Celebrate Summer With a Kid’s Water Obstacle Course

It’s gotten super warm here in the last couple days. With Memorial Day coming up in just a few days, school will be out before you know it! Woot! I think it’s time to celebrate summer!

If you have a summer party coming up, or if you’re just looking for a fun way to keep a group of kids cool this summer, and entertain them at the same time try setting up a water obstacle course.

You can use any water feature you want to in your water obstacle course, just make sure it’s safe and no one can get injured. I have a few ideas to help you get started, but you can probably come up with several more to go with them.

Here are a few water obstacle ideas for your course:

• Water balance beam~ Keep the beam low, so if they “fall off” they’ll just step into the grass. Have the kids walk across a low narrow board with a pail, or jug of water in each hand. If they fall off the beam they have to go back to the start of the beam, refill their pail and try again. Have an adult there to be a spotter, and to help any children who have a hard time.
• Set up a slip and slide~ You can purchase a slip and slide, or make your own with a tarp and a hose. Set it up on a small incline or hill if you have one available, and have the kids slide down it for one of their challenges.
• Water balloon toss~ Have the kids toss a certain number of water balloons into a large bucket, or into the center of a hula hoop. Set up a certain number that have to make it into the bucket or hoop before they can move on to the next task.
• Have the kids fill a container with water from a small pool carried by soaking a towel, or their clothes in the pool, then running down and wringing as much water as they can into the container. They can move to the next task when the water in the can is filled to a certain level.
• Have them sit in a small pool and get themselves completely wet before moving on to the next task.
• Have the kids run through a sprinkler, or series of sprinklers.
• Have children walk 5 or 6 steps while balancing a small water balloon on their head, if the balloon falls off they have to start the task again.

There are many more ideas you can use to set up your water obstacle course for some summer fun. Just use your imagination and a little water and many regular obstacle course events can be made “wet.”

Make sure you have plenty of adults to man your obstacle course stations, for the kid’s safety, and to help any children who struggle.