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Water Play - Korikori Wai
Sensory exploration is such a fun way to learn and explore - and water play is one of them! Water play is one of 16 areas of play to enhance children’s curiosity and learning. It allows them to gain social skills through interacting with their peers and teachers, develop concepts of science and math including cause and effect, measuring, tipping, and pouring. Playing with water supports learning across all strands of Te Whāriki. In particular, it supports the Exploration strand, where children gain confidence and control of their bodies, and where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning.
Water play gives children the opportunity to develop useful social skills while playing alongside other children as part of the Contribution strand and, where conflicts arise, there are opportunities to practice problem-solving. As part of the Belonging strand, they develop ideas about the limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Our youngest tamariki explored the different sensations of cold and warm water against their skin during the many experiences which were provided for them.
Through these explorations, children are developing hand-eye coordination and a sense of belonging as they explore alongside each other. Some of these water-learning experiences included washing the baby dolls, ice block painting, watermark making, and melting ice.