Looking for scooping and pouring activities for toddlers and preschoolers? Then try this simple water fine motor activity using colorful cups.
There's just something super calming about playing with water. My kids just love it and it's also like the easiest sensory activity ever to set up.
But make it a water activity that involves scooping and pouring and I've got an even bigger hit in the eyes of my kids. Especially if you add some cool tools like turkey basters or big spoons right from the kitchen.
Seriously, my kids could scoop and pour water for days and be super happy. As would most toddlers and preschoolers, I bet.
Well, this water fine motor activity for kids combines it all. Water sensory play, check. Scooping and pouring, check. Kitchen tools, check. Happy preoccupied kids? Super big checkmark there!
What You'll Need for this Water Fine Motor Activity for Kids
This fun activity requires basically zero prep. Just grab some materials and you're good to go for this water activity. Here's what we used:
- Container of water - I actually used two small containers, one for each of my boys. You could even try using colored water if you wanted.
- Colorful translucent plastic cups - I used colored plastic shot glasses from Dollar Tree and translucent tube shots from Dollarama.
- Turkey baster - You could also use eye droppers if you have some on hand. Basically, anything to work on fine motor skills and help the kids transfer water will work great.
I set up this fine motor water activity on the bottom of a large plastic sensory bin container (see the photo below). I wanted it to be more like a table for the kids. Since our container has a little lip around the edges, it does contain the water a bit. However, you could set this up inside the bin to really contain the water.
This Fun Fine Motor Activity is Perfect for Summer!
The boys first gravitated towards the turkey basters. They'd squeeze them to pick up some water and then use that water to fill up the various cups. It's such a great fine motor workout for the kids!
Scooping and pouring is like the ultimate preschool activity, no? Same goes for toddlers. They just love it! So, unsurprisingly, my boys did some scooping and pouring with the cups and water. In particular, they'd use the little shot glasses to pour water into the tube shots. Who knows...maybe your kids will even pretend to make potions and turn this activity into a fun pretend play activity too.
While they scooped and poured, my kids noticed that the tube shots could hold a lot more water than the shot glasses. So they started pouring the water from the tall skinny cups into the small cups and into the bigger containers that originally held the water. Talk about sneaky math learning! They are exploring measurement and volume here.
Water ended up everywhere on their little makeshift tabletop. But the kids had a blast splashing in the water that collected there as well. Overall, this water fine motor activity was a hit. It's also perfect for a hot summer day.
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