Water play is a delightful way to cool off during the warm Summer months. Here you’ll find water play activities, suggested water play tables and ideas to support your child’s speech and language development.

Please remember to supervise your children and stay safe around water!

Whether you’re splashing in the pool or playing with water play tables, water play can be an activity for the whole family to enjoy! The combination of water and play creates opportunities to support your child’s speech and language development.

Water Play Activities

Here are a few water play activities that you can include in your routine or as a special event. Set up the environment and follow your child’s lead to see if the activity sparks their interest. 

• Use water play tables with a range of measuring cups and toys
• Fill a big container with water and see which objects sink or float
• Put ice cubes and arctic animals in a tray with water
• Fill up a paddling pool, go to the Lido or swimming pool 
• Splash in the bath with bath toys and/or foam stickers
• Take a trip to the beach and play by the sea
• Water the garden with a hose or watering can
• Wash the dolly, dinosaurs or farm animal toys
• Create a car wash with your child’s favourite toy vehicles
• Pretend to be chefs, cooking and baking 

Related post: Child-led Play

Water Play Tables

Water play tables can be a wonderful way to try to keep the water to one area. Here are a few of suggestions:

Water Play & Speech and Language Development

Water play encourages splashing and excitement for many of us. It creates a space to explore new vocabulary, concepts and gestalts (i.e. scripts) in a multi-sensory and play-based way.

Explore some speech therapy ideas that you can embed into your routine at home. Meet your child at their language level and focus on modelling 1-2 ideas at a time.  

Vocabulary and Concepts

There’s a range of words that can be modelled in water play activities, here are some examples:

Power Words

Power words are meaningful words that your child can use often and across contexts. They are beneficial in your child’s speech and language development. Here are some examples:

Related post: The Magic of Power Words

Gestalt Language Learning

Gestalts are whole scripts or chunks of language. Gestalt language processors learn language in chunks and follow the Stages of Natural Language Acquisition. 

Here are some examples of comments or mitigable gestalts that could be modelled when playing with water. 

While these are examples of mitigable gestalts, they are not a ‘one size fits all’. Language should be based on your child’s interests and what’s useful for them. 

Speech Sounds

You can emphasise /sh/ at the end of a word by saying “splash.” Alternatively, describe /t/ for “tap” when the water drips in the sink. Incorporating a speech sound in a fun and interactive way helps the sounds become meaningful. 

Here are some suggestions for speech sounds at the beginning of words. Select 1-2 target words and model them while playing with water.

This post was all about supporting your child’s speech and language development. It focused on water play activities and suggested water play tables. Splash your hands in the water. Cool off from the heat. Enjoy water play interactions with your child this summer! 

Remember to stay safe around water

Looking for more activity ideas?