“Summer isn’t as fun as it used to be,” my husband told me the other day in the kitchen. “When we were kids I loved summer, and always looked forward to it. Now I hate it.”

Speak for yourself buddy!… I wanted to say.

He went on to tell me how awesome fall is because it’s not as hot, and there’s football.

Yea yea, I get it. We’re grown up now and some of the novelty has worn off. But for our kids, summer means swimming, and popsicles. And from here on out it’ll be known as the time for vacations, no school and playing with friends.

I can’t help but feel like I haven’t been the most fun this summer (ok, this was before we left for Disneyland, now my daughter REALLY can’t complain). But when my kids are at school their teachers have lesson plans and activities and all sorts of fun things planned out.

I see other moms with all these screen-free goals, and crafts and activities. And here I am, an unorganized mess just flying by the seat of my pants (how I thought I could homeschool I have no idea).

I decided to challenge myself to come up with some fun preschool water activities we can do at home to liven up and cool down these hot Texas days.

So far we’ve done one. HA! Ok, I’ve got three more weeks to improve my record. Oh, and if you could trips to the pool then that improves my score.

When I was at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago I noticed a foam alphabet puzzle. I grabbed it cause for a dollar, it could be fun to mess with. Little did I know my kids would have so much fun with this thing.

Big T loves to take all the pieces out and bring them to me, naming the letters he knows. My daughter likes to try to fit them all back in the puzzle correctly.

I decided it would be fun to incorporate these into a water game we now like to call Alphabet Soup.

Here’s what you need:

• Letters (the first time I did this I used a combination of foam letters and magnet letters off my fridge) The foam letter packs are just $1 at the Dollar Tree.
• A big bowl or tub.
• Water
• Ladles or big spoons

That’s it! My kids helped me fill up the bucket, we added the letters and then as they scooped them up I had them yell out the letter they found. Lil’ J even scooped up letters to spell a couple words.

So it’s a super easy preschool water activity that they played with this for a good hour, and had fun splashing around, and cooling off a little. Of course this could be done inside as well but you probably will want to put a towel down.

I have to admit, I’m EXTREMELY impressed with my son and his letter recognition. I mean not to brag or anything but he’s really really good at it for just turning 2 thanks YouTube Kids!… I mean, my diligent instruction time.

I recorded it so you can see what I mean. I’m telling you, he knows all but maybe four.

As (if) I experiment with more (super simple) activities that are a hit for my kids I’ll share them along the way.

Though I’ve only had a few “mom wins” so far this summer, I think about what I remember from my summer months. I loved playing with my friends, reading as many books as I could, watching every Disney movie we owned, staying up late and sleeping in. My mom didn’t plan specific ways to keep us entertained, and I think it helped me learn to be creative on my own.

So even if I don’t improve my fun-activity record, I think my kids will be ok too. We’re still making memories together, they’re just not all Pinterest-worthy.

What summer memories are you making?

Tags: diy, homeschooling, preschool water activity, summer water activity, water fun