Water Bin with Tubes and Funnels
If your kids love science activities and waterplay, they’re going to love this. It’s the perfect combination of both! They’ll be cool and entertained for hours in the back yard with this simple water bin with tubes and funnels.
We have lots of great water play ideas here among the pages of my blog. Water bins are one of my absolute favourite, warm-weather activities for toddlers and preschoolers. They’re easy and inexpensive to set up, and they always keep the hooligans entertained for hours.
Last fall, the hooligans really enjoyed an activity that I set up on the fence with funnels and tubes. They poured corn kernels and chestnuts through the tubes for days.
Now that the weather is warm again, I thought it would be fun to set up a tube and funnel activity with water.
Yesterday I dug through my husband’s stash of plumbing supplies, and collected some pieces of pvc pipe. The hooligans were playing with a bin of coloured water, so I added the pies and some funnels to the bin to see what they would do with them.
They were thrilled, and got straight to work.
I wasn’t sure how long it would hold their attention for. After all, it wasn’t terribly exciting, but I’m not kidding you, my toddlers and preschoolers played at this water station for an hour and a half this morning.
This would be a terrific water table activity, but we don’t have a water table, so we make our own! I set up a make-shift arrangement of storage containers set on top of stools, benches and over-turned containers. Hey, it’s cheap, and it works!
They poured, they colour mixed, they put pieces of pipe together,
they co-operated, and collaborated, working together – one person carefully holding together the multi-pieced contraption that he’d made, and the other pouring the water into it.
They emptied the big bowls of water into the bin several times, and I kept filling them back up with coloured water.
By the end of our water play, everyone was soaked, and they’d re-arranged the tables and containers and turned the whole activity into a restaurant.
I love how these simple open-ended play activities get their imaginations working.
And I love that a simple, inexpensive water play activity can keep them learning, laughing, and experimenting for so long.
More Fun Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers:
Playing with Coloured Water: Backyard Activity for Kids
Dino Dig – Melting Ice with Salt and Water
Frozen Fractals Ice Sculptures Activity for Kids
Follow the Hooligans on Facebook
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
