In this blog post today I’m sharing all about the end of year water day that I love to do with my students. Throughout the summer we typically do a lot of water play in the afternoons, and my students love this. It helps to keep them on a set routine throughout the day up until lunch. Then after lunch we have water play learning outside. It helps give time for staff to prepare for the end of the year and the start of the next school year.. Along with all of the other end of year things that need doing like IEP meetings, reports.. And of course our students are usually exhausted and ready to finish for the summer.
Then, during the last week of the school year, we throw a water day.. And this is a day we all look forward to all year long! I get a lot of questions about what our water day looks like.. What we do.. And what we use.. So this blog post is going to hopefully cover all of that for you.
This blog post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you purchase an item through my affiliate link, I may receive a % of commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support me, my family and my blog to bring you great content for free!
Note to Parents
First, I always make sure to send a note home to parents explaining about what we are doing. It outlines what we have planned for the day, a contact email / number for them to reach out to me if they have any questions and recommendations for them / the student on the day. This typically includes;
- Spare clothes.
- Sunscreen.
- Swimsuit.
- Towel.
- Water shoes.
The Day
We set up different water play stations outside in advance. Sometimes this runs over when the students come in, so I’ll have staff outside finishing setting up, while the rest of my team complete the arrival/breakfat.
I used to take things away and put new stuff out 3 times a day but this took so much time and just didn’t work great.. So instead we work on rotating through stations. We like this to be a fun and laid back day so we do have students come and go as they please.
09:00 – 09:30
Arrival. Breakfast. Morning meeting as normal.
09:30
Everyone gets prepared for outdoor water play. We get everyone changed into their swimsuits / water play clothes and shoes.. And we make sure that everyone has sunscreen, glasses, hats etc. We are very lucky to have a shade and gazebos to put outdoors so we can keep everyone out of the direct sun.
09:45 – 10:30
Outdoor play.
10:30 – 10.50
Snack time. We typically set this up outside on the bench under the gazebo. My students do struggle with a lot of their eating, so we try to lay out things we know they like as well as new foods now and again for them to see and possibly explore. The perfect snacks we have found for water day are;
- Water
- Juice
- Toast
- Cereal
- Fruit
- Biscuits
- Raisins
- Crackers
- Yogurts
After snack we rotate through toileting and any care needs.
I like to keep snacks and drinks freely available on the benches while we are doing outdoor water play / activities.
10.50 – 11.30
Back outside for more water play.
11.30 – 12.30
Back inside for everyone to get dried up and changed. Students then get ready for lunch and head out to eat in the dining hall. Once lunch is done, we go back to the classroom and go through toileting and care needs again.
12.30 – 2.30
Students are offered the choice of some indoor activities or outdoors.. Very rarely do I have students who opt to stay inside but when they do I usually split the staff between inside and outside depending on needed ratios. Usually students will then come outside once they’ve had a break inside.
2.30 – 3.15
Tidy up time. We have students help tidy things away and then everyone comes inside to get dry, changed and ready to go home. We typically finish the end of the day with having some toast and fruit while sat relaxing with some IWB activities or a quiet movie.
What I Use
Below you will find a list of all the different items that I use for our end of year water day. Underneath each one you will also find links to purchase the items if you wish too. If you have a supportive community you could pop these on an Amazon wish list and ask if anyone would like to make donations towards your end of year water day. The bonus is that a lot of these items can be re-used over the years.
If you want a quick overview instead of reading through the rest of this blog post, you can visit my Amazon Storefronts that include all of my ‘Water Day’ things below;
Gazebo
I have gathered many gazebos over the years and we tend to put 2-3 of these outside in the summer to keep the areas cool. I prefer to use the pop-up ones just because they’re quick and easy to put up and put away as well.
Water Table
Water tables are always a huge hit for us. We actually have a couple of different ones that we have tried over the years but my students usually prefer the ones that are interactive with running water. But they also love the ones that have different sections that they can sit down with and play with water, sand, stones etc. We also like to use different items in them to make them interactive this includes things like robotic fish.. Scoops.. Buckets etc. I have linked all of the ones that we use below.
USA Shopping List
- Multi-Level Water Table
- Sectioned Water Table
- Mermaid Toys
- Watering Cans
- Sand
- Pebbles
- Robotic Fish
- Swimming Turtles
- Rubber Ducks
- Pom-Poms
- Fishing Rod Game
- Whirling Waterfall Toy
UK Shopping List
- Multi-Level Water Table
- Sectioned Water Table
- Mermaid Toys
- Watering Cans
- Sand
- Pebbles
- Robotic Fish
- Swimming Turtles
- Rubber Ducks
- Pom-Poms
- Fishing Rod Game
- Whirling Waterfall Toy
Water Slide
I accidentally took one of these into the classroom one year when I had picked up an order.. And my students LOVED it! As such, it’s become a permanent fixture as part of our water day stations.
Paddling Pool
We try to stick to having smaller paddling pools as options. We were gifted a huge pool once for the outdoor area but it’s just too much to manage. The smaller paddling pools are easier for us to keep an eye on and enjoy with our students.. They’re also less intimidating for our students who may be nervous of pools.
Water Bombs
We used to use the big bunch water balloons, but we have recently invested in the refillable water balloons which work out so much cheaper in the long term – especially when they can be re-used! Here are the ones that I have been using;
Foam Water Shooters
We have these set up at the top of our garden area so that they can be kept away from students who don’t want to play with them. We put up little targets all along the wall and then students use the water shooters to shoot at the targets on the wall. Some of my students do like to play with each other and try to get each other with the water.. But most of my students like to complete the activity with hitting the targets on the wall instead.
Washing Vehicles
We have a range of different vehicles and ride-on toys that we have outside for our younger students. So we set up a little car wash station as part of our water day activities. This one is always popular. We load up the students with a bucket of water, sponges and a hose pipe.
USA Shopping List
UK Shopping List
Splash Pad
For my students who want time to relax and sit down, the splash pad is the perfect option for them.
Sprinkler
We also have a sprinkler as one of the centre options. My students love running around, through the water or even trying to dodge the water.
If you found this blog post helpful please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues on social media.
Helpful Links
- 10 End of Year Picture Books for Kids
- End of Year Theme Days
- Summer Activities and Resources
- Ocean Activities and Resources
- End of Year Activities and Resources
P.S. Have you signed up for a 3 day free trial of my VIP membership yet? If not, click here to do it now and go and get access to a huge range of resources, templates, crafts and more for free.
Nikki
