Water Ways and Marble Runs

 

Alas, the days of summer are coming to an end, however I think our days of water play will continue on for a while.  One of our favorite things this past summer which I wanted to blog about before we start school next week, was creating water ways and marble runs with tubes, PVC pipe and water noodles.  Turkey basters, rain barrels and marbles made there way into the fun as well.

When the children came into the school space, I had placed an assortment of materials

on a table as an invitation to explore.  Immediately they began attaching pipes, picking their favorites and asking questions.  "What are we doing?" "We are going to play with water!" "How can I attach this."

Our exploration started inside before the introduction of water

 

 

We then picked a spot to set up our water ways outside.

Once the children were satisfied with their creations,

 I simply tied their constructed water ways up on the deck railing. and the exploring took off.

 

 

Some tested gravity by seeing if they could squirt water up the tubes

 

Others asked for marbles and filled turkey baster bottoms with them to pour down the pipes

 

Water or marbles, which one will travel faster down the water ways?

Marble soup also became a delectable part of the play.

 



 

Our water play continued on for the rest of the summer.

One day while I was helping another child on the swings, I came back to find this construction

which I absolutely thought was brilliant.  The children had connected pool noodles

with the thin plastic tubes and realized they could attach it to the rain barrel.

They then fastened it into an empty water jug.

I was so impressed and in love with this.  It is amazing what they can discover and

create when left to explore together!



 

Making sure their connections are secure

Monitoring the progress to see if the water will make it into the jug.

Waiting for the the water to journey to the jug.  Will it make it?

It did!

 

I love this type of play.  It incorporates creativity, team work, problem solving, exploring and fun!

The children continued to play with different configurations all summer, often with one group making water ways using the rain barrel and another creating marble runs with the PVC pipes and larger tubes.  It became something we all looked forward to!