I originally shared this post over at the awesome Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home while Meredith took a little maternity break with her new baby boy. It's been so hot lately and we've been enjoying these fun water gun targets- I thought I'd share then here today!
I'm guessing I'm not the only one that gets frustrated being the recipient of the kiddo's water gun cross fire, right? I can't usually swing it to be running around getting soaked for the afternoon like they can. A couple of years ago, I quickly designed a few sheets of letters and pictures that my older son enjoyed, then laminated them, for him to aim at instead! New ones were made last year too- my boys loved them and seem to start asking about them in April or so. And today, I'm sharing this years versions with you!
There are ten sheets, each with a fun picture, a shape and a number or letter that kids can aim for! I used some cute digital papers from the awesome Summertime Designs to cutesify the targets- I love the patterns and textures!
These are a good way to help my little guy, who will start preschool in the Fall, learn a few basic letters (M, R, L, H, E), and also for my older son, who is six, to stay practiced up a bit with some larger numbers (3, 5, 10, 25, 400). The shapes included also are rectangle, square, triangle, circle, octagon, crescent, lips, arrows, stars and hearts. They have no idea they're being tricked into learning while they play ;)
For these to be usable in your own yard, print the document that includes all ten sheets. If you don't want them all, pick and choose your page numbers before printing:
For this next step, if you have a laminating machine at home, by all means, use it! I don't, so I sandwiched my sheet between two section of contact paper and trimmed with scissors...
Once you've got your targets scattered all over the yard, the fun begins! I know my boys are always frothing at the bit for me to get done with these already!
We like to play a game where Mom or Dad shouts out what thing to shoot and then they run for that target and spray it! My husband gives them several in rapid succession that they can shoot at and keep running! The great thing about these ones- something I haven't done in years past- is that there are three options to shoot on each target! So the games can last much longer since there are really 30 different options.
Of course, shooting each other still in the process makes it even more...
I do make sure to bring mine inside for the night so they don't get soaked by the sprinkler system, but otherwise, they hold up great to being blasted with the water guns!
Hopefully these will be fun for your kiddos and keep you a bit more dry in the process! Enjoy!
