Five games to play with a water hose

My kids and I were in our backyard earlier this week and it was hot. I had planned to work on my laptop while the girls played, but I couldn’t take the heat (and I love hot weather!). So I quickly finished a project, sent it off, set my computer inside, and turned on the hose!

We needed to do something to cool off and none of us wanted to spend time or energy putting activities together. So, with just the help of a water hose, here’s what we came up with:

1) Tag, you’re it (or as Grace likes to say, “Tag, carrot”)

This is similar to regular tag, but the person who’s “it” has to spray someone else with the hose. Whoever gets sprayed becomes the new “it” person. In slightly cooler weather the game may be a bit more challenging, but we were all running through the hose spray on purpose just to cool down!

2) Limbo

This is my favorite water-hose game! One person holds the hose, and the spray becomes the limbo bar. The first one to get water in their face loses and becomes the hose-holder. The youngest family members usually have a great advantage over older siblings in this game!

3) “Sand” castles

We have a large dirt spot in the corner of our yard because Grace loves to dig there – and we don’t mind letting her! She used the hose to moisten her dirt spot so her and Lily could make dirt castles with their hands! No biggie – by the time we went inside, they were really well rinsed from the other hose games 🙂

4) Sprinkler

This game was born out of sheer laziness on my part. I didn’t want to hook up the sprinkler. So I just held my thumb over the nozzle of the hose to make it spray like a sprinkler and the girls ran through.

5) Cold water contest

One person sprays water over someone’s back until that person jumps away. I’m a wimp at getting sprayed with cold water so the girls were thrilled when I lost, shrieking and jumping out of the spray, in about half a second!

Bonus Idea: Give your kids a bucket of soapy water and some sponges along with their hose, then let them clean whatever they want! Cars, bikes, the house, their outdoor toys… once I even let one daughter shower in the hose in her bathing suit. Summer bliss!

Special Note: After writing these ideas, Monica’s new post directed me towards an article that really captured my heart in why I’ve committed to slowing down and enjoying simplicity and nature with my children.

How does your family stay cool in the summer-time?