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Our bodies are made up of around 60 per cent water. That’s over half our body weight.

If a six-year-old child weighs around 20 kilograms, their bodies will be 12 kilograms fluid, leaving eight kilograms for bones, muscles and organs.

This fact helps to show what a vital role hydration plays in our child’s wellbeing.

Our bodies need water for many different jobs, including doing regular poos and wees. Just like eating food throughout the day, it’s important for children to have drinks too, especially when they’re active. If a child is slightly dehydrated it can affect their ability to concentrate, to learn in school, or to follow instructions. It can also make them feel tired, thirsty, grumpy or give them a headache.

According to the NHS, some children who don’t drink enough can also get daytime bladder issues such as needing to wee all the time, needing to go suddenly, or having wee accidents. There are different reasons why this happens – including constipation, urinary tract infections, or not feeling comfortable going to the toilet – but it can also be because the bladder is irritated due to lack of hydration.

Below is a guide to help you check on the ideal fluid intake for a child's age, but remember the colour of your child’s wee is the best indicator (see our wee tracker chart below). Don’t forget they’ll need to have more in the summer when it’s hot or if they’re exercising.

A child’s cup holds between 150 – 200ml, a standard medium-size glass holds around 200ml, and a mug holds around 250ml. It may be a good idea to measure how much fluid is in your child’s favourite cup so you can get an idea of their fluid intake.

If you don’t drink enough then your body tells you that in different ways. Your child may get a pain in their head (headache), they may not do a poo very often (constipation) or when they do it’s not easy to get out. Your child may not be weeing regularly, and their wee may become dark yellow or orange. These are all signs that their body needs more fluid and they need to drink more.

Download our free and activities to understand what colour and consistency your child’s wees and poos should be. Then you can chart your kid’s poo and wee over a week. Use the downloadable template chart to note down with your child what colour their wee is and what their poo looks like every day. We recommend checking the colour of their wee at least twice a day as it’ll be difficult to do this every time they go.

If their wee is the colour of straw, then they’re drinking enough. If it’s darker than this, then they need to drink more. At the end of the day, help your child to decide if they’re drinking enough by adding a smiley or unhappy face next to their wee colour. These symbols are an easy way for your child to understand if they need to improve their drinking habits.

If their poo is like small balls or the balls are stuck together then this is a sign that your child needs to drink more too. You can use the same symbols to help you.

At the end of this experiment you and your child should know if they’re drinking enough, and if they need to change their drinking habits. If they do start to drink more, make a note of the changes in their wee and poo habits, as well as things like their mood and concentration.

The best way to get a child to drink more is to make it fun. Try setting them a challenge: fill their water bottle at the start of the day, draw a line on the outside of it, and challenge them to drink to that line by the end of the school or nursery day. You can also get their teacher or childminder involved in the challenge. Rewards like stickers or a sticker chart can also help.

Play this game like the traditional Simon Says but with water bottles. Say, for example: “Simon says ‘touch your toes’. Simon says ‘take a drink’. Jump up and down. Simon says ‘jump up and down’. Simon says ‘drink for a count of Three Mississippi - one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi’.”

• Print off or draw your own chart using the template linked above.
• Add a goal so the child knows how much they need to drink every day (the recommended goals are on the template).
• Ask your child to colour in the water droplet every time they have a drink.

Your child may need more or less than the recommended number of cups depending on the outcome of their poo and wee tracker charts.

You can encourage your child to drink by turning it into a weekly water-drinking challenge!

You may like to grow some cress as this needs lots of water to grow. Tell your child that cress needs to be watered every day, just like us drinking every day, and this will make the plant grow. Keeping it watered means that the cress stays healthy, just like keeping our bodies working well too.

Watch this video to learn how to make pots of cress.

• You could try doing 'cheers' with them.
• Make a den and have their water to drink whilst in there.
• Add ice cubes to their water.
• Use reusable or paper straws.
• Be a role model; seeing you drink water can help them too.

The easiest thing to drink is water. It’s free and readily available to drink from your kitchen tap. If your child isn’t good at drinking water, then you can try very dilute ‘no-added-sugar’ squash. Too much squash and milk however can mean we can fill up and are not hungry for meals, so only normally offer these drinks with food.

Sometimes we think we’re hungry but in fact we’re thirsty. If your child is eating regular meals, then remember to offer them a drink at the same time too. This will help ensure they’re getting plenty of fluid.

Water and milk are the best drinks for our children’s wellbeing and teeth. Start with half water and half their usual drink and gradually increase the amount of water and reduce the amount of their usual drink. Give a maximum of 150ml of juice a day and avoid giving it throughout the day as the acid can cause tooth decay.

There are lots of reasons children don’t drink at school. Sometimes they forget. Sometimes they’re worried about using the school toilets. See if you can find out from your child why they don’t drink water at school and then work on solving the problem together.

You may also like to speak to their class teacher, who can encourage more drinks at school, or speak to their after-school care provider about ways to encourage them to drink soon after finishing school. Having a good drink first thing in the morning and another before they go to school, and encouraging them to drink soon after finishing school, will help.

Some children are reluctant to go for a poo outside of the home. The best way to encourage them is to normalise it. Get your kids interested in what poo is, where it comes from, how it’s a necessary part of our bodily function and tell them about the importance of a balanced diet for a good poo. Show them the poo chart so they can see what a healthy poo looks like, and get them to fill in the chart as mentioned above. Then you can perhaps discuss the benefits of doing a poo regularly with them. If they’re holding in a poo whilst at school, nursery or childcare, speak to their teacher or childcare provider discreetly to see if there’s a more private toilet they can use, or a subtle hand gesture they can show to let them know they need to go during the day.