"Sprinkler Party" Ideas

Shandell:

One idea is maybe getting a slip n slide for the kids! Have you ever thought of this? That'd be fun for the kids. Weather permitting, we're planning on having this @ my son's b-day party this weekend.

Jen :)

Spray bottles. Bubble machine. Have fun!

What about a Slip & Slide? I don't know if they put off as much water as the sprinklers you've used in the past but I know I loved them when I was a kid! Squirt guns are always fun if you don't object to the gun part of it. There's also a bucket game to play:

You'll need 4 bucket and 2 large sponges (like the kind you'd use to wash a car). Divide girls into two even teams - each team gets one sponge and 2 buckets. Fill one bucket full of water, line up the girls behind it and place the second bucket empty behind the last girl. The goal is to soak the sponge, pass it overhead to the girl behind (without turning around) and the last girl has to squeeze the remaining water into the empty bucket, run to the front and repeat the process until the back bucket is full of water. First team to fill the bucket is the winner.

Have fun!

My son just had a really cool beach day at Kindergarten that went well, and the kids and I had a blast! His teacher set up two kiddie pools about 5 feet or so away from each other. You don't have to fill them up much. She had a few squirt toys in each one so the kids could have a water fight. She also had a water table with boats, buckets and other water toys in it. She set up an obstacle course with a foam balance beam, cones to weave in and out of, shapes to jump on, and hula hoops to throw a ball through. She had a slip and slide, and also had a small tub set up with bubbles and big wands. They got to enjoy an ice cream treat as well. Have fun with whatever you do!

This game may be too hard for a four year old, but you can file it away for future reference. Our family loves to play water balloon volleyball. You will need a net or just string a rope across the yard. People need to get with a partner and each pair has a beach towel. Each player holds two corners of the towel so that it is open between them. You put the water balloon in the middle of the open towel and they fling the balloon over the net. Pairs on the other team try to catch the balloon in their towels and fling it back over. We usually have three to four pairs on each team on the court at a time. When we match up the younger players with grown ups, it goes better for them, but the grown up sometimes end up playing on their knees! This game is a blast! Feel free to write with questions because I'm not sure how well I explained it.

Last summer I had the neighborhood kids over for shaving cream mohok days. I let them rub the shaving cream on a plastic folding table and let them smear it all around. They I let them hid under the table and used my muti- blast hose to make rain forest, thundrstorm, .....I forgot before that the used the cream and put it in their hair and maid silly hairdoos. I made sure that it was a hot day and told them not to get it in their eyes. They had a bast. I just hosed them down to get everything off. Then we played the other game using their imaginations about different types of rain. I also put some conditioner in the girls hair and just rinsed it out. I ended up doing this four times last summer. The people driving by my house thought we were nuts. But the kids can't wait to do it again. They have talked about it all year long. They thought that it was cool that an adult would let them use a whole can of shaving cream and go nuts with it. I also took pictures of all of the crazy hairdoos and all.

When I was a kid we used to get black thin tarps and fill with water and make a slip and slides. Another thing you can do is make a relay circuit for the kids like toss the water balloon, musical chairs, etc. I hope this helps.

Here's a couple:
Instead of the regular balloon toss, do a team towel toss . Two people stand a couple feet apart from each other and hold a towel out between them, with the water balloon on it. Team 2 holds a towel the same way, and when team one lifts up their towel, launching the balloon, team two runs with towel stretched between them to catch balloon in THEIR towel. Good friendship/team building, and To make non-competitive, make the goal to see how long the teams can toss the balloon back and forth,catching it in the towels without the balloon hitting the ground, instead of trying to make the other team miss.. Another idea: Hang old white sheets on the line, fill spray bottles with food coloring and water and let them graffiti the old sheets. ann

After playing in the sprinklers, we came over to the patio and did pedicures. You can buy a little plastic white bin for about a dollar a person, we put good smelling salts in the warm water and then they scrubbed their feet with some pumice cream I have, then dried off and put yummy smelling lotion on them. The girls had a great time. It isn't too expensive and they feel so pampered.

We are having a sprinkler party for our 5 year old this year. We are starting the festivities with a pinata full of small water toys like squishy balls and squirty fish from Oriental Trading Co. Then we are filling up a small pool with just enough water to fill up the squirties. There is this great circular water sprinkler that puts out just a small amount of water at ToysRUs http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2909946 and we are going to set up a slip and slide. I would not get one of those blow up water slides. Last year my son attended a birthday party with one of those and ended up with 7 stitches in his chin from his knee hitting it. It was an insurance nightmare.

In a similar party, we also purchased a bunch of balls of different sizes and scattered them in the yard, plus some soft things that soared through the air, like Nerf-style disks, plus bubbles (which will, of course, get spilled!).

You mentioned the flood. To remedy that, don't water for several days before, move the sprinkler - make it part of the games and water the lawn at the same time.

Another game idea - Barbie car wash was a favorite with my girls!

Walmart has a fun sprinkler hose, a hose about 8 ft. long that has short small hoses attached that move back and forth as the water comes out. My son and friends love running through it and I like it because I can easily move it around the yard watering different areas at the same time. It is very colorful and only cost $10, in the swimming area at walmart (attaches to a regular garden hose. Squirt guns are also fun, just little ones, you can get 6 for $1 at walmart, they don't squirt too hard and don't hold too much water for little kids.
Have fun,
SarahMM

slip n slide, water guns