This DIY pouring station is our favorite fun indoor water activities for toddlers. This sensory activity is great for practicing transferring, pouring, color mixing, and more!
I don’t know what it is about my kids and water. They absolutely love all things related to pouring, dumping, splashing, and playing in it!
It’s the dead of winter here in New York, so there isn’t any outdoor water play going on. To make up for this, my kids have resorted to pulling chairs up to the sink to splash and play. It’s horribly messy, so I absolutely loathe when they do this.
Clearly they needed a shake-up from our normal indoor activities. To meet their needs of playing with water, I made an indoor pouring and dumping water station for my kids. It’s seriously the easiest indoor water activity that my toddler and preschooler can’t get enough of! In the spring and summer you could easily bring this activity outside, too.
Bonus: it’s a free activity that you have all the supplies for already! No need to place a Target drive-up order.
My toddler (2 years old) loves to practice pouring and filling containers. My preschooler (3.5 years old) likes to play in colored water and likes to mix the colors to see how it changes and explores measuring by pouring water from smaller containers into larger ones.
This water sensory activity might be just what you need to beat the afternoon boredom. We all know how important sensory play is for our kids, and this activity will meet those needs.
What you need to make a toddler pouring station
It’s as simple as you would think it is! There is no “wrong” way to make a pouring station.
Here’s what we used:
- A container to catch any splashed water
- A variety of cups or containers to pour and dump from
- Water
- Funnels, squirt bottles, empty condiment bottles, spoons, measuring cups, beakers, etc.
- Optional: food coloring
- Optional: a water-resistant tablecloth to make cleanup easier
Set up:
- Place various amounts of water in containers that are small enough to fit in your child’s hands.
- To make cleanup easier, place those bottles inside of a larger container (plastic bins, deep baking dishes, or the storage bins that fit under beds work great!) You can also place those bins on top of a water resistant blanket or table cloth for an even easier cleanup.
- Offer your child eye droppers, spoons, measuring cups, beakers, etc. and let them play!
Make it a learning experience
Let me really emphasize something here – even if your child just sits and pours water back and forth from cup to cup or just gets their hands wet, they are learning. You don’t need to add anything extra to this activity!
Pouring, transferring, stirring, and scooping may be stimulating enough for your little one. Especially for the kids in the 12-18 month range.
However, if you do this often it will eventually lose its charm. Older kids might want a little more from this activity as well.
Here are a few ways you can make this water activity new and exciting again:
- Add a few drops of food coloring to the water. You can start with just a few primary colors and see how you can mix them to make new colors (red+blue = purple, blue+yellow=green, red+yellow=orange, etc.)
- Add a few ice cubes to the water. Give your child tongs or a slotted spoon to “fish” for the ice cubes
- Change the temperature of the water. Give them a cup of warm water and a cup of cold water to mix.
Not looking for a water activity today? Try one of these activities instead:
Apple Pie Sensory Bin
Pom Pom Sensory Bin
Dinosaur Dig Sensory Bin
Silly Songs and Dances for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Is this an activity your kids would love, too? My little ones will happily play for 30+ minutes when I bring this out! We are huge fans of water play in the summer, so it’s nice to be able to bring it indoors on rainy or snowy days.
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