Fun in the Water Games

When it's hot outside, playing in the water is a great pass time and cures the boredom. All you need is a garden hose, some water balloons or a couple of buckets and sponges to plan a refreshing day of water fun. We haven't played all of these, but here is a list of ideas:

Sponge Tag – Throw a soaking wet big sponge at the person; if it hits her,

she’s it.

Sponge Relay Races – Fill two buckets with the exact same amount of water. Form two teams and give each team a big car-wash sponge. At the start of the race, the first person on each team soaks up as much water as she can in the sponge and carries it to another bucket, squeezes out the water and runs back to hand the sponge to the next person on her team, who repeats the process.

Water balloon games - Some water balloon kits come with an adapter that fits on your outdoor water spigot to make it easy to fill the balloons.

Water Balloon Toss - Form two lines of paired players, facing each other. Have each pair toss a water balloon back and forth, taking a step backwards after every two tosses. The further back you step, the further the toss and the more likely the water balloon will burst. The last pair to have their water balloon intact wins.

Hula Hoop Water Balloon Toss - One person holds a hula hoop to his side and the other person tries to toss a water balloon through the hoop.

Hose games - Put a Y connector (available at any lawn and garden store) on your outdoor spigot and attach two hoses. Give the hoses to the kids, turn on the spigot and let the games begin!

Beach Ball Race - Place two beach balls on a starting line and have the two contestants squirt water on their ball to drive it across the yard. First ball to get to the finish line wins.

Fill the Bucket - Have the kids see who can fill a bucket the fastest. We did this at a field day one time. You have two buckets at either end of the field. You need either a plastic sandwich bag or a cup. Fill that up and carry it to the other bucket without spilling it. The first team to fill up the bucket, wins the race.

Ice cube fun - On a super hot day, crack open a tray or two of ice cubes and let the kids use their imaginations and play until the ice melts!

Icy Building Blocks - Sprinkle a little salt onto an ice cube and press it onto another ice cube. The salt will melt the ice slightly and then it will refreeze to hold the two together. Stack the ice cubes to form a pyramid, a wall or other structure.

Ice Cube Melting Race - Give each child an ice cube and see who can get it to melt the fastest in their hands. Working in pairs or teams is best, so when a child's hands get too cold, they can pass the ice cube off to a teammate.