Hitting the beach and pools are great places to go on hot days, but never underestimate the old fashion fun you can have in your backyard with friends from your neighborhood. Or even on a balcony in a high rise. There are lots of water toys that you can buy at the toy store for water play, but you don’t really need special toys to keep cool. Here are few water play ideas.
For your baby: Older babies love water. They love to splash around in it and even just touch it. If you don’t have a big pool to cool down in don’t worry, babies are happy splashing in a simple bucket of water. Make sure you make the bucket water normal bathwater temperature. Watching my baby splashing in a bucket on the balcony of our old apartment is one of my fondest water play memories. I think all babies love to be in buckets of water because my new one has the same fun in the same bucket my oldest played in when she was a baby.
Different sizes of buckets of water: Use different sizes of buckets and containers filled with water and let the kids play with them for fun. Of course babies and small toddlers need to be supervised.
Water painting: Little Van Gogh’s will love to be creative with water painting. It is simple; you just need a bowl of water and large paintbrushes. In China you can find public courtyards filled with children painting with oversized calligraphy brushes dipped in water on the sidewalks.
Another way is to use empty liquid dish detergent bottles rinsed and filled with water. Any outdoor surface can be their canvas as they squirt faces and designs on sidewalks or squirt each other.
Water tag: Get the kids and yourself in swimsuits and let the play begin. Soak a sponge in water and decide who is going to be “it” and they can chase and throw the soggy sponge at the other players to make them it.
Kiddie Pool: If you have a little kiddie pool, it can be great way to have some water fun in the backyard; splashing and having boats and toys floating in the pool.
Rainy day: Recently my daughter surprised me when she and a friend ran down the stairs wearing swimsuits on a warm rainy afternoon. Rather than sitting inside, they were dancing and tumbling in the backyard getting wet and giggling.
And finally, don’t forget how much fun a sprinkler can be. Just turn it on for a few minutes, it will usually do the trick for cooling off.
