Don’t Sit Out, Dive In

 With temperatures in the 90s everyday, July in Texas is one hot month. When that red line in the thermometer goes up, it’s easy to stay inside with the A/C on high. But here at the MSD Center, we encourage you to get out and get moving anyway! As we showed you last month, there are a lot of things you can do to stay safe in high temperatures. Additionally, summer is a great time to combine working out with cooling off through water games. Try these fun water activities to keep you and your kids moving as the summer heats up:

Games for the Pool

1. Sharks and Minnows

This is a fun competitive pool game for families of good swimmers. Appoint one person to be the Shark. Everyone else is a Minnow. Have all the Minnows line up on one side of the pool. The Shark stands or treads water in the middle of the pool. When the Shark yells, “Sharks and Minnows!”, the Minnows all jump into the pool and start to swim to the other side. If the Shark tags a Minnow before he or she makes it across the pool, that Minnow becomes a Shark and helps tag people in the next round. Keep going until only one Minnow is left—the winner!

Don’t have access to a pool? You can still play this game on land in your backyard or at a park. Have players run through a sprinkler to keep the game cool and water-filled.

2. Dive for dimes, Swim for Sponges

If you are looking for a less competitive way to keep your family members active in the water, send them on diving expeditions at your local pool. Pool toys like diving sticks or swim rings are great for throwing into the pool for kids to chase. If you are short these items, try throwing coins. You can also use sponges if you want something that floats for longer.

Games for the Backyard

3. Frozen Tag

We all know the rules to freeze tag from our school days: one player is “it” and tries to “freeze” as many of the other players as possible by tagging them. Tagged players must freeze in place until another player comes to “melt” them by crawling between their legs. To give this classic running-around game a chilly twist, have players drop ice cubes down the backs of tagged players to “melt” them instead. Fill a cooler with lots of ice to keep the game going. This version of tag’s benefits are twofold: untagged players run around even more as they go back and forth between the ice chest and their tagged friends, increasing their physical activity, while adding some frozen H2O to the game helps everyone stay cool.

4. Dodge-Water-Balloon

Replace the ball in Dodgeball with water balloons and you have a gentler, wetter version of this popular kids activity. Split up into two teams and divide your playing space into two sides. Line water balloons up on the centerline (with plenty of extra in a bucket accessible to both teams, so that you don’t have to stop the game). On “go,” players rush to the center and grab the water balloons to throw at each other. If a player is hit with a water balloon and it breaks, that person is out and must jog around the perimeter of the game. If he or she catches it, the player who threw the balloon is out, and the player who caught it gets to bring one team member that was out back into the game. If the balloon falls without breaking, both players are safe. Keep playing until only one team is left standing.

5. Obstacle Course – H2O Edition

Create a watery obstacle course in your backyard with the things you have! Do you have a play structure in your backyard? Turn it into a water park by poking holes in an old garden hose and wrapping it around different parts of the structure. With some baby oil and a steady stream of water, an old tarp can become a slip and slide. Fill a baby pool with water balloons and you have a refreshing version of a ball pit. Keep thinking creatively and you’ll find lots of fun ways to turn your backyard into a wacky, wild, water park.

6. Fun with Sprinklers

When in doubt, go for the sprinkler. Pretty much any activity can be made cooler (pun intended) by adding some spraying water. Does your family like to dance? Crank up some music and dance under your sprinkler. Kickball, relay races, jump rope...your imagination is the limit.

There are lots of fun ways to stay cool and stay active. So don’t let the heat make you sit out this summer!

Written by
Jessica Bickel-Barlow

Jessica Bickel-Barlow just finished school at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she pursued a double major in Radio, Television, Film (RTVF) and English Literature. This summer Jessica is contributing her skills by working in the Communications Department at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living.

[photo credit: flickr/marcygallery]