6 Wonderful Benefits of Water Play for Preschoolers

If you have heard that the rules around mobile phones and electronic devices in early childhood settings have changed, you are right. If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, these changes are already in effect.

Here is a plain-English breakdown of what changed, why it happened, and what it means for your family.

Why Did the Laws Change?

The changes were introduced as a child safety measure. In 2025, Australia’s Education Ministers agreed to amend the Education and Care Services National Law to address concerns about the potential for personal devices to be used to capture, store, or transmit images of children in care without authorisation.

The intent is straightforward: children in early learning settings deserve an environment where their privacy and safety are actively protected.

What Changed Nationally

From 27 February 2026, amendments to the national Education and Care Services National Law took effect across Australia. Under these changes, educators and staff who work directly with children are restricted from using personal electronic devices in care settings.

Before this, from 1 September 2025, all early childhood education and care services nationwide were required to have written policies in place addressing the use of digital devices.

What Changed in NSW

NSW moved ahead of the national timeline. The Education and Care Services (Supply, Authorisation and Use of Devices) Order 2025 took effect on 6 November 2025, applying across NSW’s 6,000 or more early learning services, including long day care centres, preschools, and family day care.

Under this order, educators and staff must use service-issued or service-authorised devices rather than their own personal devices when working directly with children.

What Counts as a Personal Device?

The definition is broad. A personal device is any device owned by an individual (not the approved provider) that is capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting an image. This includes:

Mobile phones
Smartwatches
Cameras and tablets
iPads and laptops
Hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards
Wearables such as camera glasses

Who Does the Ban Apply To?

The restrictions apply to anyone working directly with children at a service, including permanent and casual educators, students on placement, volunteers, contractors, and allied health professionals delivering programs on-site.

Parents, carers, and other visitors are not covered by the ban. In NSW, parents and carers remain free to use their personal devices during drop-off, pick-up, centre visits, and events involving their own children. There are also authorised exceptions for essential purposes, including emergencies and health or disability support needs.

What About Screen Time for Children?

These new laws specifically address staff device use, not children’s screen time. Screen time limits for young children are not mandated within childcare regulation at a national level.

The relevant guidance comes from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend no screen time for children under 2 years, and no more than 1 hour per day for children aged 2 to 5 years. These are health guidelines, not regulatory requirements.

What This Means for Your Family

If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, their service is already required to operate under these rules. Any educator or staff member working directly with your child should not be using a personal device to take photos or videos. Only service-authorised devices should be used for that purpose.

If you have questions about how your centre handles digital devices or image capture, you are well within your rights to ask. Most services will have a written policy in place that covers exactly this.

At Clovel, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is at the heart of everything we do. If you would like to know more about how we support your child across our centres, we would love to have that conversation with you.

Many see water play as something to occupy little ones during the summer months. We chart our children to pools and lakes, enroll them in swim lessons, and inflate splash pads and wading pools in our own backyards.

We know how much little ones love playing in the water, but many parents are surprised at just how beneficial water play can be.

What’s so great about water play?

Allowing children to interact with water—through splashing, diving, scooping, and pouring—affords them the opportunity to further explore and develop their senses.

Water play can happen anywhere. Sure, pools and natural bodies of water are great options, but so are inflatable wading pools, splash pads, water tables…and even bathtubs! As it turns out, natural elements are one of the greatest teachers for our children, and using water for play is beneficial in so many ways:

1. It improves motor skills.

Poor a stream of water in front of an infant…what happens? They almost always stretch out their hand, wiggling their tiny fingers as they attempt to touch it. From a very early age, water play encourages children to use their motor skills.

As little ones cart buckets of water from one place to another, they are strengthening the large muscle groups in the arms and legs, building gross motor skills. And, as they scoop, pour, and splash water they are using the more delicate muscles found in the wrists, hands, and fingers. This strengthens the fine motor skills necessary for holding writing instruments and buttoning buttons.

2. It helps children better understand their senses.

Water is the OG of sensory play, and sensory activities allow children to put the scientific method into motion as they ask questions, test theories, and collect evidence…all under the guise of play!

Sensory play helps little ones learn concepts like warm, cool, wet, and dry and boosts cognitive development.

3. It allows them to become better problem solvers.

Water play is the perfect time to introduce a “problem” that children can solve. If your child is playing in an inflatable wading pool or an outdoor water table, try setting a bucket a good distance from their water source, then ask them the best way to get water into the bucket. You’ll be amazed at their creativity! Some children might opt to bring the bucket to the water source and try to fill it there, while others might carry cups of water to the bucket. You can increase the difficulty of the task by choosing a container with a narrow neck and providing items like sponges and funnels, or by telling the children that the bucket cannot be moved. Children love a good challenge, and this activity can keep them entertained for hours!

4. It teaches them important math and science concepts.

Did you realize that many math and science concepts can be taught through water play? It’s true!

Preschoolers can learn the concepts of full, half-full, and empty as they scoop cups of water. They can also estimate how many cups of water will be required to fill a bucket, then count exactly how many scoops are needed and compare the result with their guess.

This also segues nicely into scientific theory. Making a hypothesis, testing the theory, then confirming the results are all important scientific skills children will use throughout their educational careers and well into adulthood. There are an endless number of scientific concepts that can be learned during water play. Finding out what objects sink and which float is always a hit amongst children, as are the properties that make solids different from liquids.

5. It can improve concentration.

Waterplay is one of those activities where children can easily lose track of time as they play…and that is a good thing.

Focusing on one activity for prolonged periods helps your child learn to attend, thereby improving their ability to focus and increasing their concentration span.

6. It builds language skills.

Experiences lie at the heart of language building, and waterplay is perfect for expanding your child’s vocabulary. They learn words specifically related to water play—things like splash, gurgle, drip, pour, tidal wave, and underwater.

There’s also plenty of opportunity for imaginative play. Pretending to be a sea captain, mermaid, or fishing expert allows children to engage their imaginations while building a broader vocabulary base.

As is the case with most activities for preschoolers, the key is to keep it fun! Don’t get stuck on teaching a specific lesson or task. Instead, let the lesson come as an organic part of water play. As your child is pouring buckets of water, ask how many it would take to fill another container. Encourage your child to swim like a dolphin. Hold up a feather and a rock and ask them which will sink.

By keeping things light and fun, you’ll ensure your child enjoys their time playing in water…and that they’ll be begging to do it again!

Thanks for reading,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986

Lyn Connolly

Founder and Company Director

Lyn Connolly is the Founder and Company Director of Clovel Childcare & Early Learning Centres, a family‑owned group of eight centres across Western Sydney established from her first service at Merrylands. Active in early childhood education since 1977, she also serves as President of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, representing providers in state and federal consultations, media, and public hearings.