Birdie's new vocabulary words.
Pouring is an excellent way for toddlers to learn. You may be thinking, "What on earth will my toddler learn, other than mess-making, from pouring water?" The answer is A LOT. This simple and easy-to-do activity is most fun on a warm day when you can play outside, but it's also a "lesson" that can be a part of your toddler's bath time play.
Birdie LOVES to pour. I laughed the first time she hosted a lemonade stand because no one got a "fresh" cup of lemonade. Instead, she poured the lemonade from pitcher to cup to another cup and back to the pitcher before serving it in a cup to her guests. Fortunately, we have sweet neighbors who thought her process was adorable.
Here are Bringing Up Birdie's 6 Benefits of Pouring Activities:
Fine Motor Development - Pouring works the small muscles in the wrists, hands, and fingers and develops grip strength. Pouring a pitcher of water is heavy! Celebrate this with your child as she picks up the pitcher, rotates her hand and pours the water.
Math - Toddlers grasp the math concepts greater than, less than, and equal to through pouring.
A major life skill is learned! Pouring is a part of daily life. If you're an OCD creature with an independent toddler (raising my hand right now), you'll appreciate the mastering of this skill as your toddler insists on pouring her own milk into a cup. Mastered skill = less messes for mama!
Volume. Pouring teaches how much can fit into varying sizes of containers...CAPACITY! Grandma will squeal with delight on your summer beach trip when your little genius tells her, "This bucket doesn't have the capacity to hold a lot of sand!"
Displacement. This concept is learned quickly and likely needs little to no explanation. When your toddler places her hand in the container of water, she will instantly see that the water level rises and then falls when she removes her hand. Bam!
Vortex. This concept is the most fun! By pouring water into a container through a funnel, a whirlpool is formed. Super cool.
Birdie typically uses her science kit from a @loveevery box she received last year.
You can easily create your own pouring kit using a few. items from the kitchen. You'll need:
Pitcher or liquid measuring cup
Funnel
Clear plastic containers, cups, bowls, etc in varying sizes
Water
I hope your toddler enjoys pouring and learning as much as Birdie enjoys this activity. Let us know what you think about it - we'd love to hear from you!