How to Put Together a Pumpkin Water Table That Strengthens the Fingers

Benefits of the Water Table

It just might look like filling and dumping, but there is so much more happening when young children play at the water table, such as:

• Sensory Exploration
• Science
• Math
• Creativity
• Social Skills
• Language Development

And, by adding droppers, we can add fine motor development!

How to Put Together a Pumpkin Water Table That Strengthens the Fingers

Supplies Needed

• Droppers
• Party favor-sized pumpkins
• Water
• Bin to hold water

We also added some cups and strainers once the children got started.

If you love activities that are easy to set up, that will be another benefit to this water table.

Seriously, all you need to do is pour some water into the bin (or bins, as in our case). I keep the water level low for less spills. (Although I cannot say it all stayed inside the bins. It never does, so have towels nearby.)

Then, add your pumpkins and droppers and anything else you think would work well.

Fine Motor Benefits

When you are choosing materials for your pumpkin water table, think about strengthening those fine motor skills.

Droppers are one of my first choices when using water.

The entire hand is being used as the children squeeze and release the bulb.

Large Droppers

For 2 year olds, I first introduce droppers using ones with larger bulbs, as pictured above.

You will need to demonstrate how to hold the dropper, squeezing and releasing. It might take some time, but after showing them a few times, and then them practicing on their own, they will get it.

Pipettes

For 3 year olds and up, I then switch to the pipette, which has a much smaller bulb.

These activities show our 3 year olds using pipettes:

• Water Transfer Activity
• Dropping Watercolors On Paper Towels
• Watercolor Shamrock Art
• Watercolor Leaves

The photo below shows a 3 year old using a pipette:

Scooping and Pouring

Some children will simply want to use the pumpkins alone to fill with water and pour, over and over again.

If you add cups, as I eventually did, the children can pour the water from the pumpkins into them.

There’s still lots of fine motor going on here as the hand controls the movements of the pumpkin.

Hand-Eye Coordination

Along with strengthening the hands and fingers, this pumpkin water table is an excellent choice for working on hand-eye coordination.

The children are concentrating as they aim the water from the droppers into the opening of the small pumpkins.