25+ Water Balloon Games for Kids
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Nothing says summer like water balloon games! They are cheap, quick, FUN, and a great way to cool off on a warm summer day! Bug if your kids are tired of playing balloon toss, let us help you take your water balloon activities to a new level of summer activities for kids with these fun games to play with water balloons. These fun water balloon games are perfect for toddler, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, and elementary age students!
Water Balloon Games
When I was a kid it took forever to fill all those balloons, but now they have the handy quick fill water balloons where you attach a bundle of 20+ balloons with garden hose fitting and in seconds you are ready to play! YAHOO! And thank goodness because fun water balloon games arethe perfect tool for a summer fun! We have water balloon games for kids for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, and grade 5 students! So grab some water balloon and you are ready to cool off and make some memories with these things to do with water balloons.
Games to play with water balloons
These water balloon game ideas are fun for kids of all ages and include both silly activities and even some educational water balloon ideas too!
Water Balloon Hot Potato
This is super simple, basically your group sits in a circle and you pass the balloon around from person to person. When the music stops or the timer beeps whoever is holding the water balloon is out and has to sit on the ballon or pop it over their head. If the water balloon pops during the round, whoever pops it is out. Whoever is left at the end is the winner.
Roll the water Balloon
Everyone will line up on the driveway and roll their water balloon. Whoever rolls the water balloon the farthest wins.
Water Balloon Dodge Ball
THis is a simple water balloon game for kids that is sure delight kids of all ages. Separate the kids into two teams. Give them each a set of water ballons and then, let the kids go at it! Basically, if you get hit by an opposing team member, you’re out. A few years back they had colored water balloons that were awesome because you could clearly see if you had been hit by the blue team as you would have blue on your shirt / skin. But it is just as fun without. If you do use the colored ones, make sure you wear a paint shirt as some brands did stain slightly.
Water Balloon Tag
The person who is it holds a water balloon. They try to hit someone with a water balloon to make them it.
Spoon Races
Kids will race back and forth trying to keep their water balloon on a giant kitchen spoon. For a fun twist, if they make it back they can pop it above the next person’s head or toss it at them.
Water balloon Darts
For this activity you are gonig to make a large dart board with chalk on your drive way, on a poster board with sharpies, or with spray paint on your lawn – you decide. You will make the inner circle worth 50 points. Next right is worth 40, then 30, 20, and 10. Have children stand back and toss the water balloon and see how many pointes they get. Have them add up their score to practice math if you want to sneak in some math practice this summer!
Sit and Pop Relay
Have 2 teams. Student grab a water balloon from their bucket and run to a waterproof chair (or on the grass / driveway) at the end of the course and sit on the water balloon. When they have popped it they run back and tag the next person in line. THe first team to pop all their balloons wins.
Water Balloon Pinatas
Hang water balloons with string from swing set or money bars. Now have children use their hands or a bag and swing at the water balloons. You can blindfold older students or let younger kids go nuts – either way this is lots of silly fun that will cool you off on a warm summer day.
Water Balloon Shot Put
Have everyone throw their water balloons and see who can get it the farthest.
Musical Water Balloons
Put water balloons in a circle on the grass or driveway. Children will circle the balloons (one fewer than number of students playing ) when the music is playing. Just like musical chairs, when the music stops, kids will need to find a balloon to sit on. Anyone left without a waterballoon wins!
Toss and Fill
Students will throw water balloons into their bucket to fill the bucket. Whatever team gets to the line on the bucket first wins.
Water Balloon Parachute
Divide up into teams like boys and girls and give each team a towel or sheet depending on the size of your group. Put a water balloon on the sheet that is held around all the edges. Kids will lower and raise the towel quickly to launch the water balloon at the other team who will try to catch it with their towel. If they are successful they will launch it back. If not, the next team will get a new water balloon on their parachute to launch. Silly, active FUN!
Sharks!
Put water balloons in a kiddie pool filled with some water. Draw some shark faces on them. See what preschooler can pop the most sharks in 30 seconds!
Water Balloon Toss
Choose a partner and stand arms length apart. One person tosses the balloon to the other person and then takes a step backwards. Now the other person tosses it back and steps backwards. If they drop the balloon they are out. The pair the end up the farthest from one another is the winner.
Sight Words Sorting with Water Balloons
Put hoola hoops on the drive way and write a word family in chalk in the middle such as “at”. Now use a sharpie to write simple words on the filled water balloons like cat, fat, hat, sat, rat, mat, etc. Children will read the word and identify the word family. If they are correct they toss it into the hoola hoop. Play continues with the next person. See more fun word family activities!
Ideas for words to include are:
- op word family – mop, top, shop, pop
- ot word family – dot, pot, cot, hot
- og word family – dog, fog, hog, log
- ip word family – dip, lip, rip, tip
- in word family – fin, tin, chin, bin
- it word family – sit, pit, lit, hit
- et word family – wet, jet, net, vet
- en word family – den, pen, ten, hen
- ed word family – bed, wed, red, fed
- ug word family – bug, fug, mug, jug
- ub word family – sun, Nun, bun, run
- un word family – cub, rub, tub, sub
- ap word family – map, cap, sap, tap
Water Balloon ABCs
Minnie had a balloon for each letter of the alphabet. I would call out a letter and she would find that letter and throw it at Daddy. If your kids already know the letters well try saying a word and having them find the letter it starts will. For example Zebra; your child would find the letter Z.
Another variation for this game if you don’t have a Daddy target is to have your child start by writing all the letters of the alphabet in chalk on the driveway. Now take a water balloon and have them toss it at the letter you say. This is great for letter recognition while having fun!
Yet another option is to write lowercase alphabet letters in chalk on the driveway. Now have students throw balloons with uppercase letters at the correct matching letter.
Sight Word water Balloons
This is such a fun way to practice sight words! Write sight words with a sharpie on filled water balloons (see our printable sight words list for age appropriate sight words) . Have your child or student read the sight word. If they get it right they can toss it at you. There are a couple variations of this where you don’t get wet. Once sight words are read correctly have students:
- throw the water balloon at the word spelled in chalk on the driveway (We write them on the driveway before hand)
- make a bullseye with chalk and if they read it correctly they score points by hitting different rings on the dart board
- Have child read word then toss to a friend. They read the word and toss back. Toss back and forth reading each time. Try to see how many times they can read the word before the water balloon breaks!
- Of if you prefer have students practice writing sight words on the driveway too. Then they read, match working on visual discrimination, and target the word!
Who said reading isn’t fun!?!?!
Water Balloon Math
This can be played alone or with a group of kids competitvely. Write numbers on the driveway (I like to circle them to make them look more like a target). Out loud I give them a math problem. They indicate their answer out loud and if they are correct they get to toss the water balloon at the answer. They get one point for the correct answer and a 2 point bonus if they hit the target! THis can be done with a variety of elementary math including:
- number recognition – write numbers 1-20 on the drieway. Tell students the number and see if they can find the correct number
- number words – tell children the number and see if they can hit the correct number name
- counting – tell children a number; they throw the balloon in the air and try to count to that number before the balloon goes SPLAT!
- write addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division equations in chalk circles on the driveway. Tell them the answer and have them hit the equation whose sum / quotient / difference you called.
- Write numbers on the driveway with circles around them. Say math equations out loud and have them use a water balloon to hit the correct answer
Parts of Speach Game
Put a hoola hoop on the grass for each parts of speach you are learning – noun, verb, adverb, and adjective. Put the part of speach name on a piece of colored construction paper and tape it to a kabob skewer. Push the skewer into the grass just inside the hoola hoop. Tell students a word and give it in a sentence. They will toss the balloon into the hoop reflecting the correct part of speech.
For example:Â tree “The squirel climbed up the tree quickly.” Tree is a noun so studnets would toss the water balloon into the noun hoola hoop space.
Math War
You will need 20 filled water balloons in one color and another 20 water balloons in a different color. Write number 1-10 on a two color set. and give to player #1. We like to have them in buckets with water.Now do the same for the 2nd player. Have each student stand in a hola hoop about 10 feet from each other.
Now call out a numer from 2-20. Students will pick a balloon out of one bucket and then find the missing addend (also called number bond) so that the water balloon numbers equal the number you called. When children pick two numbers that equal the sum they show you and if correct they get to throw them at the other player. You can do this one at a time or they can compete to see who can form the number bond the quickest.
Water Balloon Painting
Balloon Craft Ideas
Looking for more fun ways to play with balloons this summer?
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- Pop Rocks Balloon Experiment
 
Summer Fun
Looking for more outdoor activities for kids and things to do in the summer? Your toddler, preschool, pre k, kindergarten, and elementary age kids will love these fun ideas to keep them busy all summer long:
- Marshmallow Shooters – go over 30 feet!
- 2 ingredient Easy Slime Recipe
- Super Simple Sand Slime
- How to Make a Lava Lamp – it’s super EASY!
- Kids will no nuts over this simple Pop Rock Experiment
- Easy Button Crafts for Kids
- Handprint Strawberry Craft for Summer
- Grow Your Own Crystals
- Water Balloon Experiment – exploring densit with an EPIC summer activity for kids
- Amazing Bubble Painting
- Mind Blowing Color Changing Playdough
 
Summer Activities for Kids
- Egg Shell DIY Chia Pet Craft – Silly Spring / Summer Activities for Kids
- Grass Head Craft for Kids
- EASY Stained Glass Pasta Art for Kids
- Simple Flower Mason Jar Lid Crafts
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- Chromatography Butterflies – EASY Butterfly Craft for Kids
- Silly Bandaid Art Craft for kids
- Free Camping Scavenger Hunt for kids
- Blow GIANT bubbles with this Homemade Bubble Solution
- Outrageously FUN Bubble Painting
- Bleeding Tissue Paper Fireworks Craft
- Beautiful Flower Suncatcher Craft
- 30 Fun June Crafts for Kids
- Must try Lego Zipline
- Exploding Watermelon Science Experiment
- Homemade Chalk Recipe
- 75+ FUN Scavenger Hunts for Kids
- Find activities by month with our June Crafts for kids or our June Activities for Kids!
Fun Summer Activities for Kids
- Ice Cream Edible Playdough
- Whip up a batch of Kool Aid Playdough – it smells amazing!
- EASY, Vibrant Sidewalk Chalk Paint for Kids
- I Spy DIY Bottles are quick, easy and FUN!
- Amazing Tin Foil Art Project for Kids of all Ages
- Vinegar and Baking Soda Rocket Science Experiment for Kids
- Summer Bucket List Printable with Ice Cream Theme
- How to Make Ice Cream in a Bag
- Ice Cream Playdough Patterns
- Head to the zoo with this FREE Zoo Scavenger Hunt – lots of choices for all ages!
- Make your favorite animal with one of these 100 animal crafts
- Try one of these fun Animal I Spy Printables
- Epic Squirt Gun Painting
- 10+ Pasta Flower Crafts for Kids
- Play with your food using this goldfish counting activity
- After seeing the frogs at the pond, grab this free life cycle of a frog worksheet
- Avoid the summer learning loss by practicing math with these crack the code worksheets
- First Day of Summer Craft
- Create this gorgeous stained glass art for kids
- 107 Epic Summer Activities for Kids
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