1. Kim and Carrots: As Kim discovers, there’s no finer toy than plain water. It’s not only soothing and entertaining, it supports valuable kinds of learning all the way from early concepts about volume and buoyancy to the opportunity to practice pouring skills.
2. Bucket: It’s easy to make friends while playing with water: Certainly even the most acquisitive toddler can’t pile up all the water for himself or snatch it out of another child’s hand. And you don’t even have to go to the beach. Arranging for water play can be as simple as running through a sprinkler on a summer day or as elaborate as providing plastic cups and funnels and pitchers.
Here are a few other ideas for playing with water outdoors:
■ Take a sturdy brush…
