Splashy summer toys for kids under 12
‘Tis the season for backyard birthdays, pool parties, and water fights with the neighbors. Your kids have plenty of days of freedom ahead — they want to make the most of it, and you want to keep them healthy, active, and having fun.
Kids don’t need much to spark their imaginations and make their hot summer days. If you have a pool, add a slide or some simple toys for hours of entertainment. If you don’t, set up a sprinkler, hand out the water guns, and stand back!
Most of the toys here are best for kids under twelve. (Although you never know — I was in my teens before I stopped setting up the Slip'n Slide every summer.) They’re easy to set up and made for enthusiastic wear. Get your junior ones outdoors and active with these fun backyard water toys and games.
Parents with a pool have a head start on splashy summer fun. Add an inflatable slide, and you’ll have an instant party. Surprisingly, you don’t have to spend big bucks for these. This awesome Intex inflatable slide is under $100 right now on Amazon. Attach the included sprayers to your garden hose to keep the surface wet. You can also use this with a smaller inflatable pool if you don’t have an in-ground version.
Add a few more pieces for full-on water park fun. This tube water slide ($227.99) comes with a slanted, inflatable base. You can set both up on the side of the pool, or separately as part of an obstacle course on the lawn. The tube is 10 feet long for good sliding speed!
Once they’re in the pool, encourage good breathing and diving skills with pool prints ($13.95). These brightly colored toys stick to underwater surfaces, but come away easily in kids’ hands. Kids can race the clock or each other to collect all the prints. Or just hand the prints over and let the kids make up their own games — they’re great at it.
Pool floats are a must, and I love this cute speedboat version ($15). At this price, grab two or more, plus a set of water cannons, and watch epic naval battles unfold in your own backyard. These cannons shoot a solid stream up to 70 feet — also great for family vacations to lakes and rivers. Adults, if you take these on your summer trip, be forewarned. From personal experience on both sides of adulthood, grown-ups make excellent targets for long-range surprise attacks. Pro-tip: Give in, have fun...and get ‘em back!
In and out of the pool, plastic squirt guns are hard to beat. Brightly colored and easy to fire, these adorable tropical fish squirters ($18 for 8) are great for little kids.
Older kids need more sophisticated water weapons. This Nerf Rebelle Dolphina water bow ($18) is the toy that makes me wish I was ten again.
Speaking of which, who remembers the original Slip'n Slide? There are dozens of spin-offs and copycats and deluxe double versions, but reviewers say none of them stand up to the simple fun and durability of the original.
This vintage edition of Slip'n Slide ($19.99) offers a little nostalgia for you, and a lot of fun for your kids. It’s the sixteen bright yellow feet of awesome you remember. Hook it up to your hose, set it somewhere with a slight incline, and let ‘em slide!
Here’s another classic that never goes out of style: Water balloons. This 200-pack comes with a plastic nozzle you can screw onto the faucet, so any kid with fine motor skills can do the filling — leaving you free to watch from the porch, cool summer drink in hand. At $2 a pack, they’re still the cheapest summer fun around, and they pack a little nostalgia punch, too. Don’t be surprised if you throw a few yourself!
If your kids are really little, skip the explosive toys and just let them splash about in a quality inflatable pool. This Intex Paradise Seaside Pool, only $28, gets high marks from reviewers for durability, value, and kid-approval. Sounds like a good investment to me. Add a water basketball game for tiny sports enthusiasts.
I also love the game of Hot Potato Splash ($24). The older kid version of this is simply a roughly tossed water balloon — if you bust it or drop it, you’re out. For little ones, this gentler, non-explosive game features a squishy, waterproof spud that plays its own music. Great for the bath, the inflatable pool, or keeping your 5 year old’s partygoers occupied until it’s time for ice cream.
Little ones also love running through the sprinkler. The regular kind you use to water your lawn works great, although you can make it even more fun with a special attachment that sprays water in crazy patterns and many directions. Try the Cyclone Spin attachment ($25), with three rings that spin separately. A more versatile product is this giant beach ball by Little Tikes ($17.25), which you can fill with water and kick all over the place, or hook up to a hose and use as a unique sprinkler.
As long as you’re running the sprinklers, get a lawn game going directly in their path. Croquet is passe, but you can make it awesome with an extra large softie kick croquet set meant for kicking — no mallets involved. Set up the wickets in courses and let your kids challenge each other to whatever rules they like.
Ok, it’s not technically a water toy, but I have to conclude with this fantastic outdoor play hut ($48.99). It has a door that closes with velcro, and two windows that can also serve as ports for play tunnels. Let children create their own special space, or fill the tent up with colorful pit balls and watch them dive in! I imagine this as an excellent addition to games of tag, hide and seek, and anything involving squirt guns. The waterproof floor withstands wet feet, and the shock-corded poles are as kid-proof as they come. Reviews are super-positive about the tent’s light weight, easy setup, large size, and great value.
Yahoo Shopping readers, what splashy summer games do your kids love?
