Water Balloon Alternative

So this goes under the heading of summer fun, even though I'm writing this in February.  This is a neat idea I saw somewhere and decided to try out.

What you'll need:
- several packages of brightly colored sponges
- several rubber bands or some string
- scissors (optional)
- a large bowl or bucket
- water
- at least one child (the more you have though, the funner this is!)

Directions to create your water balloon alternative:
There are two ways to do this, you can either cut the sponges into smaller strips longways, or you can leave them whole.  If you want them skinnier, cut them while dry.

Next, I found out the hard way that you should get the sponges wet, then wring them out completely before attaching them together.  When I first did this I didn't get them wet first, and so when they got wet, they started falling apart after a while.  I also used string on my first ones, which began to stretch when wet, so I think rubber bands wrapped tightly is a better choice.   Select out 3 or 4 pieces, wrap a rubber band tightly around the center of them all so they form a kind of pom pom.

So much harder to get the string or rubber band around tight when
the sponges or pieces are dry.

 Next, get your bowl or bucket and fill it up with water.  You may want to do this outside so it doesn't slosh all over your floor while carrying it outside.  Set the bowl in the middle of a open area, or you can set up two bowls on opposite ends of an open area if you want to play with teams.

After that you just drop the sponges in to soak up some water, grab them out and toss them at the first person you see.

Daddy always makes the best target!

Now... if you have a really small child - like 3 and under, they may not like getting wet and they'll cry.  This is where having more than 1 child playing comes in handy.  No matter how any child feels about getting wet, when they see everyone else having fun, it is fun.  It just might take a few minutes.

Tahlia cried the first time she got hit, but pretty soon she was after Daddy like everyone else.

WARNING: If you do this in your front yard, you will attract strange
neighbor kids from miles around to play with you.

Lastly, if the novelty of the sponges wears off, your kids will still find a use for the buckets/bowls and water on a hot day.

So for a few bucks you now have a great idea for getting wet without the water waste of a sprinkler, or the clean up mess of real water balloons.  But be warned, the photographer is not immune to getting a little wet!

Uh-oh... 

You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking!

Sigh... she got me.