It’s been a long, crazy summer here in Australia and to say it’s been hot is a bit of an understatement. While it’s officially Autumn, the hot weather hasn’t left us just yet so I wanted to share with you one of the ways you can use your MiniZoo figures and cool off at the same time.

Water activities are a great way for your little ones to learn and enjoy the warmer weather at the same time; whether it’s in the pool, or simply in a tray filled with water, your little ones can discover and play with their favourite animals.

My two-year-old daughter has a small collection of sea creatures which we regularly take to the local pool, or to Grandma and Grandpa’s pool when we visit their house. She’ll even play with them in the bath.

Her favourite is the Safari Clownfish, for several reasons: it’s a fish (and fish are her favourite things in the whole wide world), its brightly coloured, and it floats! Others also love it because of the striking resemblance to everyone’s favourite Disney clownfish.

The Mojo Dolphin is also a great choice for a sea life collection because when it’s dropped into the water and begins to sink, it usually goes down nose first, which makes it look like its actually doing a dolphin dive.

The Safari Octopus is a beautiful aquamarine colour with light green on its underside, showcasing all its suction pads. His legs are slightly flexible and jelly-like, but typically stay in their unique positions.

The Safari Seahorse is a bright sunset colour, with its tail wrapped around a piece of purple coral, and Papo’s peaceful Loggerhead Turtle is a mix of different browns, as it’s brushed shell makes it easily recognisable.

Miss 2 was also very lucky to receive a couple more vibrantly coloured fish to her sea creature collection at Christmas time, adding the yellow Safari Koi and the Safari Blue Tang.

As I said, we often take ours to the local pool from time to time in a little bucket and it’s proved to be a beautiful way to make some friends. Teaching toddlers to share is such a valuable lesson, but seeing how sharing your toys with those around you can lead to a temporary playmate.

Using MiniZoo sea animals in the water is a perfect way to encourage imaginative play and to see how your little one learns about floating and sinking objects, particularly with animals that live in the ocean and are not typically seen every day.

Just in case you’re wondering, chlorine doesn’t damage MiniZoo animals at all or fade their bright colours in the least, but we rinse them with tap water afterwards just in case.

Jenna @ MiniZoo

(PS: Always supervise your kids when they’re playing in water. The dangers of pools are known, but even splash areas for super little ones can be dangerous if left unsupervised).