Backyard Water Games

Every summer we dedicate part of Friday practices to doing team building games with all of our gymnasts. Anytime we get water involved it is a HUGE hit.  These backyard water games are easy to play, can be played with small groups or large groups, and are perfect for summer camps, birthday parties, neighborhood picnics and athlete banquets.

Pass the sponge

Fill up one large bucket with water and place it on the ground. Place an empty container 20 feet or so away from the full bucket. Have the kids line up single file between the containers. Use a large sponge – like you would use on your car. The first person in line dunks the sponge in the water then passes it over their head to the next person. The kids continue to pass the sponge overhead from person to person until it gets to the end of the line. The person at the end of the line squeezes all the remaining water out of the sponge into the bucket then takes the sponge back to the front of the line and everyone slides back one. The goal is to collect the most water possible in the bucket. It is so hard for the kids to resist squeezing the sponges as they pass them back. This can be played as a relay – just set up one full bucket and one empty bucket per team.

Sponge bum

The objective of this game is similar to Pass the Sponge – get as much water from one bucket to the other as possible. With this game you start with one large sponge per team and feed a belt through them (I find that using 2″ elastic from the craft store works best). The kids pull up the sponge belt around their hips with the sponges under their bum. Next the “dipper” sits in the water bucket to soak the sponges and runs to the other bucket. At the other bucket they squeeze out the water and then return the belt to the next team member. The fullest end bucket wins.

Water balloon toss with a twist

Fill up a bucket full of water balloons. Instead of catching the water balloons with their hands, one child will toss the balloon and the other will catch the balloon with a plastic pasta strainer (Dollar Store again). This definitely added an element of the unknown to the game. If you could catch the balloons just right they won’t break.

Hole-y Cup Relay

Still trying to move water from one place to the other! Get a few large plastic cups from the Dollar Store or your kitchen cabinet and have 5-10 pencil sized holes put in them. The kids will fill their “hole-y” cups with water from one bucket and then they will run to the other bucket to empty whatever water is left. The fullest bucket wins.

Other activities include:

• Water balloon obstacle course – hop with a water balloon between the knees through a series of cones and diversions
• Water gun tag
• Water hose limbo
• Sprinkler tag

I would love any additions to this list! Do you have any fun backyard water games that you know the kids love?