How to Teach Your Kids the Importance of Drinking Water

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Summer is just around the corner, and the chances that my little kid become dehydrated will greatly increase. My little three years old boy just doesn’t like drinking water, and it causes us some headaches. He will just take a little sip if he is reminded. Sometimes, he even throws a tantrum because of that. Thankfully, after some research, I have found multiple ways to encourage more water intake. Let’s talk about them today.

Benefits of Drinking Water

It is a known fact that our body needs water because:

1. It helps improve our physical performance.
2. It has a positive impact on our brain function.
3. It affects our energy levels.
4. It helps our digestive system.
5. It supports body temperature regulation.
6. It keeps our skin hydrated.
7. It helps our bodies absorb nutrients more effectively.

These benefits are self-explanatory to adults, but it is not easy to explain to little kids. However, it is very important for our kids to understand the importance of drinking water (so they will drink more, hopefully). Let’s explore how we can teach our little ones about water and its benefits.

Teaching Your Little Ones the Importance of Drinking Water

You can start relaying the information about the benefits of drinking water to your kids. However, it might not be very effective. Personally, I don’t think my three-year-old would listen to me explaining that our body is made of about 60% water. He would not even understand (or care) that drinking water will help his digestive system. Fortunately, there is a better way to teach our little ones about the importance of water, and it is through a science experiment. This experiment might require some time and patience. However, it is very helpful. Let’s do it!

What you will need:

• 2 stems of fresh flowers (check out more experiments with fresh flowers here)
• 1 glass of water
• 1 camera (or you can use your phone)

How to do it (ask your kid to do the experiment with you):

• Put the two stems of fresh flowers on the table.
• Make observations of the flowers.
• Take a picture of the original conditions of these flowers (you can help your kid with this step)
• Put one flower stem into a glass of water and leave the other one outside.
• Make observations every 24 hours (and take pictures)
• Ask your kid to compare the two flower stems at the end of the experiment.

After the experiment, you can explain to your kid that water is very important for the life of the flowers (and all other living things, including us). The experiment will give your kid a more visual understanding of the impact of water on the flowers (and our bodies). If they forget in the future, remind them of the pictures you took.

6 Ways to Encourage Your Little Kids to Drink More Water

1. Fun cups and bottles. Kids love cute and fun stuff. The same is true when it comes to cups and bottles. From personal experience, water must taste better when my little boy drinks from his favorite cup and bottle. 
2. Fruit-infused water. Fruits add some flavors to water, and it makes water more tasty and attractive to your little ones.
3. Silly straws. Similar to fun cups and bottles, silly straws help encourage kids to drink more water because they are fun. Kids can watch the water traveling through the straws before it gets to their mouths. 
4. Set reminders. Set some simple rules where your kids can remind you to drink your water throughout the day. At the same time, you can also remind them to drink their water along with you. 
5. Frozen fruits. Adding frozen fruits help make the water cooler and more fun to drink. This works best during the summer.
6. Smaller cups and bottles. Using smaller cups and bottles allows little kids to feel accomplished for finishing the entire bottle in a short period.

Closing Words

Drinking water is important because it helps our bodies function better. However, the concept is not easy to explain to little kids. It helps to teach the ideas through a fun and involved experiment because kids learn much faster by making their own observations. In addition, there are several ways to help get your little ones to drink more water and keep them hydrated, especially during the summer.