Water Games for Children

Nothing cools kids off on a hot, humid summer day like playing in the water. Whether it's in an outdoor pool or just with a garden hose and some water guns, kids love to play games while getting soaked. For cheap and easy entertainment at your next birthday party or family gathering, teach the kids a few water games that they can play on their own or with adult supervision.

Pool Games

If you have access to a private pool, teach kids to play the classic water game Marco Polo. In this game that resembles "blind tag," one child acting as the seeker closes his eyes and shouts "Marco!" The other children in the pool respond "Polo!" The child shouting "Marco!" follows the sound of the other children's voices and splashes until he tags one, who then becomes "it."

Children also love to play "hide the balloons." For this game, place a dozen inflated balloons in the water with the children and time them to see who can hide the most balloons under his body in the water in a specified amount of time. The children can hide the balloons by sitting on them, standing on them or holding them between their knees.

If your kids want to cool off and there's no pool nearby, there are plenty of games they can enjoy with the use of just a garden hose and an outdoor faucet (in fact, even an indoor faucet will work for this game, though it will be more cumbersome). Organize a game of water tag, which is played like normal tag, except that the child who is "it" tags the other children by spraying them with a water gun. Refill the gun as necessary with a hose or under a faucet.

Kids can also make their own activities by playing with a fun sprinkler attachment to a garden hose. These toys can be purchased at any major toy retailer, and can be the focal point for games for younger children's games like Ring Around the Rosy or can be used for simply splashing around.

Organize a game of "water relay." Split the children split up into equal groups; give each group a full bucket of water, an empty bucket of water and a cup with a few holes punched into the sides. Place the empty buckets at the far end of an unobstructed space and the full ones near the kids. Each child takes a turn filling his cup with water and holding it over his head as he runs to the empty bucket to dump the remaining water into it. The game continues with each player taking his turn until the formerly full bucket is empty; the team with the most water dumped into the far bucket wins.

The water balloon toss relay is a classic. Organize the kids into two teams. Each team stands in a line with the kids 4 to 5 feet apart. At the beginning of each line is a bucket full of water balloons. At the end of each line is an empty bucket. At your prompt of "1-2-3-Go!" the child next to the full bucket in each line takes out a balloon and tosses it to the child next to him, who tosses it to the next kid and so on down the line. As soon as the first balloon passes from the first kid to the second, the next balloon comes into play and so on through the pile of balloons, so that several are moving through each line at the same time. The group with the most intact balloons in the "finish line" bucket when all the balloons are passed wins