5 Inflatable Water Games That Will Get Kids Sopping Wet

Inflatable water games provide a fun way to cool down and keep kids entertained outdoors. However, they increase the risk of injury.

Church youth leaders need to understand this risk and ask camp directors and recreational areas about safety instructions. This can help prevent an unnecessarily dangerous incident.

Water Balloon Toss

This water balloon game is a great way to develop hand-eye coordination. Have each player stand together across from each other and toss a water balloon between them. The player with the most successful catches wins. Players should aim for a perfect arcing toss that’s easy to catch with two hands. Start by tossing the water balloon a few feet away from the other player, then gradually extend the distance with each catch. After a few rounds, have the players try to reach a goal of 12 feet without breaking the water balloons.

Another fun variation on the water balloon toss is to divide players into teams of two. Have each team member have a partner, and then toss the water balloon back and forth between them, getting closer and closer with each toss. Each inflatable water games time a player breaks the balloon or it falls to the ground, they’re out until someone successfully catches it.

For an extra challenge, you can write the numbers from one to ten on the sidewalk with chalk and have players try to throw the water balloons into those circles. Or, you can make it even more difficult by using a target like a plastic bucket or a large hula hoop. The person who hits the target or gets the most balloons into it wins.

Rock-Paper-Scissors Game

A classic game, rock paper scissors has long dominated playgrounds, playing fields, and basketball courts. It’s a simple game that requires strategy and the ability to read your opponent. In fact, the odds are only one in three that your choice will win; but because people often follow their instincts and switch shapes when they lose, you can tilt the odds in your favor by observing how your opponents play.

To play rock-paper-scissors, players must simultaneously form one of three possible hand gestures: a closed fist (rock), a flat hand with the thumb and index finger extended in a V shape (paper), or a pair of open hands forming a claw (scissors). The winner is determined when one counter touches another. If a player makes a mistake, the game is restarted until there is a clear winner.

When using this activity with remote teams, be sure that all participants are on the same page. It’s easy to confuse the number of square spaces and the number of counters, as well as how they move and capture. This can lead to confusion when attempting to create a stack or move a Dynamite counter into an empty space. It’s also important to emphasize that the game is not a race; counters are moved into square spaces only if they can capture other counters or stacks.

Water Cup Toss

If you’re looking for water games that will get kids soaking wet, then this is one of them! It’s a mix of Dizzy Bats and Fill the Bucket. Put a large bucket/trough in the center, and groups of 4-5 create spokes radiating out to their own small buckets about 15-20 paces out. The object of the game is to see which team can fill their bucket first. To do this, players soak up a sponge from the center trough, run to their bucket, and then use it to “fill” their bucket. When the bucket is full, the team calls out their name. The team that has their name called first wins.

If there’s a tie, then play rock paper scissors to decide who goes next. Otherwise, the last player in the circle will be soaked.

Another variation on this game is to blindfold each player and have them choose a cup without looking (or have someone else dump it over their head). If they don’t find a cup, they’re out for the round.

This is also a good game to incorporate with other yard games, like spraying targets with squirt guns and crawling under pool noodles while getting sprinkled. You could even build a backyard obstacle course, which is a great way to exercise and burn off energy. For a more educational approach, freeze items in ice (like pennies, Legos, plastic bugs, etc.) to test their buoyancy.

Splasher Game

Splasher Game is a love letter to the twitch platformer genre, wearing its inflatable water games influences on its sleeve while also bringing enough unique elements to keep it from feeling like a clone. Levels are finely honed for gameplay purpose rather than visuals, and the variety of elements to interact with – water jets used as jump-launching platforms, sticky paint that clears surfaces or can be thrown onto enemies, or even the whirring of water wheels that propel you across levels – gives you plenty to get your teeth into as you blast through the game.

While the storyline might not be particularly original, there’s no denying that the level design and soundtrack in Splasher are truly exceptional. The colourful cartoony art style is reminiscent of games such as Super Meat Boy, while the music evokes rhythmic earworms from titles like Geometry Wars. The sound design is likewise fantastic, with the fun round of applause when you kill an enemy, the beeps and boops of a timed laser or the accelerating whirr of a water wheel that powers your Splasher into the next level all adding to the sense of momentum.

Splasher is the debut game from a small team at the indie studio Splashteam, led by Romain Claude, who previously worked on Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends at Ubisoft. While this might be the first title for Splashteam, it’s far from a low-budget or rushed effort, and there’s no doubt that it will be enjoyed by fans of the genre who want to master every challenge and see how much time they can shave off their best times on the Speedrun leaderboards.