You can never go wrong with water play activities. Many autistic children love any kind of water play. They love water for its many textures, temperatures, colors and even its smell. In regards to that, make sure these aspects of water do not interfere with your child’s sensory play. This is because it ruins the experience. You can use this guide when picking sensory activities for your child. Perfect for sunny days or when you just need a splash of fun, these activities are great for developing your child’s sensory skills and fueling their imagination.
Rainbow Water Mixing
Imagine turning water into a rainbow! This simple activity involves filling several clear containers with water and adding a few drops of different food coloring to each. Give your child some empty containers and let them mix and match to create new colors. It’s a fantastic way to teach color recognition and mixing, and the best part? It’s a colorful mess that’s easy to clean!
Ice Age Rescue
Freeze small toys (like plastic animals) in ice cube trays or balloons filled with water. Once they’re solid, it’s time for an Ice Age Rescue mission! Equip your kids with safe ‘tools’ like warm water in squeeze bottles, salt, and even toy hammers to help free the frozen treasures. It’s a chilly, thrilling way to develop problem-solving skills and fine motor coordination.
Water Balloon Sensory Bin
Fill a large bin with small, filled water balloons and let your kids dive in hands-first! The squishy sensation and the occasional splashy ‘pop’ provide a unique sensory experience. It’s not just fun; it’s a way to explore textures and cause-and-effect in a playful setting.
DIY Water Table
Create your own water table with a large shallow container or a plastic bin. Add water, cups, funnels, spoons, and any waterproof toys. Kids can pour, scoop, and splash, learning about volume and gravity while they play. It’s a mini water world for endless exploration!
Nature Soup
Take the kids outside to create their own ‘nature soup.’ Provide a large container of water and let them add leaves, flowers, sticks, and stones. Equip them with ladles, spoons, and bowls for a pretend cooking experience. This activity encourages creativity and connects them with nature in a playful, sensory way.
Water Gun Painting
Fill water guns with a mix of water and non-toxic paint. Hang a large sheet of paper outside and let your kids unleash their inner artists with a splash of color! It’s a fun way to explore art and motor skills, and the result is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
Bubble Mountain
Mix water with a generous amount of dish soap in a large container. Using straws or bubble wands, let the kids blow and create a mountain of bubbles. This activity is not just visually mesmerizing; it also helps with breath control and understanding cause and effect.
Other water play activities to try
Washing dishes
This is a great water play activity that your child may enjoy. Use soapy water and fill the sink or dish up to your child’s elbows. Try out different water temperatures depending on the current weather conditions in your area.Â
Playing in the mud
It’s mess but one of water play activities that kids enjoy. It may get messy but what harm could a little dirt do right? You can play in the mud right after it has rained, or after watering the garden. You can also try mixing water and any soil that you can get to make your own wet mud.
The rainy season brings with it fun water play activities like playing in puddles. Put on some rain boots and stomp around In the puddles together with the kids. Some kids like to stomp in puddles with bare feet. Please make sure that it’s safe before removing shoes. you can also stir the puddles with a stick. If your child’s motor skills are quite advanced then go ahead and toss in pebbles.
Washing the car, bike or your pet
Turn simple chores like these into one of your water play activities. You can use a dish, bucket or the hose. You can also use the hose in water play activities by playing with a water wiggle of other toys that Look up to a sprinkler or hose.Â
Swimming
If you have a swimming pool, inflatable pool or any other pool you can use it for water play activities. Let your kids float on a raft or Inner tube. You can also dive into the water for objects. hide the objects first before you start playing. Always monitor your kids when they are playing In or near water for Safety
Bathroom sensory water play activities
Bath time is always a great time to incorporate some sensory activities that can help calm down the child’s body especially when it’s just before bed time. You can use bath time everyday as an opportunity to calm and soothe a hypersensitive child. Also if your child as is hypo-sensitive instead, you can then use bath time to give them additional sensory stimulation
If you have kitchen equipment that you no longer use like basters, colanders or funnels you can use them to add some fun play during bath time. You can add food coloring to cups of water.
Textured items like bathing gloves, loofahs, sponges, wash cloths and even the back brush can be used to add some fun to water play activities during bath time.
If you have a sensory seeking child giving him or her lots of pressure while towel drying them after the bath can help add some sensory stimulation.
These are just some of the fun and easy water play activities that youcan try with your child to help them with their sensory needs. I hope you found them useful.
