Backyard Wading Pools – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Backyard Wading Pools – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

My kids are of an age that I would have thought that little backyard wading pools would no longer hold an interest for them. I was wrong. Both their grandparents have small inflatable pools, the kind that don’t really hold much more than a foot of water or so, and the girls can happily spend the whole day out there, sitting in the shallow water with some bath toys, or splashing around.

We still have to be careful on these 100+ degree days, to not let them spend too much time in the sun; an umbrella for shade can be great help. Also, it is easy to let the shallowness of the water lull the grownups into a sense of complacency – so we must remember that drowning can happen even in a very small amount of water and there is no substitute for adult supervision.

Still, these pools can be found very inexpensively. If the prices seem high to you right now, watch for clearance sales at the end of the season, and you’ll be able to pick one up for next summer for almost nothing. We have no real yard space to speak of, it’s twelve feet square at best and completely paved in concrete, so it is not a yard that screams ‘summer fun’, yet a little pool out there makes even my tween as happy as a clam for a few hours on the hot days.

Well worth the investment in my opinion. 

Wash the Car – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Wash the Car – Fun Stuff to Do Anywhere

Washing the car may sound more like a chore than a fun thing to do, but it’s one of the easiest chores to turn into a good time if you try. First, swimsuits are required. When you have fun washing the car – you get very wet. Some of the washing and rinsing time should be dedicated to squirting each other with the water hose. Water guns can get involved too if there are more kids than can comfortably take turns with the hose. A big bucket of soapy water and a couple of big sponges are tons of fun as long as you aren’t trying to stay dry or clean.

Expect that washing the car in the fun and wet way will take much longer than washing it in the efficient, tidy way. The key to the fun is taking the time to let some water play happen. When the car is fully washed and rinsed, then there can be a short period of more serious time to possibly dry or wipe windows. But my kids even like that part.

Run Through the Sprinkler – Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

Run Through the Sprinkler – Fun Stuff to do Anywhere

Running around in the sprinkler was a staple of my childhood summers. I really don't hear about kids still doing this. Maybe I travel in the wrong circles. Tell me do your kids still like to play in sprinklers?

A week or so ago though, our plans to visit the local pool fell through and my oldest suggest getting the sprinkler out, and they had a blast jumping around in the water. So if you haven't dragged the old lawn sprinkler out in awhile, give it a try on the next warm day.

Hap McGee Park in Danville

Hap McGee Park

Hap McGee Park in Danville has everything kids could want: a big playground, a water play area with sprinklers, and a sand pit. As a mom, I loved the shaded picnic tables, and the clean restrooms right next to the play area. If your family includes a dog, they can have fun too at the adjacent dog play yard.

The water play area at Hap McGee isn’t just one or two small spray spouts like many other playgrounds have. This area is designed to get kids wet. Really wet. Swimsuits are necessary, in my opinion. There are big spouts that shoot out from the ground, and tunnel sprinklers that spray a finer mist that the kids can run through.

Right next to the fun water area is a sand pit. There is a stationary digger that kids can use to move sand around. The favorite activity of all the kids in the sand area as I observed, though was to bring buckets full of water over from the sprinklers and pour it into the sand, then dig trenches and mounds designed to create a pathway for the water to flow. Then they would move the sand to get the water to go a different. It was a lot of fun, and I was only watching!

The playground is farm themed, with the play structures in the shape of barns and tractors, with silos and cows to ride on. ON the hot day we were there, the water area was much more popular than the playground, but I imagine that is probably a seasonal preference.