When I had water avalible, I had kids drinking from the wrong cups (on purpose
) kids spitting water all over (on purpose
) kids gargling with water (again, on purpose
)
So if a child comes to me mid morning and claims thirst, I will pour a little water in a cup and they have to sit right with me while drinking it. I've also noticed kids claiming thirst in order to get out of activities they don't like - kids who want to come inside after a couple of minutes, or who want to get out of cleaning up. Just like anything else, I do try to hold a child off when I strongly suspect the motive isn't thirst, just as I wouldn't feed them lunch at 10:30 because they say they are hungry.