Hello Highlands Community!

We are desperately trying to will the warmer weather to come back to Highlands! We are missing our days of summer fun when the weather is warm, and we can splash and play with water. We had a few warmer days in June, so we were able to bring out the sprinklers and kiddie pool for the children to enjoy. They had a blast running around in their swimsuits and chasing each other through the water.

While we may not be having the warmer weather we are used to, we still do enjoy water play throughout the year, just not the kind that requires swimsuits. Water play is very important for children during their early years. When children are given the opportunity to explore with water, they are gaining all sorts of knowledge and abilities. Here are some benefits to water play:

• Develop fine and gross motor skills, as well as learning hand eye coordination when pouring, squirting, stirring and squeezing water.
• Build social emotional growth as children relax and unwind while engaging with water.
• Promote language development, problem solving skills, and cooperation skills as it is a fun activity for friends to engage in. Example: The children can talk with one another to figure out how to create a ramp for water to flow down.
• Learn basic math concepts including full, empty, more, less, etc.
• Experience basic science concepts like motion, how ice melts into water, and how fast or slow water flows.

Water play can be as simple as setting up a tub of water with cups and spoons and letting them pour and dump for as long as their hearts desire. But you can also get creative with your set up and add materials like flowers, citrus fruits, or different watercolors that they can mix up. Young children love to dump and pour so having a variety of items will help keep them engaged for long periods of time. There is no end to the number of things you can do with water, and we encourage everyone with young children to look into this kind of play. We bet even the adults will have fun too! Thanks for reading!

Kindly,

EEC Staff