Sometimes all you need to occupy those long summer days are an old-fashioned sprinkler and a hose. To wit, we headed outside today and found so many ways to get wet and wild!

First, I used the hose to fill up the baby pool with an ankle-deep layer of water. A toddler slide aimed into it plus a few hula hoops to jump through, and voila, it was an instant teeny water park-slash-obstacle course!

The kids were hesitant about the splashy finish at first…

But soon this was like their own mini trip to Disney World’s Splash Mountain!

Then we set up the sprinkler on the lawn and tested out Freeze Dance. Just crank your kids’ favorite radio station from the car or a speaker, and turn down the volume now and then. Freeze!

Next up was acting like an animal. Travis hopped through the spray bravely like a frog…

…and trotted like a horse!

Veronika was a little hesitant to run right through the spray, so we took it down a notch to try out some toddler-friendly games. She wasn’t brave enough to put her whole body in, but she was brave enough for the Hokey Pokey!

“You put your left arm in, you put your left arm out…” Simon Says is ideal, too, for coaxing little kids to get wet one body part at a time. We ended with some final big kid fun, taking out our Twister mat but making the game extra slippery and tricky. Left foot on red everyone!

What’s your family’s favorite way to play with a sprinkler? Please share in the comments!