The smell of summer is in the air; it’s the perfect time to blow up the kiddie pool, buy out reusable water balloons, and stir up the best water activities for kids. Give kids a bucket of soapy water, and the next thing you know, dinner is ready, and the kids may also wash your car. Yes, please! This summer activity list will not disappoint! Here are 18 low-prep water activities and games for toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids.
RELATED: Wahoooooo! Summer is here. Use this summer bucket list for a few ways to play as a family.
- How to have fun with water without a pool
- What Is Water Play?
- What can we do with water for fun?
- More water play fun!
- Frozen Water Play
- Literacy Water Play
- Math Water Activities
- Nature Water Play
- Science Skills Water Play
- The Importance of Water Play for All Ages
- What Are the Benefits of Water Play?
- Water Play Activities Are Great for All Ages
- Frequently Asked Questions
How to have fun with water without a pool
Think again if you feel everyone can access a swimming pool this summer. Many families must bring water play and a blowup pool to their backyards. Remember the days in the sprinkler as a child? It was like having a DIY splash pad in your backyard.
Having a few fun water activities up your sleeve also helps. And with ten summers with kids at home, it’s safe to say I have a few super fun ideas for your hot summer days.
But before diving in (a little play on words there), look at my favorite water toys for kids.
What will your kids DO this summer?
Take the guesswork out of your days with the Summertime Bundle.
- Startup Guide creates your summer routine.
- Activity cards have easy activities.
- The PDF calendar puts your plan in place.
What Is Water Play?
Water play allows children to explore sensory play with a supply (water) they likely already own. As children play, they collaborate on ideas and problem-solving, strengthen fine motor muscles, and grasp objects in the water. Water play can be used with liquid water and/or ice cubes. It’s a quick and cheap summer activity that provides hours of fun.
What can we do with water for fun?
Have fun with water by creating a water obstacle course, using spray bottles to wash windows, sliding down a water slide, having a family car wash, spraying one another with the hose, and putting out your favorite water table.
Water Balloon Toss
Older kids have so much fun with this easy game, tossing water balloons to different targets and tallying up points. Pass the sidewalk chalk to your child to make more targets.
Water Balloon Sensory Play
This sensory bin is great for both indoors and outdoors. For a rescue activity, add the colorful bears to the water balloons.
Scoop the Sea
The treasure chest is one of our favorite pool toys. I love how you can add it to a water container for a sensory bin.
Doll Washing Station
Grab your baby dolls and a bucket of water. This is a great way for your child to practice life skills such as body and hair washing with baby dolls. Add rubber bands to practice making ponytails.
Paint the Ice
Dump the old ice in your freezer and grab squirt guns or squeeze bottles to paint the ice. Add a little paint or food coloring to help change the color.
DIY Water Wall
What’s a water activity roundup without a pool noodle?! Kids of all ages enjoy watching the stream of water fall out the bottom into a bin. Use duct tape or painter’s tape (a personal fav) to secure it to the wall.
DIY Water Wall 2.0
Does your child love the first water wall? Level it up using plastic cups, bottles, funnels, and tubes.
Neon Water Color Mix
What’s better than adding a little color to your water play? Adding neon colors, of course!
How to Make Sponge Bombs
Sponge bombs (aka sponge balls) are easy to make and fun to play with. You can add the sponge balls to an inflatable pool to squeeze and play with them.
Outdoor Tracks
If you have these tracks, grab a bucket of water and head outside for creative play and problem-solving. The perfect STEM water activity for summer fun.
Scoop the Limes
If you have a large bag of lemons or limes, they must be washed. Drop them in a water sensory bin for your preschooler to practice scooping.
Alphabet Sponge Play
Sponges are a fun way for young children to build hand strength from squeezing. Beat the summer heat by putting it above your head and squeezing!
Ice Cube Painting
Many great ideas use supplies you have. Make your paints by freezing tempera paint and water!
Water Balloon Pinata
Have you heard of a water balloon pinata? Learn how to make one here for some water fun.
Squirt Gun Painting
Squirt guns make fun alternatives to paintbrushes. Offer your child a little creative freedom to design their canvas with water guns.
Shark Ice Block
When I became a parent of toddlers, I quickly realized how many things can be frozen into an activity.
Water Balloon Launcher
Don’t say I didn’t warn you if this turns into an epic water balloon fight! Fill an empty bucket with lots of water balloons and work together to launch balloons.
Water Obstacle Course
Does anything beat the energy of an obstacle course? I’d say the only thing that does is when you add water. A clear winner for a hot day.
RELATED: These outdoor sensory play supplies will kickstart the summer. Spoiler alert: most of them can be found at the Dollar Store!
More water play fun!
Grab the garden hose. Here are even more fun water activities for kids. I got a little carried away and included water and frozen water play, literacy, math, and nature activities.
- Best Collection of Water Play Supplies for Birthday Gifts: My everything-you-need and already-decided-for-you list for a super fun birthday gift!
- Bottle Cap Fine Motor Gear (Fantastic Fun and Learning): A low prep activity to work on fine motor skills.
- Bright and Sour Sensory Bin: Cut open some lemons to practice using a lemon squeezer and strengthening small hands. (use indoors to prevent acid burns in the sun)
- DIY Watercolors: A classic (and super easy) paint activity.
- Easter Egg Foamy Water Bin: Who doesn’t love foamy water for some springtime fun?
- Eyeball Soup: A spooky water play activity!
- Hallowen Water Play: Spooky water play activity number two!
- Plastic Egg Water Wall (Teaching Mama): Okay, this one is super creative and lets kids explore gravity and water simultaneously.
- Play on Ketchup and Mustard: It’s quick and fun, and you can use simple supplies around the house. It also helps stimulate curiosity to learn more about color play.
- Pool Noodle Water Wall (Teaching Mama): Just 3 supplies and a lot of creative play.
- Watercolor Painting for Kids: A classic activity every kid should learn.
- Watercolor Snowmen: A wintery twist on watercolor activity!
- Watercolor Shape Painting: Educational in so many ways! Let your kids learn about shapes and get creative to make shape creatures!
- Water Table Kitchen (Happy Toddler Playtime): This is a cute way to keep your toddler entertained and familiar with kitchen play.
- Water Xylophone (Teaching Mama): Explore sound with this DIY activity.
Frozen Water Play
Frozen water play is your future best friend! Make it now, pop it in the freezer, and pull it out when you need something to help entertain your kids at home.
- Alphabet Ice: Integrate sensory play with letter recognition.
- Color Your Ice: Sensory play, fine motor play, let the exploration begin!
- Fourth of July Sensory Bin with Ice (Playground Parkbench): A fun activity for a summer holiday.
- Ice Rocks (Happy Toddler Play Time): Freeze rocks in a muffin tin for this frozen water play!
- Frozen LEGO (Happy Toddler Playtime): A great fine motor activity using legos.
- Halloween Frozen Water Play: A spooky-themed activity! My preschooler loves frozen water play, and I love adding these frozen pods to any water play activity.
- Ice Cube Sculptures (Teaching Mama): Create ice cube sculptures in just a few easy steps!
- Ice Skating Bears: Grab your muffin tin and bears for this winter sensory play activity.
- Ice Melt and Break : (Growing Book By Book) This is a beginning sounds activity; kids will love it.
- Make Ice Ball Nature Soup (Happily Ever Mom): This is a mess-free, fun activity that connects kids to nature and sensory play.
- Rainbow Ice Town Excavation (Fun at Home with Kids): This is another aesthetically pleasing activity in which kids explore materials as the ice melts.
- Toddler Ice Grab (Happily Ever Mom): Empty your freezer and entertain your toddler in minutes.
Literacy Water Play
Learn letter sounds and letter names through water play. Sign us up!
- Alphabet Ice: I want my four-year-old to explore how letters comprise lines, curves, slants, and tunnels. As my preschooler rescues the letter from the ice pod, he also holds it in his hands, taking a closer look.
- Alphabet Ice Evacuation (Teaching Mama) – Another hands-on way to explore letter recognition.
- Splash the Alphabet: Strengthen little hands and include letter recognition with this fun activity!
Math Water Activities
Give your water play a math spin by adding measuring cups, funnels, beakers, and plastic containers to fill.
- Button Water Play: Sort, identify colors, and mix up colorful buttons in a sensory water bin.
- Bear Soup: A great outdoor activity on the water table.
- Pour to the Lines: An activity that helps with self-help for kids, like pouring and measuring!
- Scoop the Apples: A super fun and creative way to explore colors.
Nature Water Play
- A Trip Into the Forest with Kids (The Workspace for Children): Find natural water sources on your next nature hike with kids.
- Flower Sensory Bin: Do you have flowers that are ready to drop? Add them in a sensory water bin to practice using scissors.
- Cranberry Water Scoop: A fun holiday water sensory activity!
- Muddy Water Play: Let kids be kids and get dirty for a little muddy water play. The best part? When finished, pour the water on the grass, which will wash away.
- Ocean Sensory Bin: This is a time to explore the ocean and spark curiosity and sensory play with the kids.
Science Skills Water Play
- Outdoor Tracks: As my children explored this physical Science activity with problem-solving, I got to catch my breath alongside them. Win. Win. If your children are into race cars, outdoor tracks, water play for kids may be what everyone needs.
- Pool Noodle Wall (Teaching Mama): Don’t miss this cleaver water funnel system Teaching Mama created with pool noodles.
- Oil and Water Mix (Happily Ever Mom) Do oil and water mix? Show your preschooler in real life with this water activity.
The Importance of Water Play for All Ages
Infant and Toddler Stage
During this phase, your child explores physical experiences, using senses to understand better how things fit together. Water games begin this sensory exploration!
Preschool
Around this time, children add social play to learning and explore substances side by side. They communicate and make comparisons with their discoveries. As children pour and scoop the water, they explore capacity.
Middle Years
When children reach the middle years, they become more analytical about their learning since they can touch, move, and explore. They are now ready to take up the next level with greater ease since they have already had the opportunity to explore what water looks like, how it feels, and how water begins to change shape.
As older children learn a new vocabulary word, they can connect it to an experience. Children can show what they have learned at the teenage stage by combining all their learning experiences.
What Are the Benefits of Water Play?
Water play is an incredible way for young children to test physical sensations.
- Develop Gross and Fine Motor Skills – As children pour and scoop the water, they explore capacity, improving their gross and fine motor skills.
- Engage Sensory Play and Curiosity – Water play for kids is an endless science experiment. They explore how temperature affects water and what textures sink, float, or get soggy. It engages children’s senses, which is perfect for learning!
- Increase Social Play and Communication – Water activities for preschoolers introduce social play because they communicate and compare their discoveries.
RELATED: I have a collection of 50+ fine motor activities if you’re eager to develop your child’s motor skills.
Water Play Activities Are Great for All Ages
Whether you want water play for toddlers or water activities for preschoolers, these 35 ideas give you a great start. Help your little one learn and grow with water play.
Frequently Asked Questions
Water games with kids are easier than you may think! Often, items from your kitchen, such as measuring cups, large spoons, and a muffin tin to freeze water, will do the trick. Keep water activities for kids simple, and take a look around your house to see what you can toss in to buy yourself a few extra sips of coffee as your child plays.
Add a few drops of food coloring to change the color of the water or a few drops of dish soap to make the water foamy. You can also put the water in a muffin tin to freeze overnight for ice play.
Not at all! I love water play because it is simple to clean up. We do a lot of water games in our kitchen using a large bin and towel for my child to sit on as he plays.
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Love this list! All looks very interesting 🙂
That was such an interesting list of games and you have explained them so well. Most of them were new to me. How did you come up with them? Must say, it’s really creative! Thanks for sharing!