Pool your observations with the staff team for effective learning through water play, as Jane Drake continues our series on planning in the long, medium and short terms
Long-term planning
Long-term plans for the water area should outline the learning that is likely to occur in that area while a child is in the setting, and detail how this learning will be achieved.
Possible learning experiences
Most children are fascinated by water and many spend long periods of time playing in the nursery water tray. A well-equipped water area will enable children to work towards goals in all six areas of learning but will be particularly rich in opportunities for scientific exploration and investigation and for learning about mathematical concepts such as capacity.
Children should be encouraged to:
- use their senses to explore water and find out about its properties.
- talk about their observations and ask questions about why things happen, for example, 'Why does the water come through the sieve?'
- learn about capacity, size, weight and shape and begin to use simple mathematical language to describe what they see and find out.
- begin to understand non-standard measurement as they use containers and ladles to fill containers.
- experiment by putting materials, such as lentils, salt, sand and fabric into water.
- begin to understand the concept of floating and sinking.
- build water systems to transport water and other items, such as wooden beads, and experiment with inclines.
- learn about temperature and the features of frozen liquids.
- learn about displacement of water.
- Play imaginatively, for example by setting up a polar environment.
Organisation
- Locate the area near a sink.
- Position the water tray on a non-slip floor or mat.
- Ensure that excess water is mopped up quickly to prevent accidents.
- Present equipment so that children are able to make independent choices, for example, in shallow containers with waterproof labels on open shelves (baskets will allow the water to drain through).
- Provide water play outdoors and in.
- Plan for adults to spend time in the water area, observing and supporting children's learning.
Resources
A large water tray on a stand (in the outdoor area there may be room to provide several trays and boxes at different levels); waterproof aprons; mop and bucket; containers (preferably transparent) such as buckets, jugs, plastic bottles and tubs of varying shapes and graded in size; ladles and scoops; teapot, cups, saucers, bowls, spoons; watering cans; sieves, colanders, slotted spoons, tea strainers, small fishing nets; water wheel; tubes, piping, plus plastic guttering to connect several trays outdoors; natural items and materials such as shells, pebbles, gravel, sand, wood and sponges; small-world equipment such as sea creatures and pond life.
Adult role
- Teach children routines for the area, such as putting on aprons as they enter.
- Model the use of vocabulary such as 'more', 'less', 'full', 'empty' and names of equipment.
- Challenge children's thinking by asking open-ended questions.
- Note opportunities for making links between areas of provision, such as using containers of recycled materials from the creative workshop to explore capacity (see 'Case study').
Medium-term planning
Planning a 'block' of learning for children is usually referred to as 'medium-term' planning. The duration of such plans varies but is generally between two and six weeks. Often, medium-term planning focuses on a topic or predictable interest and feeds ideas into the weekly or daily planning. Some settings plan for a curriculum focus at this stage and rotate areas of learning throughout the year; others use stories as starting points for ideas.
Medium-term planning should not be so rigid that it hinders practitioners' spontaneous responses to their observations of children. Some examples of medium-term planning are:
Transport
Additional resources
Small-world boats and people, wooden block (to be used as a jetty), plastic tubs, lids and straws, corks, paper, card, string, scissors, fiction and non-fiction books about water transport.
Activities
Talking about experiences of water transport, engaging in imaginative play and story-making using small-world equipment, talking about floating and sinking, and experimenting to find out which materials float, building and testing boats, using information books to find out about the purpose and appearance of boats and how they are made, finding ways of moving boats from one side of the tray to the other.
Light
Additional resources
Glitter, metallic sequins, cooking foil, plastic or wooden 'wands', unbreakable mirrors, food colouring, underwater torches.
Activities
Sprinkling glitter and sequins on the water; playing imaginatively, for example, stirring 'magic potions'; lining the tray with cooking foil; shining underwater torches through clear water; using torches to find objects in murky coloured water; talking about observations and predictions.
Mathematical development: shape, space and measures
Additional resources
Various transparent plastic bottles, jugs and other containers, food colouring in the water, waterproof tape, ladles, scoops.
Activities
Filling and emptying containers, using mathematical language such as 'full' and 'empty', comparing water levels, marking water levels with tape, predicting how many scoopfuls will be needed to fill a container, counting scoopfuls into a container, engaging in imaginative and role play such as serving drinks in a cafe.
Short-term planning
Short-term planning details how practitioners can support children's learning through a focus, and observation should be the starting point when planning for individual needs and interests. Although practitioners may plan a focus in response to observations of just one or two children, they will probably find that the activity attracts and engages a much larger number of children over a period of time.
Case study: Tyler
Observation
Tyler was absorbed in mixing coloured powder paint and water in the paint area and looking at the results. He then spotted drips of paint on the plastic tablecloth and made swirling movements with his finger until all the drips had merged. He also noticed the water in his water pot was changing colour as he worked and became interested in the changing colours in the sink as he washed up his paint equipment.
Staff response
Staff recognised that Tyler was much more interested in mixing paint than applying it to paper, and had observed his high levels of involvement in sensory explorations. They decided to plan for him to extend his investigation of colour mixing in the water area.
Key early learning goals
Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change Explore colour in two or three dimensions
Resources
Diluted blue, red and yellow food colouring, transparent plastic containers, ladles, spoons, paint shade cards, red, yellow and blue ice cubes.
Activity content
- Gather children around the water tray, show them the coloured water and talk about the new equipment.
- Let children experiment by pouring two colours into a transparent container. Ask about their observations and encourage them to make simple predictions -'What happened to the red water when you added yellow?', 'What did you add to the red to make it purple?', 'What do you think will happen if you add blue to yellow?'
- Ask children to select a small transparent container and introduce the coloured ice cubes. Encourage each child in turn to choose two different coloured ice cubes and to put them in their container. Together, watch as the ice cubes melt and the colours mix.
- Discuss what happens to the water in the large tray as coloured water from smaller containers is tipped out. Use spoons to stir the coloured water.
- Provide the additional equipment over a period of at least a week.