Make Your Yard Into a Water Park
by Sandy Fitzgerald
The kids are out of school now, and it’s only a matter of time before you’re hearing those dreaded words…
“I’m bored.”
In the old days, our parents didn’t put us in the car and haul us around from place to place to entertain us all summer, so why should you become the kids’ taxi driver?
If you’ve got a yard and a garden hose, there are lots of ways for your kids to have memorable days of fun in the sun right in your back yard.
If your kids are still small, consider a kiddie pool. If storage isn’t a problem, you might pick a molded pool, but most of us pick the inflatable kind, so we can deflate it and easily store it away.
Inflatable pools come in all sizes, so it’s best to get one that’s a little bigger so your kids can use it for a couple of years.
The great thing about an inflatable pool is that they don’t cost much money, and you don’t have to worry about those expensive chemicals to keep it fresh. You just blow it up, fill it with a garden hose, and dump it out at the end of the day. Also, your grass won’t get killed under the pool, because you can move it from place to place.
If you want to provide a little variety for the kids, consider a pool with a built in slide or sprinklers and you can make it even more fun!
And do you remember Slip and Slides? Well, they’re still out there and they’re still a lot of fun. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s best described as a long piece of plastic that you hook up to a hose, which runs water through it and gives kids young and old a great place to slide and keep cool. Just be sure there’s no rocks under it…because not much hurts worse than hitting a rock when you’re on a Slip and Slide!
If you don’t want a Slip and Slide, remember how much fun it was to play in a sprinkler? Well, it still is fun! You can hook up your usual garden sprinkler, and that’s a lot of fun for kids, but there are also sprinklers that are especially made for young children as well.
And don’t forget to pick up some Super Soakers. If you have younger children, don’t bother to get them the really big ones, which can be heavy when filled with water. Smaller water toys are just as much fun, and don’t really spray hard enough to sting young, sensitive eyes. With just a few pumps, your kids will be all cooled off and having fun!
Top this day of water fun off with some hot dogs on the grill and some nice cold Kool-Aid, and your kids won’t be clamoring to get in the car all the time because they’re bored. In fact, days of fun in the back yard are the kinds of days your kids will remember.
After all, aren’t those the days YOU remember from your childhood?