10+ fun water play ideas for children
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By
Vanessa M.
AquaPlay presents: 10+ fun water play ideas for children
Splashing around, swimming, drifting leisurely or diving through the depths with enthusiasm: A visit to the swimming pool or the sea opens up all kinds of fun activities in the water. Ultimately, however, you don't need a pool to keep your child occupied with the help of the splashy element. Our ideas for water games bring water fun to your home even without a large swimming pool.
What are the advantages of playing in and with water?
In principle, water games for children can be played at any time of year. After all, many of the water games are also suitable for indoors. However, there is one particular advantage of playing with water that only comes into play in summer: it cools you down. Whenever the temperatures turn summery, it is particularly tempting to play with water.
Regardless of the season, our ideas for water games encourage your child to move and therefore have a positive effect on motor skills development. For many children, water also helps to reduce stress, and activities in which they observe the water and focus on its properties help them to calm down.
What does it feel like when the water runs through their fingers? What do splashes of water look like when they hit the surface? What is the temperature of the water and what does it smell or taste like? Outdoor and indoor water games invite children to explore with all their senses and thus train their sensory perception.
Water games with children also allow you to teach your child about the element of water in an age-appropriate way. For example, you can explain to them what buoyancy, water resistance, different states of matter or currents are all about, why water is vital and which animals and plants use water as a habitat.
Safety first! What you should bear in mind when playing in the water
These hints and tips ensure the necessary safety when playing in the water:
Choose clothing that suits the weather and the planned play (e.g. light swimwear in hot weather).
Protect your child with sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses for outdoor water games in summer.
For games where your child is likely to get wet, have towels and dry clothes ready in advance.
Before playing with toys and accessories, check that they are free of sharp edges and similar areas where your child could injure themselves.
Explain to your child that they must not run on wet floors.
Do not leave small children unattended.
Take a break if your child's skin becomes wrinkly.
Don't forget to offer your child something to drink regularly (especially in summer).
Apart from the safety aspect, we recommend pouring the water into containers - for example into a paddling pool or a bucket - instead of turning on the garden hose or tap. This saves water and avoids unnecessary waste.
Water play ideas: Here are our top 10 + water games for children
Ready for maximum water fun? Our top 10 ideas for water games await you. We also have a few extra ideas up our sleeve - after all, there's no such thing as too much inspiration.
1. AquaPlay water ride💧🎢
Our clear number 1 idea for water play is playing with an AquaPlay water ride! The flexibly expandable tracks offer a huge variety of play options, whereby everything revolves around the element of water. As soon as the track is set up and filled with water, your child can experiment with sluices, influence currents and set boats adrift - ahoy!
2. Water battle💧🧽
Aim, throw, hit and cheer! A water fight is definitely one of the best ideas for water games on particularly hot days. In the interests of sustainability, you can use soaked sponges instead of conventional water bombs.
3. Shoot water pistols💧🔫
Among the top ideas for water games, an action-packed game with water pistols is of course a must. You'll need a water pistol, a few light empty bottles or cans and - if you have them - some AquaPlay figures as a supplement. And this is how it works:
Set up the figures, bottles and cans.
Mark the distance from which the children should shoot with a line (e.g. with chalk or adhesive tape).
The kids can take it in turns to shoot at the objects, whereby you stop the time and declare the round over after 20 to 60 seconds, depending on the skill of the kids and the number of objects.
After each round, you count how many objects could be brought down - one point is awarded per object.
The winner is, of course, the player who has scored the most points at the end.
4. Boats⛵
Did you immediately think of boats when you thought of ideas for water games? We did too! If you're looking for water games for children that combine water fun with creativity, then you should definitely make boats. Afterwards, you can of course set your homemade boats afloat on a nearby river, in the AquaPlay water ride or in the pool. Detailed instructions for DIY boats can be found in our article "AquaPlay: DIY boats with children".
5. Water slide💧🛝
With a water slide, your child can take a running start into the fun! As the slide can reach very high speeds, the fifth of our ideas for water games is suitable for children who are a little older. If you don't have a water slide for the garden, you can alternatively lay out a slide made of sturdy bin bags or all-purpose or truck tarpaulins. Moisten with water, add a little soap if necessary and off you go down the slide!
6. Water slide extensions➕
For an even more varied play experience with the AquaPlay slides, we recommend water slide extensions. Our guide 'Reasons for a water ride extension' explains exactly why you should extend your water ride.
7. Water bomb run
To organize an exciting water balloon race, you need water balloons, large tablespoons and some utensils with which you can set up a course. Our ideas for obstacles:
🪑Stepping stool to climb over
🚩Pylons for a slalom course
🪣🧹Two buckets bridged with a broom as a "jump"
🧣Shreds of carpet or small towels spread out evenly on the floor to indicate where the feet can be placed
Get creative and think of three to six obstacles that you can line up to form a small course. The aim is then to run through the course with a water balloon on a spoon. The most important rule is: the water balloon must not burst.
8. Catch fish
Young anglers might like the eighth of our ideas for water games. You will need:
🍾🛍️Korken, some foam or a thick plastic bag
✂️Schere
🥣Water basin (or large bowl/tub)
🥄Soup ladle (one per child)
🖍️Optional: waterproof crayons, stickers and other decorative materials
Like many cool water games, "catching fish" requires some preparation and follows certain rules:
Collect corks or alternatively cut out small, fish-shaped pieces from foam or plastic.
Decorate the "fish" together with waterproof paints, stickers or similar decorative materials.
Fill the pool with water and let the "fish" swim in it.
Distribute the ladles and "fish" for the fish.
At the end, count who has caught the most fish.
9. Water piñata
Playing water in the garden is really spiced up with the water piñata. Instead of containing sweets like a "normal" piñata, the water piñata promises a welcome cool-down. To do this, fill a large balloon with water and hang it from a tree or beam, for example. The kids hit the balloon with a stick until it bursts and gives them a shower. Older children can play the game blindfolded.
10. Does it sink or float?
Of course, we have also thought of the little ones in our ideas for water games. This game is especially appealing to toddlers and allows them to engage with scientific concepts in a child-friendly way. The principle is simple: your child can guess which objects sink in the water and which float. You will need a container of water and various objects, such as these:
🪨pebble
🍾Cork
📎paper clip
🗒️Notizzettel
🧶Cotton ball
🪙coin
🪶Feather
🪢String
🥎Rubber
🎱Marble
11. Underwater treasure hunt
Send your child on an exciting treasure hunt under the surface of the water! Simply fill a large tub or paddling pool with water and sink small treasures, such as tightly packed sweets, coins, small play figures or marbles, into it. Equipped with a snorkel and diving goggles, your child sets off in search of them. As another game variation, you can do without the diving goggles and let your child search blindly for the treasures.
12. Bucket race
We haven't run out of ideas for fun water games yet! Next, we would like to suggest the bucket race. This is a race with a splashy twist: you run with water buckets full to the brim in your hands.
Who can cover the set distance without losing any water?
13. Lawn sprinkler / water sprinkler
Playing with a lawn sprinkler or water sprinkler is one of the simpler ideas for water games in the garden. If you have a lawn sprinkler or water sprinkler such as the AquaPlay Moli, you can simply plug it in, put your child in their bathing suit and let them enjoy the gently trickling water.
14. Water play tables and mud kitchens
Water play tables and mud kitchens are the perfect accessories for water play with children. Both types of product greatly expand the possibilities for playing with water and immediately dispel any hint of boredom. Just the option of combining water and sand on the water table or in the mud kitchen offers the prospect of interesting haptic experiences and countless experiments.
15. Bathing and washing dolls, play figures and play animals
Dolls, play figures and play animals also enjoy a soothing bath! Fill a small tub with water and start the washing day with your child for their little playmates such as the AquaPlay figures. If you like, you can use a washcloth, a root brush or a toothbrush to scrub figures such as Bo the bear and Wilma the hippo particularly thoroughly.
16. Catching with the garden hose
And that brings us to the last of our ideas for water games in the garden: playing catch with a garden hose. Essentially, this game with water works just like the classic game of tag. There is a catcher whose job it is to catch another player. If he succeeds, the catcher becomes the new catcher. In this game, the catcher catches the other player not by touching them or slapping them, but by spraying them with the water jet from the hose.
Most of the ideas for outdoor water games are ideal for several players. They are therefore also a fun, meaningful activity for children's birthday parties, visits to friends or summer afternoons with cousins.
Even more ideas: Water games for indoors🏠
As promised at the beginning, we also have ideas for indoor water games. With them, the fun with water doesn't have to end with summer. You can try out these cool water games in fall, winter and spring:
🛁Bathtub toys: Most water toys (e.g. the AquaPlay boats & figures) can be used in the bathtub if it is too cold for the pool.
🎢Water ride with tarpaulin: With a tarpaulin underneath to protect the floor, the AquaPlay water rides are ideal for fun water games in the home.
🪣Water scooping: Let your child play with buckets and watering cans over the sink or in the bathtub.
♟️Bathing game figures: Play figures, such as Nils the frog and Lotta the duck, can be washed not only in the summer months.
🍎Eating apples: Let apples float in a bucket and "catch" them with your child's mouth, while a tarpaulin placed underneath protects your floor from minor flooding.
Conclusion: Your water play adventure with AquaPlay ⛵🌊💙
Versatile, varied and fun: our ideas for water games are not just a hit in summer! Try out different water games for indoors and outdoors and test them out together with the whole family. You'll kill two birds with one stone: you'll experience bonding moments together and spend active time in the fresh air.
If you want to take your games with water to the next level with great water toys, you should pay a visit to our homepage. This will take you to the AquaPlay theme worlds - there's lots to discover!