Our most recent experiment in toddler independence has been setting up a "watering
hole" for Margaret.
I found this plastic drink dispenser at Wal-Mart for $5. I cleared off a space on one of her art supply shelves, placed a little grippy drawer liner under the jug to keep it from sliding around, and set some open cups and washcloths for cleaning up spills next to it. I placed a large bowl on the floor for catching overflow and drew a dot on the bowl directly under the spout with a Sharpie to help her aim the water into the cup.
I'm not gonna lie, this was an annoying mess at first. Girlfriend loves playing in water, so she proceeded to fill up every cup and dump them all in the bowl. Once she got that out of her system, though, she seemed content with using the jug only when she wanted a drink.
All said, it was worth the mess in the beginning to allow her this independence. She now offers me cups of water as I'm going about my day, and she's been pretty good about leaving water-play for the tub, sink, or outdoors after her initial exploration.
2 comments:
I'm curious what age you started this?
I posted this when my daughter was about 2.5, and I believe we'd been doing it for a month or two at that point. Her little brother is not quite 2 right now, and we haven't made it available to him yet but probably will in the next few months. My daughter is tall enough now to use the fridge dispenser.
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