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This gently sloped wading pool will tickle lots of toes as the children dangle their feet in the water. The water will gush out of a teacher-activated pump and end up in a shallow wading pool that will gradually drain dry. The children can splash away as they sit on the rocks placed around the sides of the pool. Plastic chutes will swish boats and other toys down to the water to float around.

The children will learn many things in this delightful water area:

• Cause and effect as they see the pump activated and watch the water gush out and watch the boats swish down the chutes.
• Motor skills as they climb down into the pool and wade in the water.
• Sensory stimulation from the different textures of water as they splash and wade in it and feel the coolness of it against their skin.

Besides providing a secure place to store the loose playground equipment such as balls, wagons and tricycles, the 60 square foot Toy Box will become a learning tool to teach young children that cleaning up is part of playing, and that it signals the end of one activity and the transition to the next activity. Its unique design combines functionality with a fun fantasy look of a giant toy box.

While helping to put away their toys, the children will be practicing motor skills, such as:

• Turning knobs
• Pushing the giant sliding door; and
• Lifting and carrying toys inside.

This giant busy box, with a look much like a Rube Goldberg machine, will have lots of thingamajigs, doohickeys, and whatchmacallits for young inquisitive minds. Hours of fun will be spent trying out all of the gizmos and experiencing the sound and light shows that go with them, all the while learning an array of new skills.

This feature will provide all sorts of activities to stimulate the senses and encourage fine motor skills, such as:

• Turning handles;
• Pushing buttons;
• Pulling levers;
• Squeezing soft balls;
• Watching the lights blink on and off; and
• Listening to bells and whistles.

Young children who visit this area will get ample exercise going up and down the small steps that lead into the bowl. They may be surprised to see what the “special of the day” is when they get to the bottom. Some days it may be filled with lots of colorful, small balls; the next day it may be covered with soft foam shapes; another day they may find their feet covered in sand. Clear plastic chutes will line the handrail so children can watch colorful balls slide down into the pit and provide them with a chance to figure out cause and effect.

Colorful xylophones will be part of this area, allowing youngsters to discover all of the fun sounds the mallets can make. To encourage language skills, the children will be able to use their very own speaking tube, an underground phone system, to send messages to a friend nearby.

Along with learning cause and effect, this area will encourage many other skills, such as:

• Climbing up and down small steps, a major developmental skill for young children;
• Balancing as they maneuver the steps;
• Experiencing new textures and shapes as they handle a variety of materials;
• Exploring the density/weight of various objects by putting them in the chutes;
• Increasing language skills, both receptive and expressive; and
• Becoming aware of their bodies as they move their arms and legs through the different objects at the bottom of the bowl.