Sight Word Water Balloons

We are less than a week away from the first day of school.  Literally, the FIRST day of school - my oldest is starting preschool this year and we are so excited (and a little nervous).  So, I wanted to do something fun for the boys that would also help to kick-start their brains out of summer mode.  Of course, I turned to water balloons.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links.  This means that if you click on and/or buy something through the link, I will receive a small commission.  And after a few small commissions, I can head over to Starbucks to grab the most caffeine-laden product that they sell because sleep is for wusses.  At least in my house it is.  

Water balloons are HUGE in our house.  We always keep some on hand; and, quite frankly, I have become a professional bathroom-sink-water-balloon-filler-upper.  But, after I made about 50 (yes, FIFTY) water balloons this morning, I think I will invest in something like this instead:

100 water balloons per minute?!  Count me in.  Seriously - I have blisters on my fingers from all of the bathroom sink water balloons.  But I know you aren't here to read about my blisters (at least I hope not) - here are the instructions for setting up a Sight Word Water Balloon game for your children
of the corn.

First, gather your supplies.  You will need:

• Water balloons (duh)
• A large bucket to keep the water balloons in (learn from my experience: use one bucket per child)
• Some chalk (hopefully yours is in better shape than mine)
• Some small bins (I'll leave you hanging on this one...read more to find out what these are for)

(I've included links to the products that I used at the bottom of this post).

After you've gathered your supplies, head out to a (SAFE) flat area where you are permitted to draw with chalk - we used our driveway.  Write sight words all over the driveway [Note:  I drew shapes for my younger son instead of words.  You could also do colors, numbers, letters, etc.]  Engage your child(ren) by asking them to help you with this step.

Once all of the words (or shapes, letters, numbers - you get the idea) are drawn, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!  Here's how you play:  call out the word (or shape, etc.) that you want your child to locate.  Once (s)he finds the correct spot, (s)he can drop the water balloon on the word.  Continue until all of the words have been splashed.

OK, here's where the little bins come in:  CLEAN UP TIME!  My children are obsessed - OBSESSED - with garbage trucks.  So, getting them to help clean up all of the bits required some pretend play and miniature garbage cans.  We actually raced to see who could pick up the most water balloon bits.  Thankfully, I DID NOT win.

Once everything is cleaned up, pat yourself on the back and get yourself a snack.  You deserve it.  No, really, you do.  My snack of choice was some plain vanilla yogurt mixed with fresh strawberries. And now it's back to work for me while my little angels play quietly with their pretend tool sets.  HA.  More like beat the #$*& out of each other with a plastic hammer. 

Here are links to the products similar to those that I used: