Materials
swimwear or change of play clothes
2 identical buckets for each group of players
water
dry-erase marker
cups (one per child)
large sponge (one per group)
Instructions
1. Dress children for wet play. Explain that they are going to play two water
relay games (Water Brigade and Sponge Squeeze). Each relay can be
played as a cooperative game, with as many as ten players standing in a
row, or children can be divided into separate teams.
2. Play Water Brigade. Fill a bucket with water and mark the outside of it to
show the top water line. Give each player an empty cup.
3. Place the filled bucket at one end of the row, and an empty bucket at the
opposite end. The children stand in a row between the two buckets.
4. Shout "Ready, Set, Go!" to signal the first player to dip his cup in the water
bucket and pour it into the cup of the player next to him. This player
pours the water in her cup into the cup of the next player, and so on.
5. The last player pours the water in his cup into the empty bucket.
6. Shout "Hooray!" when the first bucket is empty.
7. Mark the top water line on the second bucket. Place the buckets
together and compare the volume of each.
8. Now play Sponge Squeeze. Fill a bucket with water and mark the outside
of it to show the top water line. Place this bucket at one end of the row,
and an empty bucket at the opposite end.
9. Give the first child in the row a dry sponge and shout, "Ready, Set, Go!"
10. At the signal, this child saturates the sponge in the water bucket and
begins passing it along the row.
11. When the sponge reaches the last player, he squeezes it into the empty
bucket and runs to the front of the row. He dips the sponge in the water
bucket and passes it along.
12. Play continues until the first bucket is empty. Conclude the game as
above.
