Is your toddler ready to learn some pouring skills? Teaching life skills, like how to pour, is an important part of childhood. In this post, you’ll learn an activity to help your child develop this skill, information on how to make it successful, and a run down of all the growth they’re making learning to pour.
You need to teach pouring skill
I bet you’re cringing a little seeing my 27 month old pours orange water into a bowl on the floor of my kitchen to perfect his pouring skills.
I bet you’re nervous.
I bet you’re wondering about the mess.
I bet you’re thinking “how could anyone think this was a good idea?”
Trust me: this is a great idea.
Toddlers need moments like this, unless you plan to pour every drink for them until they graduate from college…
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Why is this pouring activity so important?
Excuse me for a hot second while I get on my soap box.
Kids need to learn “life skillshttps://busytoddler.com/learn-from-pouring-water/.”
What that means is we might need to step back for a hot second and let them learn how to do things on their own.
Of course, that might mean messes. It might mean spills. It might be a little frustrating for us to watch but if we don’t give them space to learn then we haven’t taught them anything at all.
We set them up for failure and to learn in the moment.
RELATED: Looking for more amazing activities for toddlers? Check out this great list of toddler activities.
Let toddlers build pouring skills
You know what I’m about to say.
If we don’t let our toddlers have the opportunity to pour liquids, how are they ever going to learn to pour their own drinks?
They need chances to try.
They need a safe space take risks.
By giving my toddler the chance to pour, he will be more successful and accurate when he actually does need to pour something. And bonus: I won’t be pouring milk for him all the way into high school.
How to set up an indoor pouring station with a mess
This activity doesn’t have to be a mess.
- Set it up on a towel. A big one. Most everything the misses the bin will hit the towel
- Try it in the bathtub – don’t fill the tub. Just use the bathtub as your own personal toddler safety zone.
- Embrace the learning.
The truth is: there will be some mess. Some water will miss.
This is not the end of the world. This is a toddler learning. Wipe up the floors after (if you’re like me, this is only an improvement).
The materials
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- Storage bin
- Various measuring cups
- The tea set used in this activity is now discontinued
- Food coloring (optional)
This activity doesn’t have a bunch of supplies. And it doesn’t need to be fancy or coordinated. The goal is helping kids build pouring skills, not winning a prize for prettiest project.
The directions
I started out by filling some of the measuring cups with colored water.
I love colored water – it “shows” up better than regular water and has just that extra little “oomph” of fun to it. **In my experience, the color is SO diluted from the water that I haven’t had any stain clothes or hands.**
I left a bunch of cups and bowls empty for pouring into.
All the skills learned by pouring water
There’s just nothing better than a toddler working on pouring skills. And he’s learning so much doing this. It’s not just pouring water.
My 27-month-old is working on…
- Hand-eye coordination
- Grip strength
- Spatial awareness
- Capacity (how much water can each cup hold?)
- Cause and effect
- Reasoning
- Problem solving
You know what: all that learning is worth a little water on the floor!
How long did my toddler pour water?
My 27-month-old poured water for 45 minutes the first round and kept playing with this for days and days.
I would frequently go over, tip the bin, and reset the water into a few of the larger cups. It was well worth the effort to keep him playing.
Our kids need us to give them space to learn important skills. Not just the surface level skills like the ABCs and the 123s, but big skills – life skills – skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.
Has your toddler started working on their pouring skills?
Frequently Asked Questions
Food coloring “dissolves” in water. In this activity, the concentrated food coloring is so diluted, it doesn’t get on little hands. If you find some on your child’s clothing, set it in cold water for a few hours to let the color “dissolve.” *Always do what you think it best though, I am just some lady on the Internet.
Remember, think “stages not ages.” Instead of judging an activity by age, think about activities like food and whether your child would enjoy it. Ask yourself if they are able to hold a utensil and paint? Do they enjoy painting? Can they sustain focus on a project?
Yes! I love making a coloring mixing station using paint-dyed water, or this one activity using peri bottles (yup, you read that right), or creating a rainbow pouring station.
Susie Allison, M. Ed
Owner, Creator
Susie Allison is the creator of Busy Toddler and has more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram. A former teacher and early childhood education advocate, Susie’s parenting book “Busy Toddler’s Guide to Actual Parenting” is available on Amazon.
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