Veronika has been loving her water table this summer, and today we found yet another way to play with it: we went “fishing”!

My kids are often frustrated by attempts at magnetic fishing, so today we used a much easier hack: mini fish nets from the pet store. I filled the water table with water and added easy little “fish” to catch: ping pong balls and old wine corks!

Veronika immediately loved scooping these up with the nets. She was so proud each time she made a catch!

It was nearly as much fun when a ball would go bouncing away and she had to retrieve it in her net.

For some early number recognition, I labeled the balls with a sharpie, too, so she could should out the number of each “fish” she caught. Older kids can riff on this idea by catching two balls and adding up the sum!

She was less interested in the corks, but still managed to snag a few in her net. Overall, a simple and watery way to keep pool on the patio.