Six fun water games

Wow, is it hot! Help your kiddies cool off with these backyard water games. No more missing the swimming pools and beaches when you can have all the fun at your home and backyard itself.

FREEZE UP
Try this game on a really hot summer day in your backyard kiddie pool. Kids will love it, but believe me—if it's hot enough adults will play, too.
Fill the kiddie pool with water and add ice cubes! Have each person try to remove the ice cubes with their feet. You'll be cool before you know it! For a real challenge, have each person remove the ice cubes using only one foot. The person to remove the most ice cubes is the winner.

SPONGE TAG
Use a large bucket and a bag of sponges. Fill the bucket with water and put the sponges in it. Use the sponges for tag. Depending on the rules, you can either throw the sponges or require them to keep the sponge in their hands! When someone tags a person, they have to go back to the bucket and get the sponge wet again before tagging someone else!
If you have a group, play multiplying sponges. The first person starts with a sponge, when they tag someone, they keep the sponge and the new person gets their own sponge too until everyone has been tagged! Need to have lots of sponges but it's fun.

ICE CUBE MELT RELAY
The first person of each team holds and rubs an ice cube until their hands get to cold. Then they pass it to the next person, and so on, until the ice cube melts. What ever team melts their ice cube first wins.

WET FASHION SHOW
Put out a bucket/team filled with water and lots of newspaper. Using only wet newspaper, have your own crazy fashion show by dressing up your teammate! Be sure to make sure that all the newspaper is cleaned up before the next group arrives.

A WATER WINDMILL (Can be played as team relay race)
1. Half fill a child’s pail (with handle) -- with water.
2. Have children hold the pails in one hand and hold that arm straight down by their side.
3. Keeping the arm straight, children swing the pail around and around in a circle.
4. No water should spill, if pail is kept moving like a windmill.
5. Decide how many times the “windmill” will go around before the “next windmill” starts.

T-SHIRT FREEZE
1. Collect or buy a t-shirt for each child the day before your activity.
2. Put the shirt in a Ziploc bag with the person's name on it.
3. When you have all the t-shirts, fill the bag with water and freeze them solid.
4. Bring out the frozen bags at your activity and pass back out to the owner.
5. The first person to get their frozen t-shirt out, defrost it and put it on is the winner.