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  • Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

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    Home » Outdoor Activities

    Water Balloon Hunt

    Published: Jul 11, 2012 · Modified: Oct 28, 2022 by Vicky · This post contains affiliate links.

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    Most of the country has been experiencing a heat wave and few things help us beat the heat more than water. My kids love swimming and running through a sprinkler, but water balloons are an extra special treat for them. We have had fun learning and playing with a Water Balloon Phonics game. They sell water balloons at the dollar store but I don't use them a lot because they just take forever to fill up and are tossed and broken before you know it. So I devised the idea of having a water balloon hunt.

    We're Going on a Water Balloon Hunt - Fill up some balloons, add a learning element and hide them around the yard. Perfect fun for a HOT day!

    I wanted to do a water balloon hunt. I decided to assign each child a shape and then draw that shape on some of the balloons. The kids could only pick up balloons that had their shape on it.

    If I did not have this blog, I would have just written their names on the balloons, but I try to keep my kids names off of here so shapes seemed like a good idea. It also reinforces shape recognition!

    You will need:

    • Water balloons
    • Water
    • Buckets
    • Permanent Marker
    • Paper
    • Tape
    balloons

    I decided to use a circle, square and triangle as the three shapes. I drew each onto a piece of paper and used some packing tape to tape it on the kids' buckets. This would help them remember what shape they were looking for and check their balloons to make sure they had the right shape.

    buckets

    Now comes my least favorite part - filling the balloons with water. Thirty minutes and twenty one balloons later, I was done.

    water balloons, summertime fun

    Next, I took the filled water balloons, dried them with a towel and drew corresponding shapes on them. I did 7 balloons of each shape.

    Water ballloon game

    Hiding the balloons was a little tricky because they needed to be in locations where there was nothing around that could make them pop.

    hidden water balloons
    water balloon hunt
    hunting for water balloons

    It was super hot out and the few balloons I had hid that were sitting in direct sunlight popped before we started our hunt. I put them out a few hours before the hunt which given the extreme heat was too long. Keep that in mind when hiding your balloons on a super hot day.

    Let the balloon hunt begin!

    summer fun, kids
    finding water balloons

    Once the kids collected their 7 balloons they were free to play with them as they wished. They had plenty of fun throwing those balloons, getting wet and cooling off on a hot summer day. Best of all there were plenty of balloons left for each child to find!

    child with water balloons

    For more fun water activities check out:

    Water Table Play Props                         

       

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. School Sparks Renee

      July 12, 2012 at 1:21 pm

      What a fun way to keep kids happy and learning in the heat!! Renee

    2. Vicky

      July 12, 2012 at 12:22 am

      @ Shiloh, Thanks for visiting!
      @ Maro, It was fun and a great way to cool off!
      @ Jennifer, this would great for a birthday party. Have fun!
      @Lydia, You are so sweet! Thanks for the support.

    3. Lydia Criss Mays

      July 11, 2012 at 5:51 pm

      AHHHHHH!!!! This is so awesome! Sending to all my mommy friends now. Thank you for your always-awesome goodies!

      Happy seeing beautiful!
      http://seeabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/

    4. Jennifer Fischer

      July 11, 2012 at 5:45 pm

      Love this! So fun. Maybe we'll do this at a kids b-day party we have coming up.

    5. Maro s kindergarten

      July 11, 2012 at 4:05 pm

      This looks like so much fun!

    6. Shiloh

      July 11, 2012 at 1:03 pm

      Fun, fun FUN!!

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    Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

    Valentine's Day Activities and Recipes

    • Valentine’s Dessert Cheese Ball
    • Valentine's Brownie Cake Pops
    • Valentine's Chocolate Covered Pretzels
    • Valentine Ideas for Kids - Glitter Hearts

    Winter Activities

    • Q-Tip Painted Snowman Craft
    • Winter Shaving Cream Paint
    • Pinecone Snowman Craft
    • Melted Snowman Craft

    Popular Recipes

    • Crack Chicken Casserole
    • Overnight Egg Casserole
    • Toasted Italian Sandwich - Food Fun Friday
    • Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bake

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