When summer first starts, many families begin to go outside far more often. If you have a pool that’s awesome. You don’t need one though. With a backyard, you have a fantastic way to spend you summer, here are 18 of the top backyard water activities you can enjoy all summer long.
After being cooped up inside for so long, it may take some time before you figure out how to spend your leisure time. As temperatures rise, water-based activities become a must.
Summer Backyard water activities
PVC Pipe Course
This is one of the top backyard water activities for families that love to express their creativity. You can go to a store and pick up some cheap PVC pipes and other accessories.
You can set up various obstacles courses or forts that keep the whole family cool.
While these can be tons of fun to navigate, the real enjoyment comes from building the structures as a family.
Enhance Your Slip-n-Slide
Horizontal water slides have remained one of the top backyard water activities for many years now.
After a while, the standard slide can become rather stale. Try spicing things up a bit by filling the slide with water balloons.
The person sliding through is sure to get soaking wet and have a blast while doing so.
Water Balloon Baseball
Turn America’s favorite pastime into one of the top backyard water activities by simply swapping out the ball.
Water balloons are a blast to hit and will cool you off if you make contact. You can gather the whole neighboorhood and have a complete game if you like.
To make it even more fun, try to set up slip-n-slides between bases to speed things up a bit.
Catching Water Balloons
Catch can be one of the top backyard water activities if you play it just right. Buy some spare spaghetti strainers from the dollar store and strap them to your heads.
Then, the other players can lob water balloons and try to land them in the strainers. The person catching can bend and maneuver to try and make baskets as well.
The result is a super fun time for those who love getting soaked on a hot day.
The Glowing Pool
This is a great way to end a long day of swimming Get tons of glow sticks and place them in your pool.
This creates some ambient lighting that allows you to keep swimming even in darkness. You can gather your whole family and relax together.
This turns your pool into one of the top backyard water activities you can enjoy at night.
Water Pinatas
If you have tons of things to hang water balloons from in your backyard, then this is a great way to take advantage.
Fill up plenty of balloons and hoist them from tree branches and other perches. Take turns smashing each ballon while soaking everyone in the process.
This is one of the top backyard water activities for letting off some steam.
Outdoor Water Beds
Sometimes, you just want to lounge around on a hot summer day. Creating a makeshift water bed outside is a great way to do just that.
Kids can nap or splash around to their heart’s content while staying cool.
It’s one of the top backyard water activities you can enjoy on days when you don’t have the energy for something more ambitious.
Large Slides
If you live in an area with lots of hills, you can turn them into a water slide. You can purchase a large enough wrap from a hardware store.
You can also order them from specialty suppliers. You lay the roll down the hill and uses sprinklers to provide the water.
This is tons of fun for older kids and adults alike. For even bigger thrills, you can go to a park or rent out a public space and set up a larger slide.
Hay Bale Pools
If you live on a farm or have access to hay bales, you can use them to create a makeshift pool.
You can arrange them in any formation you want and begin to pump water through. The bales keep the water in place all day long.
You can make a pool large enough for groups way bigger than just your family. This is one of the top backyard water activities and it’s well worth doing at least once.
DIY Dunk Tank
There’s no need to hit up the carnival if you craft your own dunk tank. A basic frame can be made using inexpensive PVC pipes and other supplies.
You also need a large enough bucket so that people get drenched. Everyone takes turns sitting in the tank.
This is a sure way to keep everyone cool on those blistering hot afternoons.
Soda Bottle Sprinkler
This is a fun way to use your old two-liter soda bottles instead of throwing them away. You poke some holes all around the bottle and cover them up with waterproof tape.
Next, you hook the hose up to the mouth of the bottle and start it up. This creates a sprinkler effect that shoots water in all directions.
This is one of the top backyard water activities that the whole family can enjoy together.
Pool Noodle Sprinkler
This is a very similar idea to the water bottle sprinkler. You poke a bunch of holes in the sides of an old pool noodle.
Then, you plug one side with a waterproof seal. Finally, you shove the hose in the other end and let it go.
The pool noodle has a much larger radius than a bottle. You can even hang some from trees to get a full 360-degree effect.
Water Balloon Slingshot
You can use a variety of materials in order to construct a slingshot. You can set up targets and take turns shooting them down.
For some real intense action, you can make two or more slingshots and have a battle. There is no limit to how far this idea can scale.
You can go beyond the family and get the entire neighborhood involved if you have enough willing participants.
Water Gun Target Practice
As the name implies, this is one of those top backyard water activities that requires a collection of water guns.
You can set up a shooting range throughout the yard and take turns navigating through it. If you aren’t afraid to get sprayed, you can even attach a target to yourself.
The easiest way is to take water bottles and cut a big hole in the center. You can either create a bullseye target and cover the whole or leave it empty.
Either way, the next step is to attach it to your head. Finally, the whole family takes turns trying to shoot the bottles.
If you have enough water guns, you can have a more active match with multiple people.
A Classic Water Gun Battle
Before putting the water guns away, you might want to have a traditional water gun battle. You can play tons of different modes depending on how many people you have.
You can either do various free for all matches or team up for larger-scale conflicts. If you have enough space, playing capture the flag is always a favorite.
When it comes to water guns, the only limit to what you can do is your own imagination.
Drip, Drip, Drench
This take on duck, duck, goose involves much more water than the traditional game. Players take turns walking around the circle with a wet sponge.
As they walk past each sitting player, they lightly drip the sponge. At random, they can choose to drench one of the sitters.
This causes a chase just like in traditional duck, duck, goose. This is a great way to stay cool while taking a trip down memory lane.
Frozen T-Shirt Race
One of the best ways to fend off the heat in summer is to get a T-shirt wet and place it in the freezer.
If you have ever done this, you know how challenging it can be to put the shirt back on. This is an excellent opportunity to have some fun with the whole family.
Two or more people can take their frozen shirt out of the freezer at the same time. The first person to put their shirt fully back on is the winner.
It may not sound like much, but you will be surprised how much fun it gets when you play with multiple people.
Kiddie Pool Kickball
If you’re getting too hot to play kickball, you can always grab some kiddie pools. Swap out the bases for small pools in order to give each player a refreshing reward every time they make it on to the field.
