Just add water.

It makes everything better. (Plus a printable for you!)

Recently, I visited one of my Kindergarten teacher friends who had set up a lovely Playlab for her students to enjoy at the end of the year. She’s retiring, so she has been digging through all her inventory collected over the years, and on this particular day, she laid out a bunch of coffee filters on a table with watercolors. The rest of the room was buzzing with energy — a group of children were busy making a swimming pool out of magnatiles and cutting little bits of blue and turquoise paper for the water, some children gathered at the message space to create art from folders and other office materials she was purging, and many others were deeply engrossed in a family saga with puppets.

The children who chose the watercolors and coffee filters seemed to be drawn to this quiet, meditative area, seeking a calm space for a moment of peace. As they dunked their coffee filters in the small cups of water and watched the watercolor blend and bleed into something spectacular (or quite muddy), I remembered the magic and wonder of water play.

This moment reminded me of something Bar shared with me a long time ago when my kids were very little. Just add water. A bad day? Take a bath. Grumpy, hot summer vibes? Sprinkler. Need some peace and calm? Water table in the school play yard. There’s nothing like being in, around, or near water that soothes the soul.

Today, we thought we would share some favorite water-based creative play ideas and a water play toolbox PDF that will inspire you to collect free or low-cost water play tools, yielding hours of creative free play for children of all ages.

Coffee filters absorb water quickly and create translucent colors that can blend into each other. It's both soothing and experiential in nature.