7 Ideas for Water Play Fun (When it’s hot and you don’t have a pool!) Staying cool during the summer months is always a challenge for families who don’t have a pool or live close to a swimmable body of water. But we’ve got 10 ideas to help you beat the heat with a little water play in your own yard or driveway! Check out these diversions that can be modified to fit a variety of players: 1. Wet Freeze Tag What you need: A bucket of water; a plastic cup; one water gun The player who is “It” tags everyone with spray from a water gun. To get a player unfrozen, a teammate must dump a cup of water from the bucket over the frozen player’s head and then return the cup to the bucket. 2. Beach Ball Soccer What you need: A beach ball; one water gun per player; a bucket of water for refills, two makeshift goals Have each team (or player, if it’s one on one) set up goal posts (e.g., two lawn chairs several feet apart at each end of the yard or driveway). Players shoot their water gun at the beach ball in a race to get it into the other team’s/player’s goal. You can also modify the game to give each team or player their own beach ball and simply play the game as a race to see who can score first. 3. DIY Slip and Slide What you need: A large tarp, water, a few drops of dish soap Spread out your tarp and add a few drops of dish soap to make it a bit more slippery once the water is added! 4. Wet Potato What you need: Water balloons; music (on a smartphone is fine) Poke a tiny hole in water balloon and have the players pass it around in a circle over their laps while the music plays. When the music stops, the person holding the water balloon has to squeeze the balloon over their head until the music restarts. Replace the water balloon as needed. 5. Underwater Foot Scavenger Hunt What you need: One plastic storage bin and one bowl per player; small toys, rocks and/or coins Fill each storage bin with water and a variety of the items (toys, rocks or coins). Write down (and/or vocalize) a list of items that each player must pick up with their feet and transport to their bowl (e.g., a blue marble, a coin from the 1990s, a spoon, a black rock). You can make it a competition to see who gets all the items first, or simply use it as entertainment with no time constraint. 6. Water Balloon Relay Races What you need: Water balloons; two shallow containers or cookie sheets Both teams line up at one end of the yard or driveway while the buckets or cookie sheets are placed at the other end to keep the water balloons together for the final tally. Two players on each team must stand back-to-back while a parent carefully places a water balloon between them. The teams must carefully transport the water balloon to the other end of the yard or driveway and drop it in the container without using their hands. You can choose to count the full balloons in each team’s container or measure the water (if kids are too young to prevent the balloon from popping). 7. DIY Water Table What you need: A shallow plastic storage bin (such as an under-the-bed bin); plastic dishes, measuring cups Optional: Various colors of bubble bath; sand Younger kids just love to play chef or scientist! Fill the bin with water, sand, and toys and, depending on the child’s age, allow them to experiment with various colors of bubble bath in pitchers, plastic cups, and mixing bowls. Need some affordable ideas for RAINY day activities? Check out suggestions for activities to keep young brains (and hands!) occupied in our blog here.