UPDATED 2023: Looking for ways to keep your toddler engaged with their water table all summer long?? Check out these find 40+ fun and easy ways to keep your water table fun and interesting for your toddler and preschooler. Great water table ideas to beat the summer heat!

Water Table For Hours of Endless Play

Water tables are a fantastic tool to keep little kids entertained during the summer months. These interactive play stations provide endless hours of fun and engagement. Little ones can splash, pour, and explore with water, which is both refreshing and exciting for them. Water tables offer a safe and contained environment for sensory play, allowing children to experiment with different water movements, discover cause and effect relationships, and engage their senses through tactile exploration. Whether they’re using cups and scoops to pour water or floating and sinking objects, water tables provide endless entertainment and sensory stimulation. The joy and laughter that come from splashing and playing with water make water tables a go-to activity for keeping little kids happily entertained throughout the summer.

I first got a water table for my daughter when she was two years old. I bought it second hand not sure how much she would play with it. Boy was I wrong. It was such a hit that I wish I had gotten it a year earlier. When she was three I bought a new one because our old one had been left out all winter and was dirty beyond repair. It has been the best summer backyard toy hands down.

She played with it everyday when we first bought it. But after a while like everything her interest in it started to decrease. So I came up with a bunch of easy and fun things to include in our water table in order to extend its play life over the summer.

I included lots of pictures to help you as well as a list of most of the supplies you’ll need. This is your best resource this summer if you have this water table!

Ok let’s get started.

How to Choose the Best Water Table

If you are looking to purchase a water table for your little one there are few things to keep in mind:

1. Play Accessories
2. Size
3. Drainage & Shelter
4. Clean Up

Check out my post of The Best Water Tables for Hours of Outdoor Play for tips on choosing the best water table for your child.

What Supplies to Use with Your Water Table

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• Water Table
• Water
• Rocks
• Dirt
• Flowers
• Sticks
• Water Beads
• Ice
• Sidewalk Chalk

There are different types of water tables. All of them are fun and will work with all or most of these activities. If you want to create small worlds in your water table, try to look for a sensory bin that has two or more sections.

Kitchen Supplies

• Popsicle Molds
• Funnels
• Kitchen utensils (slotted spoons, spatula, whisk)
• Dish Soap
• Ice Cube Tray (various sizes)
• Muffin tin
• Herbal tea
• Sponges

Toys

• Plastic Play Food
• Play Kitchen Accessories Utensils, Pot, Pans, and More
• Plastic Easter eggs
• Lego or Duplo
• Megabloks

Other Supplies To Use With Your Water Table

• Washable Paints
• Pom Poms
• Squeeze food caps
• Small metal objects
• Magnetic Wands
• Water Beads
• Foam Letters
• Magnetic fridge letters
• Giant Water Beads
• Spray Bottle

Looking for more fun outdoor water activity ideas? Check out these amazing post with more ways to play with water for kids of all ages!

• 45+ Awesome Water Sensory Bins for Kids
• 25+ Outdoor Water Activities for Summer

Here are the 40+ Amazing Water Table Ideas

1. Letter Fishing

Foam letters and a slotted spoon or spatula. Have your little one spoon out the letters and match them to letters written with sidewalk chalk on the ground or just scoop them out and identity them.

2. Water Table and Funnels

This is so simple and so fun. Just grab a few funnels and let them play. The smaller the funnel the better, that way the water flows through it slower. You could also add come plastic cups or containers.

3. Vegetable Washing

For Vegetable Washing simple dump some plastic play food into the sensory bin add some dish soap and a whisk and let their imaginations take over. I would make sure that the play food is either small enough to fit down the center water slide or too big to even fit. This will save you having to dislodge stuck play food later on.

4. Magnetic Eggs Fishing

Plastic Easter eggs with small magnets, coins or counting chips inside. Think Magnetic Easter Hunt but in water!

5. Chalk and Water

This is a fun process art activity you can do in the water table. Colour mixing and drawing with sidewalk chalk in the water table.

6. Water Table & Popsicles

I don’t use real popsicles for this activity but food colouring and water popsicles made using popsicle molds. Check out Popsicle Letters for how to make the popsicles.

7. Giant Water Beads

So simple but so much sensory fun! Grow your giant water beads over night so that they are ready for play the next day and add bubble for the ultimate sensory water experience!

8. Spray Bottle

This was as simple as handing her a spray bottle and letting her spray water all over the  water table. It entertained long enough for me to get some gardening done and bonus she was able to work her fine motor muscles!!

Here are more activities that work well in a water table as well. Click the links for how to set them up. Just switch out the sensory bin for your water table.

9. Water and Shaving Cream

I didn’t use our water table for this activity but it would work even better in a water table. Add water, shaving cream, bowls, spoons, whisks, pots and pans for a super easy sensory activity.

10. Ice and Water

One of my favourite ways to play with a water table has to be ice. It is easy to clean up and a great way to keep little ones cool! Add some kitchen utensils like pots and pans, spoons and whisks to create an Ice Kitchen Water Table.

More Water Table Ideas for Kids

Here are some more ideas that will work beautifully in a water table. Simply swap out the sensory bin or sensory table for your water table!

11. Garden Water Table – Happy Toddler Playtime

Watch the Garden Water Table in action on Youtube!

12. Dandelion Water Table – Happy Toddler Playtime

13. Outer Space Water Table – Happy Toddler Playtime

14. Water Bead Water Table – Happy Toddler Playtime

15. Pom Pom Water Table – Happy Toddler Playtime
16. Ice Rocks Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime
17. Floating Rainbow Balls in the Water Table – Simple Fun for Kids
18. Easter Egg Boats – Happy Toddler Playtime
19. Dish Washing Water Table – Frogs and Snail and Puppy Dog Tails
20. Icy Letters – Happy Toddler Playtime
21. Colourful Ice Boats – Busy Toddler
22. Washing Farm Animals Sensory Bin – Coffee Cups and Crayons
23. Small World Building Site – The Boy and Me
24. Water Table Kitchen – Happy Toddler Playtime
25. Soap Fluff Sensory Play – The Imagination Tree
26. Pom Pom Bubbles – Happy Toddler Playtime
27. Ocean Play Sensory Table – Stir the Wonder
28. Pom Pom Water Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime
29. Dinosaur Small World – No Time for Flashcards
30. Frozen Lego – Happy Toddler Playtime
31. Sensory Spring Water Table – Simple Play Ideas
32. Caps Kitchen – Happy Toddler Playtime
33. Water Balloon Sensory Bin – Simple Fun for Kids
34. Ice Water Table – Busy Toddler
35. Paint Sensory Bin – Happy Toddler Playtime
36. Beach Water Table – Sugar Spice and Glitter
37. Stone Washing – Happy Toddler Playtime
38. Sand and Water Tables Kids LOVE! – Rhythms of Play
39. Megablok Washing – Happy Toddler Playtime
40. Sponges in the Water Table by Things to Share and Remember
41. Flower Sensory Bin for Kids by Adventure in a Box

WILL YOU TRY ANY OF THESE WATER TABLE IDEAS WITH YOUR KIDS THIS SUMMER? Pin it for later!