Water Ballon Letters & Shapes Play

This is the first time we have really done a water balloon activity at the house. I can’t believe we haven’t done more except it is a bit tedious to fill up so many! What a fun water balloon activity though for a warm summer afternoon and especially fun with a friend. I bet they didn’t even realize how much they were learning with the letters and shapes while they were running around and laughing! (Yes, it is quite warm here but my son wanted to wear his sweatpants and long sleeve shirt anyway.)

Here they are, two friends, waiting patiently for me to take my photo. These guys have been friends since before their first birthdays and enjoy spending time together. My lovely friends had the honor of blowing up 52 water balloons while I made lunch and wrote the letters on them. This is clearly a simple activity in terms of set up except for the part of blowing up so many balloons, and my faucets definitely are not condusive to blowing up water balloons! However, it was a great incentive to get them to sit and finish their lunches. Also a lesson in patience too! Those little hands could hardly keep to themselves.

Each boy had a set of letters and then I drew big shapes on the driveway. Square, rectangle, circle, triangle, diamond, trapezoid and hexagon. Our goal was to get the boys to tell us the letter of the water balloon, maybe a word that starts with the letter, and lastly the shape they were going to throw it into to make a splash! They knew them all. Smart little cookies!

Lots of good fun and they were really excited even when the balloons wouldn’t break and rolled down the driveway. I love activities with built in gross motor play to get them running around. To funny was the mommies chasing the rolling unpopped water balloons down the driveway and into the street. Obviously, the kids didn’t want the water balloons to end but since the water balloons had a purpose with the letters it was easier to understand when the activity was finished. Of course they were ready for some different fun anyway!

[pinit]