10 Sink Play Ideas
If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that water play has been William’s ‘thing’ for the past year. Anything with water he has loved!
Messy play that involves sticky hands he can give or take, but water? A hit!
Great of course in summer time, pop a tub of water on the grass and he can splash and pour to his hearts intake. Colder months it’s a bit trickier when you bring the water play inside.
But thanks to our trusty kitchen sink we’ve found a way to let William play with water in a semi contained way….I’m not going to pretend the water is always contained to the sink 😉
One of the things I love about sink play is how quick it is to set up.
A few minutes that’s it. You don’t need anything fancy, you will already have everything you need.
The only thing I would recommend buying if you don’t already have some, is some liquid food dye. I don’t think a day goes by where I’m not adding a drop of colouring to something! It certainly transforms water play in 1 quick squeeze!
Today I’m sharing with you 10 sink play ideas to get you inspired…
1. Pink Theme Sink Play
One of my fave sink play ideas of all time because it couldn’t be more simple. Pick a colour, raid the toy box and kitchen cupboards and find anything that can scoop, pour or provide fun in that colour.
For our pink theme I used cups, bowls, pom poms, funnels and scoops. A few drops of pink food colouring and we were all set!
2. Bubble Foam Sink Play
If you haven’t tried bubble foam yet, I promise you won’t be disappointed!
A squirt of washing liquid, a cup of water and a hand mixer to mix it all together really well. It makes amazing bubbles! I added a drop of food colouring each time to make the pretty rainbow foam.
3. Dinosaur Sink Play
“Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, pre historic dinosaurs”…..got any other Blippi fans? 😉
Ok so this suer simple 2 minute sink play set up involved a drop of green colouring, plenty of cups and plastic dinosaurs. William played here for ageeeesss. I think I had time to clean the whole kitchen and have a drink! Stuff of dreams right there 😉
4. Tea Party Sink Play
We were kindly gifted this super cute tea set from Tagiatry and it’s been used so much! For this sink play I added some tea coloured water – it was actually koala brown but looks more green in the photo. I added his tea set around the sink and off he went. This one did require keeping a towel near by!
5. Very Hungry Caterpillar Sink Play
How cute is this Very Hungry Caterpillar sink play from www.siancurley.com I love the little caterpillar made from bottle tops and the magnifying glass to explore.
6. Muddy Farm Sink Play
How cute is this muddy farm sink play? I mixed coco powder, cornflour and water to make our muddy farm and simply added some farm animals. Warning – this can get messy 😉
7. Sea Life Sink Play
Hands up who has a little who loves all things sea life? Blue colouring and sea life animals is all you ned to make this inviting sink play set up.
8. Recycling Sink Play
Another great one from www.siancurley.com as this sink play is all about recycling and I can’t wait to try it with William! I have done similar in the past using the bottle caps in a tub of water to scoop but I love the recycling element of this idea and a great chance to talk to your little one about what recycling means.
9. Car Wash Sink Play
Again one we have tried but not in the sink (that will change this weekend!). This idea from Timeless Adventures is so simple yet so fun. Create your own car wash with some bubbles one side (you can always use a washing up bowl if like me you don’t have 2 sink areas) and clean water the other. provides stones and give those cars / toys a good clean.
10. Boat Sink Play
William and I both loved this sink play. To mix it up I added some foil to the bottom of the sink before selling it with blue water. We added little diy boats although he wasn’t bothered about those he just wanted were his cars! It provided a lovely different sensory element to the play.
Thank You!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our play and have got some inspiration for an idea you think your little will love. We share a new play activity daily on instagram so I would love to connect with you on there, just hit the button below and drop me a line 🙂 Caroline x
