Once the hot days of summer arrive, most children love to play water games outdoors in order to cool off and have fun at the same time. Although there are plenty of expensive water guns, wading pools and water slides on the market today, you don’t really need store-bought toys in order to have some water fun in the backyard. Instead, why not make some of your own water toys, and make up some totally free water games that your children can play? When it comes to games and fun, almost anything goes. But if you need a few ideas to help get you started, here are a few fun and inexpensive games you can try.
Free Water Guns
Today there is a mind-bending assortment of squirting toys, water guns, and water balloon launching devices from which to choose. However, it wasn’t that long ago that most kids made their own water guns from plastic bottles and other scrap craft supplies. Dishwashing liquid bottles and other plastic bottles designed with a squirt lid top can be used to make a myriad of fun and totally free water toys. As an added bonus, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you are keeping at least a few plastic bottles out of your neighborhood landfill.
To make a homemade water gun, you’ll first need a squeezable plastic bottle with a squirt lid top. Before using it as a water toy, make sure that you clean and rinse it very thoroughly, so that there isn’t any soap or product residue left in the bottle. To be safe, never use a bottle that was previously used to store any kind of hazardous material. If your children have a plastic wading pool in the backyard, they can use it as a refilling station for their homemade water guns. The garden hose could also be used, but children have a tendency to waste more water when using the hose as compared to using a bucket of water or a wading pool. To refill the homemade water gun, simply squeeze the bottle tightly and place it underwater. Once you release your grip on the bottle, water will just naturally be drawn into the bottle, loading it for your child’s next water duel.
Fun Games to Play with Water
There are also plenty of fun games that children can play with water, using nothing more than household supplies that you probably already own. “Pass the Sponge” is a fun and exciting game that is best played with a group of children. Divide everyone up into two teams. Give each team two plastic buckets and a large sponge. Fill one of the buckets with water. Have each team join hands in a line, starting at the water-filled bucket. Place an empty bucket at the other end of each team’s line of players. When you give the signal, the first child in line dips the sponge in the water, soaking up as much water as possible. They then pass the sponge to the next child in line, moving the sponge from child to child until the last child squeezes the water- filled sponge into the empty bucket. The squeezed-out sponge is then passed back up to the first child in line, and the process starts again. The team that ends up with the most water in their second bucket wins the race.
“Catch the Water Balloon” is another fun game for two people to play. In fact, you might even enjoy playing this game with your child. All you need is a supply of small balloons and a plastic pasta strainer or colander. Take turns tossing water-filled balloons to each other. The object of the game is to catch the water balloon in the pasta strainer without it breaking. The person who catches the most unbroken balloons wins. Creative home decor is what we are all about at Metal-Wall-Art.com and our staff writer,
Post by Alyssa Davis, who is an expert in designing it with nautical metal art and tropical wall art.
