Water Play

In Arizona, there are two types of activities that you can enjoy in the summer heat:  outside activities that involve water or inside activities that involve air conditioning!  We are taking advantage of both this summer.  Here are some of our favorite indoor and outdoor water activities.

Outside:

The boys really love the water table.  Pouring, squirting and splashing themselves, the patio and each other.

I added some ocean objects to the water table (plastic sea animals, shells, plastic jewels, fish puppets, squirt puffer fish) and they loved playing outside even more. 

 

 

An added bonus was the fact that more water seemed to stay in the table with the extra toys to play with, so they could stay out longer. 

Now, if I could just find a way to keep Mr. Three away from the water spigot.  Wow, that boy loves the water!

Popsicles.  Who doesn't love a popsicle on a hot day?  This has become an almost daily ritual:  run errands/do cleaning around house, then go outside for a treat!

More science with colored water in plastic bottles (for more details, see this post).

We have plans to visit a few splash pads and community pools this summer as well.  Sorry no pics yet.  Maybe we should blow up the kiddie pool I bought last year and let them play at Grammie and Grandpa's house this summer, too...

Inside:

Glow sticks in the bathtub.  Thanks to my sister-in-law Eva for this fun idea.  I couldn't drag Mr. Three out of the tub, he loved this so much!  Adding bubbles made this even more fun, as the light diffused through the bubbles.

Water beads.  I ordered several packages of them through Amazon, but they are everywhere now.   My boys love playing with them.  Mr. Two was especially interested in watching them grow in the water.  The clear ones are really interesting, as they are basically invisible in the water. The kids have had fun squishing them, pouring and spooning them into different containers, sorting them and observing their changes as the absorb water and dry out.

Ok, so this one's not technically an activity with water, but vinegar's wet.  I colored vinegar in bowls, gave them medicine droppers and let them go to town with a tray full of baking soda.  This was great fizzy fun for my three oldest.  Then we had to mix the remaining sludge into something even messier after the fizz ended.  Good, messy fun for the kids.

I couldn't resist adding a cute pic of Mr. Four.  He likes to drool, so we can count him in the category of water fun, too, I guess.  Oh how this baby makes us happy!

Hope you are having a fun, wet summer as well.  Splash away!