Simple Sponge and Water Fun Ideas for Kids

Looking for some simple water fun activities to do with your child on those hot Summer days? You’ve come to the right place.

Where I live in Southern Ontario, Canada, summer often means hot days of 90 degrees Fahrenheit plus humidity! One of the easiest ways to cool off with a little one is to head outside with some sponges and a bucket (or two) of cool water.  

Today’s post lists loads of simple ideas for Summer fun with a sponge!

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Simple Sponge and Water Fun Play

With toddlers and preschoolers, it needn’t be any more complicated than a couple of large sponges (we used large car wash sponges), and a bucket of water.

It’s fun to provide lots of different sized sponges too. We had a bunch left over from our Sponge Pirate Ship project.

Don’t be afraid to just let your child explore what they can do with the sponges. They’ll naturally want to squeeze and pour and transfer. Then they may experiment with getting the water to move and observing as evaporation occurs on a hot day.

And of course, you can always encourage your child to use the water to cool down!

Other Fun Summer Sponge and Water Fun Ideas

Double the buckets, Double the Fun

Bring out 2 buckets for transferring water back and forth

Make a Sponge Water Toy

Create a Sponge Bomb like these from 2 Big, 2 Little

Play Drip, Drip, Drop

If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an outside water version of Duck, Duck, Goose with a group of friends.

Everyone sits in a circle and one child walks around the circle while holding a wet sponge.  As they go around, they let the sponge drip on everyone while saying, “drip, drip, drip, drip…” until they choose someone to “DROP!” on.

They squeeze out the entire sponge over that child’s head.  Then the 2 kids race in opposite directions around the circle to get back to the empty spot.  Whoever is left standing, picks up the sponge and repeats!

This was always a big favourite at summer camp when I was a kid!

Put Those Sponges to Work

Suggest your child use the sponges to wash their bike or toy cars or maybe even a real car!

Have a Race

Create a Sponge Water Relay like this one from I Can Teach My Child.

Pick a Target

Throw wet sponges at the sides of the house, garage door, or driveway at chalk targets that you child has drawn! They’ll get a kick out of the target getting washed away when their throws are accurate!

Make a Ship

Help your child create a Sponge Ship to use in the kiddie pool or neighbourhood pond! Use them to have a race, or just for imaginative play.

Provide a Drink

Teach your child how to water outdoor plants with sponges! Make it even more fun by having your child pick a special plant to be in charge of. They’ll feel pride in caring for their beautiful growing plant while learning about its needs.

Cool Down Playfully

Play Pass the Sponge with a group of kids.  Have all the kids line up and lay down on their backs with their feet in the air.  

Put a wet sponge between the first child’s feet and show them how to pass the sponge to the next child using only their feet.  Kids continue to pass the sponge along the line using their feet only – and they get REALLY WET doing it!

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Hope you’ve found some inspiration here for fun summer sponge play!

If you’re looking for other summer activities, be sure to follow my Summer Activities Pinterest board at:
Follow One Time Through’s board Summer Kids Activities on Pinterest.

Find even more fun and educational activities as well as positive parenting tips, follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Happy Sponging!