10 Top Tips to Transforming Wet Playtimes
Rainy day playtimes are often met with groans, from both children and adults, as no one wants to spend the whole day in the classroom. However, spending time outdoors is essential for our mental health and wellbeing. By lunchtime, after an indoor wet play session, children can become restless, their focus wanes in the afternoon, and unsettled behaviour may increase after being cooped up all day. We all need the opportunity to move our bodies and take a break in the fresh air, which helps refresh our minds.
Nursery schools and the schools I visited on my study trip to Finland last year, often excel at embracing all-weather play, making sure the children are wrapped up warm and prepared for the conditions, whether it’s rain, sun, or snow.
Many schools have an indoor and outdoor shoe policy to keep mud out of the classrooms during wet play. Some schools even have students of all ages bring waterproofs that stay at school all year round, ready for whenever they’re needed.
The rise of forest schools and forest school-trained teachers is helping to promote outdoor learning and play in any weather. Both children and adults benefit from the time spent outside.
Here are some ideas for outside wet playtime play.
- Sensory play – catch raindrops on your hands, feet, or even your tongue! You can ask children how they feel, can they describe them.
- Outdoor Art –Take some water-based paint or chalk outside and make an art piece in the rain.
- Water-Based Drawing –Use water soluble felt tip pens to draw on a paper towel or paper then put them out in the rain and see what happens.
- Puddle Jumping Competitions – as long as children have welly boots on, we don’t want cold wet soggy feet for the rest of the day! See what puddle makes the biggest splash.
- Rain and Science – Introduce some science to your play, by exploring how rain changes things, such as the earthy smell after rainfall. You could also take a plastic cup outside to estimate how much rain it will collect and then check later to see how accurate the prediction was.
- Mud Play –Build mud castles and mud pies, have some trowels, buckets and spades handy for playing in the mud.
- STEM Activities – Introduce some STEM by building a dam with the flowing water created by the rain. How can you control the flow of water using natural materials?
- Shelter Building – Use tarps to build an outdoor shelter or den. Clear tarps are also great for building dens. They give children a chance to play while watching the water collect on the tarps and pour off as they push from underneath.
- Rain Sculptures and Obstacle Course – Use loose part play objects such as buckets, pipes, guttering to create a rain sculpture or obstacle course. It’s a bit like a large-scale marble run, but instead, you’re seeing if you can make the rain run down the pipes and collect in a bucket.
- Nature Boats – Depending on the time of year, you can make boats from leaves, acorns, or paper and race them in the puddles. Which boat will float the longest?
If you’re looking for more fun and engaging ideas, be sure to explore our 101 Wet Playtime Games and Activities.
Sample our 10 free Wet Playtime Games and Activities here: https://www.positiveplaytimes.com/free-playground-games-2/
