On Sunday 28th September it was my birthday

I decided that I would like to spend the day doing messy play with Esther and William

With Daddy home to help set up, clean up and hold the baby

It was possible for me to focus on play

As it was the end of our fairy week

I decided to set up a pink and purple water bead tea party

And reuse our sensory salt or fairy sand as an ingredient for sparkly sensory soup

I also made some ice cubes filled with glitter, food colouring and sequins to be fairy stock cubes

But we ended up saving these for another day

Esther and William loved this fairy play

And we played all afternoon

I set the water table up so that one side had pink water and water beads

The other side had green water

The first thing that Esther and William wanted to do was mix the colours

They then added the sensory salt

As the salt dissolved into the water

The glitter rose to the top of the water

And settled on the surface

Alongside the soup station

I had also laid out the Tuff Spot

For a pink and purple water bead tea

Esther and William thought that this was wonderful

And I must admit so did I

The pink and purple balls looked stunning

Glistening in the late September sun

Esther and William loved their tea for two

It was wonderful watching their imaginary play

Observing their interaction

Their role play

Their story telling

It was a joy to listen to the language that they used

It was great to see them using and developing both their gross and fine motor skills

As they enjoyed their fairy afternoon tea

They poured and served

They scooped and spooned

They shared

They loved the feel of the water beads

They loved the look of their magical pink and purple pretend tea

Esther and William love water play

It is something that can instantly calm a frantic day

It is something that can be revisited regularly

Always in a slightly different way

We have actually done fairy water play before

But in a very different way to this

This was about mixing things into the water

Watching what happens to salt

Stirring, sprinkling

Serving, pouring

As Esther and William played

Making soup and potions and lemonade

As they played they also learned

They learned about dissolving

Floating and sinking

They explored volume and capacity

Thinking about different size and shape containers

And how much liquid they can hold

William loves transferring liquid

From one container to another and another and back again

Through water play I can teach him about estimating

Best guessing

I can teach him about observing and measuring and counting

And soon we can move on to recording

Through water play we can also escape

The regular routine of our normal day

We can become fairies with powers and magical ways

Sensory play encourages us to use all our senses

To immerse ourselves, lose ourselves in play

To really get our whole selves stuck in!

Spread your wings and let the fairy in you fly!
Author Unknown