100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 12: Rock Waves

My floor is still in recovery from the rice yesterday, but I decided to pull another activity from 365 Games Smart Toddlers Play anyway. Oliver is 20 months old, but an activity listed for 15-18 month olds caught my eye. It's called "Rock Waves."

It's super easy to do. It involves water, so toddlers obviously need constant supervision. You just fill up a bucket or bath (or, in our case, a splash pool) with water and collect some rocks of various sizes. Let your kid have fun dropping them into the water, creating waves and splashes. Easy!

We pulled out our splash pool for the first time this year. Andrew filled it up with water while I collected some rocks. As luck would have it, I found a hunk of cement the size of a large rock. I washed the rocks because pesticides are occasionally sprayed on them, and then I asked Oliver to watch me as a plopped one into the water.


Oliver needed no extra encouragement. He started dropping rocks in, throwing rocks in, and setting rocks in. He loved having me count, "One... two... THREE!" Then, he'd hurl his rock in. He was amazed at the huge splash that got us both wet from the large rock. Pretty soon, he got a little more creative and wanted to drop two rocks in at once. Then, he graduated to three. Pretty soon, he wanted me to drop the big one in as he dropped all of the small ones.This was a great activity! It kept him occupied for over 20 minutes, and he would have kept playing if we'd let him. Andrew was worried about me bending over so much. It's true that I probably can't do this activity with Oliver on my own because of my pregnancy restrictions, but I wish I was able to. I'm definitely going to carry this activity over to bath time. I'll get some of his plastic toys and blocks and let him drop them into the water while in the tub.

I give this activity an A+. Most people have a bucket or tub, so it's basically a free activity. It was great for outside on a summer day, and it was so much fun! I honestly felt like he was learning, too. He certainly was waiting for me to count to three before he threw the rocks in the pool. If I asked him which rock he wanted, he pointed to the large rock. He must have noticed that the large rock made the biggest splash!