Making Prints- More Fun in the Sponge Water Table!

 Earlier this week, you were introduced to our Foamy Bubbles Water Table. 

This table is great for your infants and toddlers, but it also

tends to be a great place for exploration for older children as well.

While pushing down on the foam to make bubbles,

 it was discovered that the wet sponge/foam preserves your hand print!

This lead to an intensive investigation- 

If pushing your hand down in the foam leaves a print....

I wonder what else you could press down in the foam to make prints with?

The children tried a multitude of toys, blocks, etc. 

Each and every item left a mark or print in the foam!

The favorite item found that kept

 the children investigating for hours were.....

 plastic cookie cutters!

As you can see from the photos, the cutters left a dark imprint in the foam. 

It "magically" disappears when you rub across it.

Our foam is not a special kind, just plain old ordinary craft sponge/foam. 

When it is wet, it does act kind of like memory foam!

HOW COOL IS THAT?

The children spent quite some time investigating the various shapes and prints.

Some of the children have been very interested 

in learning how to spell their own names. 

So, I added a pile of letter cookie cutters 

and they make prints of their names too!

Have you ever tried to make prints in wet foam/sponge?

Do you have a great way to help beat the summer heat?

We'd love to hear about it!

Foamy Bubbles! Water Table for Infants and Toddlers

Babies need to beat the heat too! 

Sometimes working with infants and toddlers can be challenging,

 as they have trouble reaching up and into most sensory tables. 

You also have to be careful and monitor them for more safety issues,

 where you definitely don't want the water to be too deep. 

Here is our favorite, tried and true infant
(and toddler.... and preschool.... and school aged) 

sponge water table to help beat the heat!

We use an under the washing machine tub,
I think we spent about $10 on ours at a local hardware store.
Then, we fill it with 1" thick craft foam.
Ours is in 4 pieces that are cut to fit perfectly in the tub.
(You do not need to have individual pieces,
 we just happened to have this foam already in smaller pieces.
One large piece would work just as well).

Then.... all you need to do is add cold water
and a little bit of soap for bubbles (optional).
The children seem to like the bubbles a bit more
 than just plain water, but either option will work!

The washer tub is large enough to allow multiple children 

to explore all at once, but it is low enough that

 the mobile infants can easily crawl right up to it 

and reach over the edge to participate in exploration. 

When you add the soap to the water,
pushing down on the sponge repeatedly creates bubbles!
 Lots of foamy, fun bubbles!

We also discovered that when you push down
on the sponge foam- your hand-prints become visible!

(Check back for more explorations with these "prints" on Friday)

Have you ever made a foamy bubble sensory table?

What is your favorite way to cool off with infants and toddlers? 

We would love to hear about it!