20+ Ideas for the Water Table this Summer

Summertime also means water time! This water sensory bin activity is perfect for keeping toddlers nice and cool while they work on strengthening their fine motor muscles. All you need is water and some empty glue bottles.

Preschoolers always look forward to the reappearance of the water bin when summer hits, and it's one of our favorite things about summer learning. Full of water beads, this scooping and pouring water bin is the perfect way to enjoy with warmer weather.

Call it what you will, but this Bear Soup water sensory bin is full of imaginary play that will allow your toddler to take the lead. This is certainly one to add to your summer activity list!

Welcome to one of the most epic activity ideas for a sunny day: the bubble foam water table! This is the stuff kids' dreams are made of. Warning: serious giggling will ensue.

Out with the old water table ideas and in with the new! Try turning it into an ice table sensory bin that's perfect for beating the heat.

Explore these themed water table activities for your little one that are sure to bring on the summer fun! Playful ideas using a few fun items from around your house plus a few of our favorite toys for your water table.

Toddlers love pretending to do what grown-ups do! Adding play dishes to the water table with some soapy water will provide endless fun on a warm summer day...and maybe teach an important life skill, too!

Adding colorful pom poms to your water table is such a fun way to incorporate an interesting texture to the water. Toddlers will have fun scooping, squeezing, and sorting them! Add some sorting bowls for even more fun!

Little kids love pretending to cook, so a fun way to use a water table is to turn it into a large pot of vegetable soup! Toddlers will have a blast stirring, scooping, and serving up their own soup on a hot summer day. Watch as they make up chants and songs while they play, too!

Summertime is a great time for toddlers to learn about the ocean. This ocean sensory table is the perfect way to introduce young learners to ocean animals and ocean vocabulary in a playful way!

Most sensory bin ideas can be transferred to a water table. Doing this science sink or float activity in a water table allows preschoolers a better opportunity to explore the items. There's no need to buy specialty materials, either!

Adding some adorable rubber ducks, pebbles, wood blocks, and other pond themed items to your water table will provide preschoolers with endless play and learning fun. Watch your preschoolers get in lots of language practice as they make up stories about their duck pond!

One of the best things about water tables is they often have two sides. This water table idea uses dirt on one side and soapy water on the other. Kids will love make the dirty animals clean again while using fine motor muscles to scrub and wash. If you don't have a water table, you can easily convert this activity to two small sensory bins that sit side-by-side.

Water beads and shaving cream is an amazing sensory experience for preschoolers. Doing this activity outside in a water table will make clean up a breeze.

Cool off on a hot summer day with your preschoolers' favorite characters frozen in ice in the water table. Kids will have so much fun trying to break and melt the ice cubes to free the toys.

If you don't live near the ocean, you can bring the beach to your preschoolers with this fun beach themed water table! Kids will love exploring the soft white sand, seashells, and cool blue water with this activity.

This water table activity encourages preschoolers to explore buoyancy, temperature, and colors while having fun outside playing with water.

Preschoolers will love this water table activity that features a favorite pond animal: frogs! It's a great way to incorporate counting, one-to-one correspondence, and number recognition into a playful activity for summer.

You can turn your water table into almost any imaginable small world. This amazing dinosaur world is sure to get your preschooler interested in dinosaurs and pretend play!

Fill your water table with all sorts of natural materials and let your child's senses run wild with a nature soup. This is an excellent way for preschoolers to explore nature with the five senses. It's perfect for summer or for a five sense theme.