After reading the Mother Goose blog about water play, I found it to be great that they mentioned it building gross motor development. We went to the splash pad to explore with water, our senses, textures, gross motor and cognitive development. All of these areas are targeted while the children were engaged in the water play.
Little A was pretending to take a shower using the water fall at the splash park. Little A turned his head to the side to wash his hair all out. Little A was clapping as the water came back on. Little A loved to see the water dump at the water park clapping as it all came crashing back down to the ground.