Sink-Side Cup Play

What you need

• a washing-up bowl of warm water
• two or three small cups
• a towel
• a clean cup of drinking water

How to do it

1. Set a bowl of warm water on a towel on the floor or a low table.
2. Give your toddler a couple of small cups to fill, tip and empty.
3. Keep one clean cup of drinking water to the side, away from the bowl.
4. Offer the clean cup for real sips whenever they want a drink.

Why it matters

Filling and tipping cups over a bowl builds the same wrist control that drinking needs, in a place where spilling is the point rather than a problem.

What they're learning

Judging the tip

Tipping to pour and tipping to drink are the same movement, learned faster where a spill costs nothing.

How much is in there

A full cup feels different from an empty one, and that's the sense that tells them how far to tilt.

Wet and dry

Warm water, a cold cup and a dry towel in one activity is a lot of information for a pair of hands.

What to look for

Watch for them slowing the tip near the end of a pour. That's control arriving.

A tip

Stay beside the bowl the whole time and tip it away the moment you're done. Keep the drinking cup separate from the play water so sips stay clean.

More like this

Paintbrush Puddle Art from 16 months · 5-10 min Where Is Everyone? from 12 months · 5 min Bowl Drum Concert from 13 months · 30-45 min Yoghurt Finger Paint from 14 months · 20-35 min