daze}

Sponge Relay {I Can Teach My Child} (Great Sci and Math components!)

Painting with Water {NJC}

Squirt Gun Game {Martha Stewart}  (Write letters and/or numbers on the balls for symbol recognition practice!)

Music and Movement:

Make Your Own Rainsticks {NJC}

Water Xylophone {Play at Home Mom}

Sing classics like “Row, Row, Row, Your Boats”, “The Ants Go Marching” (and make a marching percussion band!), “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”, and “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”.

Make Rain

Large Group Activities:

Concept Map: Water feels like…sounds like…looks like…tastes like…smells like…

Will it Float?  Simple Graphing for Preschoolers {NJC}

Sort “Things that Need Water” vs “Things that Don’t”  (Essentially living and non-living things.)

Book Activities:

Rainy Day Book Activities {NJC}

What are your favorite water books and activities?

Top photo source.

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Comments

  1. 1

    kristin says

    September 19, 2011 at 5:41 am

    : ) thanks for the mention!

    Reply
  2. 2

    Christie-Childhood 101 says

    September 19, 2011 at 6:21 am

    What a fabulous collection of ideas. Thank you for including our drip painting 🙂

    Reply
  3. 3

    Sadlier PreK says

    September 19, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Water is so important to human life and wellbeing . What an incredible idea to use it as a teaching tool! Thank you for sharing some ideas.

    Reply
  4. 4

    se7en says

    September 19, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    What a fabulous resource – I love it!!! We did a post on rainy activities last week and you may want to take a look. http://www.se7en.org.za/2011/09/16/se7en-1-rain-filled-crafts-and-activities…

    Reply
    • 5

      notjustcute says

      September 19, 2011 at 9:20 pm

      Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  5. 6

    michelle says

    May 30, 2012 at 9:33 am

    What an awesome idea!!! using aluminium foil to make a river.

    Reply
  6. 7

    Maximo says

    October 5, 2016 at 1:00 am

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    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Wet, Wild Fun for Hot Summer Days | Not Just Cute says:
    June 4, 2012 at 8:33 am

    […] You can also find more fun ideas for water exploration in my Preschool Water Study Unit. […]

    Reply
  2. Thematic Units for the Preschool Classroom | Not Just CuteNot Just Cute says:
    October 24, 2013 at 1:47 pm

    […] Water […]

    Reply

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In early education, there is too much distance between what we know and what we do. I bridge the gaps that exist between academia, decision-makers, educators, and parents so that together, we can improve the quality of early education while also respecting and protecting the childhood experience.

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