How Water Play Stimulates Childhood Development: The Science of Splashing

It is not just a mere cooling and burning energy processes when kids jump into a pool, but it is something much stronger. They are acquiring knowledge, maturing and developing crucial aspects of living. And the most exciting thing is? They are not even aware of it.

Water play may seem like pure fun at first glance, but it is accessing many areas of child development simultaneously. Whether in the development of physical strength to getting creative and gaining social confidence, it is one of the most wholesome activities any child can ever participate in, particularly during their early years.

And now the introduction of above ground swimming pools has seen the real possibility of the backyard play time be easier than ever to make into something more real such as splashing up and becoming something notable.

Why kids love Water Play so much

Consult any child development expert and they will tell you just that, children learn better when they are actively involved and when they are using several sense simultaneously.

Water acts just like that. It is sensorial whole body experience. The sensation of water to the skin. The force when they exert against it. All the sounds, the motion, the colours, it is the stimulation that benefits them in everything, such as brain development and emotional control.

Perhaps in simple terms we can simplify it. What is it that splashing in the above ground pools accomplishes to kids?

1. Develops Motor Skills and Muscle Strength

Water play is also unexpectedly physical even though it is being covert.

Each kick and paddling, stretch work on core muscles and makes them stronger as well as enhancing coordination. Children gain large (gross) motor skills (such as walking, jumping, climbing into and out of the pool) as well as fine motor skills (such as the ability to squeeze water toys, scoop and pour).

Movement in the water is non-impact as compared to playing in the playground, or sporting activities that involve climbing or bearing weight on feet. That way, children are free to move and their joints are not burdened in the same way so it can be considered as the safe, able supporting environment to gain physical confidence.

2. Promotes the Development of the Brain and Problem Solving

One cannot be sure of water. It moves. It splashes. It reacts.

Precisely this is what makes it noteworthy. Children are curious by nature and they learn to explore things, like, “What is the effect of filling up this cup?” or, “How much of a splash can I make after jumping in this manner?” This exposure to the cause and effect at a very early age hones cognitive development and thinking skills.

Even in more formalized water games / directed activities, early math abilities can appear, too: counting and comparing toys, being aware of the pattern.

And when they play games (such as making the swimming pool a pirate ship or a mystical lagoon)? That is the work of imagination in overdrive and that is important too.

3. Supports sensory Integration

Any child reacts more to being touched, voice or motion. Water play provides them with a secure regulated method to work with the input.

Their sensitivity is enhanced by the feeling of buoyancy, touch and temperature of water. Exposure to water is a common element in life that can familiarize children with sensory processing differences or developmental delays with engaging more with those sensations to help them focus, understand their body more, and even improve their emotional control.

That is the reason why water-based activities during therapy sessions are undertaken by the occupation therapists. With above ground swimming pools, parents can carry on that support at home and this works to change the therapy into playtime.

4. Increases Social and Emotional Development

Kids are drawn to pools because it is natural. They are instinctively attracted to it during birthday parties or other functions in the community. Water gives them a collective area to share and to turn-take, solve problems collaboratively and to explore together.

This supports:

Collaboration: You and I can create something together!

Empathy: Do you slip/splash okay?

Patience: Patience in taking their turn at the slide or on a favourite float.

A lot of water play also makes a massive confidence builder. A child that learns to float, swim to the other side and even jump in the deep end will establish the personal achievement in life that can be applied to other aspects.

And since above ground pools bring all the fun into the back yard, children have the chance to develop these skills on more regular basis not only at the swim school or during summer camp.

5. Encourages language and communication.

A pool is one of the best areas to promote language, and you would not expect that.

As they play, kids name what they are doing (I am diving!), ask questions (Can I have that?), and invent stories. They also hear, reply, and are schooled to observe verbal instructions all of which advance the expansion of vocabulary and social language.

This particularly assists in children who are still learning to talk or youngest children. Water provides them the reason to talk and since they are occupied, there are more chances of them listening and talking.

Why Above Ground Pools are Perfect in Water Play?

Knowing how potent water play is, it is time to discuss where it occurs.

Undoubtedly, with above ground pools more children can enjoy a friendly and inexpensive water play that is easy to manage.

Here’s why:

Simple to install: Most of the installations can be achieved over the weekend with no massive overhauls necessary.

Flexible in terms of size: including small splash pools and larger swimming and floating setups, you have a choice to fit any space.

Cheaper upkeep: Newer filtration systems and liners are made to be parent friendly. The lower cleaning time, the higher playing time.

Safety designs: Most pools have safe ladders, fences, and cover, which means that parents will not be worried by them.

Inexpensive: These cost much less than the in-ground pools, and this implies that more families have the chance of establishing the backyard play areas without breaking the bank.

The Concepts of Developing with the help of Pool Play

Do you want to transform your backyard pool into an educational area that is not at all the same as school? These are simple tricks:

Obstacle course: I made a fun challenge using pool noodles, floats or hoops.

Sink or float: Collect common household items and allow kids to guess what is going to sink.

Colour scavenger hunt: Scatter toys of various colours in the pool, and name them out, one by one.

Storytelling time: Request your kid to think that the pool is an ocean, a space station or a castle moat. Allow them to rule-tell-the-story.

Music and movement: Change in music and make your child play and dance in the water.

The ideas are excellent with toddlers and little children but older children are not left behind particularly after you allow them to create their own games or develop pool exercises with brothers and sisters as well as friends.

In Closing

The water play is much more than the pretext of spraying. It is motion, imagination, science, problem solving and emotional development, all bundled together, in an activity that is currently screen-free.

With more parents interested to find a cost-effective way of developing their children without filling their schedules or breaking their bank accounts, the use of above ground swimming pools presents a solution that works.

It is not only a method of cooling down during the summer. It is an investment in a future of your child, his or her happiness, and well-being, in the comfort of your home.

When you are prepared to fill your child with a big tub of water, you can check our above ground pools selection made to satisfy the child turning learning into play, made so that everyone can enjoy it, and is destined to stand the test of time.