Having a little foolish fun may be just the thing today, especially if your week was long and hot.  A simple game of balloon toss with the family is perfect to lighten and brighten everyone’s mood.  You can make this as easy or complicated as you like.  It all depends on your family and how much effort you want to put into thinking.

You’ll need a bag of balloons and a faucet.  First, fill the balloons, tying them shut, and place them into a plastic bin.  Take the bin outside and gather the family.  If you want to just play “Water Balloon Tag”, that’s great.  If you want to divide up into teams and play, that’s great, too.

Put your bin of balloons in the “safe” zone so everyone can go back for more “ammunition” when they need to.  Then, let the games begin.  Depending on the ages of your children, you may need to develop some rules, but normally a bit of freestyle hide and seek, with a water balloon waiting, is just about all a family needs.

A very simple game that doesn’t involve a lot of throwing and aiming is great for the younger children.  A game of “Balloon Toss” is usually successful, and fun, for kids who are learning how to catch.  You face each other standing quite close, and toss the balloon so they can catch it.  Then, take a step back and toss, then further, and further, and so on.  You’ll eventually get far enough away that your child is bound to end up with an exploded balloon at their feet.  In this game, I recommend that you be the first catcher so your child will see what happens when you miss the balloon.  Your child will think it’s pretty silly to see Mommy or Daddy miss the balloon and get all wet and want to share in the joke.  A young child might not think it’s so funny if their lovely balloon breaks and they didn’t know that it would happen.

Be careful to pick up the leftover balloon after it breaks so you don’t end up with a yard full of choking hazards.  Adjust your balloon games for the ages of your children and get everyone involved.  Have a great day in the sunshine and cool off at the same time.  Enjoy your day!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 7:55 am and is filed under Frugal Fun Fridays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.