Water Obstacle Course

Summer means sun, and what better way to cool yourself down than water games? I came up with a fun water obstacle course for my kids to do on one of our hot summer days. I am excited to be one of the camp counselors at Disney Babbles Virtual Summer Camp. This was the summer fun activity I thought readers of Babble might really enjoy. This was not the kind of activity they did once and were done. They wanted to run the full course at least a few times, and then they revisited their favorite parts of the course over and over. Although it was a bit of a set up to make happen, it provided a whole lot of entertainment. I could see this being particularly enjoyable at a party or picnic. Your course would probably look different depending on your yard, hose capability and what you have on hand. However, I hope the idea inspires you to make your own water fun in whatever way makes sense in your world. We didn’t get out the stop watch, but you could definitely make this a competition and a race. You could also have them try to beat their own times.

The first part of the obstacle course was the water balloon pinatas. I first saw this idea at Scrap Happy Heather, and I thought it was brilliant. This was really fun, but it was more challenging then I thought. I imagined they would explode right away, but instead it took quite a number of hits. I’m wondering if mine were too high. It was fun though. Once they were able to bust open one balloon, they were able to move on to the second phase.

The second phase of the obstacle course was the “water” slide into the boat that we filled with water. You may have a small pool to put at the bottom of your slide. The slide didn’t go directly into the boat, but the girls had no problem sliding onto the side of the boat and then jumping into the boat. The set up of this part of the obstacle course was up to the girls. They were in charge of taking buckets to fill the boat, and it ended up being their favorite part of the course. We left a few pitchers of water at the top of the slide, and the directions were to dump one bucket down the slide, slide down and then jump into the boat.

The next step was the slip in slide, which is always a favorite.

A water fill relay was the next portion of the course. There was a larger bucket at one end. They had to scoop up a cup of water and then run down and dump it in the pitcher. They would run back and forth scooping up water and dumping it again. They could move on to the next phase once the pitcher was full.

The girls also helped me set up the next portion of the obstacle course. I took a large, yard-sized black garbage bag and cut down the sides so I could lay it down flat. I used cake dowels (you could also use sticks) to both hold down the tarp and also to put the holes of the swim noodle onto to make the arches. Then, we poured water onto the garbage bag. This part of the course the girls had to crawl under the pool noodles.

The sprinkler and hula hoops came next. They had to jump around the circle of hula hoops three times before moving on to the final water activity.

The final task was to spray coffee filters with water. I took coffee filters and colored a large dot in the middle with an ink pen. I then taped the filters to the tree. You had to squirt all three with the squirter, and you knew you had accomplished the task when the ink spread.

I hope this inspires your own water obstacle course. I’d love to hear about your own ideas for making this happen.

Please come take a part in our Virtual Summer Camp with Disney’s Babble. You can find out more about this camp here, but this online summer camp is meant to inspire you to make your summer unique and special by being intentional about how you spend your time with your kids. It is a place to go for resources as well as to share your own great ideas.

I am excited to be a camp counselor among some great bloggers at fabulous blogs- Mama Miss, I Can Teach my Child, Tutus & Tea Parties, Fun at Home with Kids, Coffee Cups and Crayons, Inspired by Familia, and See Vanessa Craft.

Here are some of the activities and crafts that have already been posted by these wonderful bloggers:

Tin Can Lanterns by Coffee Cups and Crayons

DIY Recycled Box Playhouse by Inspired by Familia

Crate Lemonade Stand for Kids by See Vanessa Craft

DIY Homemade Sparkling Beads by Mama Miss

Snow Cone Sensory Play by Tutus & Tea Parties

You can also join our Facebook Summer Camp Online Community. Our camp counselors will be linking up more activities there, and we welcome you to add your summer fun ideas. Click on the right hand corner of the Facebook page where it says “Join Group,” to join this private online community.

You can also link up your own summer fun ideas here.