Water play activities for kids this summer

Summer is well and truly here.

So too are the school summer holidays.

The kids have bags of energy… which means that you need to be on the ball with great ideas to keep them entertained.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about you being Chief Entertainment Officer for the duration of the summer break.

But if you’re clever, you can set them up to keep themselves amused hour after hour.

Which means you get to keep your sanity this summer… and maybe even get to sit down and enjoy the glorious summer weather.

One brilliant way to keep kids entertained in the hot sticky days of summer is to set them loose with water games and crafts.

Not only do they stay occupied and having fun, they will also keep cool too.

Just don’t forget to slather them up in sun protection – here’s my post on the best sun protection to choose for the sake of

Brilliant water play activities for kids

Giant water bubbles

Painting with water balloons

Painting with water balloons … Reading Confetti

Summer fun hose play

Summer Fun Hose Play … Creative Playhouse

Poolside nursery rhymes

Poolside Nursery Rhymes … Danya Banya

Duck Duck Splash

A watery twist on the classic Duck Duck Goose by Inspiration Made Simple, watch the video above and then pop over to the site using the link to find out the rules – Duck Duck Splash

Magic paint

Magic Paint … Coffee With Us 3

Fill the bucket water game

A brilliantly simple but super fun game from The Resourceful Mama – pay a visit to her site to find out what you’ll need to play the game – Fill the bucket water game.

Ice eggs

Ice Eggs … Controlling Craziness

Colour water play

Coloured water play … There’s Just One Mommy

Feet only water bucket challenge

Not sure what this game is called, (comment what you think it should be called below) but the idea is: The team has to hold us a bucket of water with their feet, and slowly one by one they each have to take their shoes and socks off without spilling the bucket on themselves. The first team to get all their shoes off without dropping the bucket wins! You can also play barefoot, and each person has a string or towel or something tied around their ankle, and the person next to them has to try and untie it with their feet. #stumin #summergames #summeryouthmin #watergames #youtjministryideas

A post shared by Youth Ministry Ideas (@youthministryideas) on Jun 3, 2016 at 5:42pm PDT

I found this on the Youth Downloads site.

Sponge koosh balls

Sponge Koosh Balls … Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Coloured ice eggs

Coloured Ice Eggs … Sunny Today Mama

Kids’ pool games

Fun Games for a Paddling Pool … Five Little Chefs

Soap boat races

Keep the water fun clean with these soap boats – click the link to visit I Heart Naptime to find out how to set this brilliant water game up.

I hope you and your kids love at least one of the water play activities in the roundup above.

Want more ideas for keeping the kids occupied and having fun this summer? Take a look at our post on Summer Vacation Projects for Kids.

We’ve also got a post on how to keep kids reading through the long summer break.

If you do nothing else because you want to give your children a complete break from school, do keep them reading, as well as helping them discover a life long joy for reading, it’s an amazing way to keep their brains ticking over so that back to school isn’t quite such a shock to their systems – How to Keep Kids Reading Through the Summer.

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