Jamie Mercer is the Head of Youth Services at W.J. Niederkorn (Port Washington) Library and shares some extra fun with easy and/or FREE programming ideas/tips.
Happy Friday!
Last year, due to many factors, swimming pools closed early. Our city was no exception. Due to the city closing the pool, we had to pivot quickly and reframe how we were going to carry out our Golden Ticket Party for Summer Reading Finishers.
Instead of canceling the party, we decided to have the party at the library and this is where the Water Ball Fight Program was born. We knew families were very disappointed that the city had canceled our reservation for the pool, but we still wanted to have water games. I knew though that staff would not be able to continuously make water balloons all day. So I looked for an alternative and found reusable water balls. They were perfect!
For our water ball fight, we scheduled a time during the party for participants who wanted to join the water ball fight to meet on the library lawn. We considered the timing of the water ball fight and thought it best to have at the end of the Golden Ticket Party to avoid having too many wet items and patrons lingering at the library.
While participants waited for the water ball fight, we were busy filling two plastic kiddie pools full of water and adding the water balls to both. We then took cones to divide the lawn in half- creating two sides.
When participants from the party, came outside for the water ball fight, we divided the group up into two. We told the participants the goal was similar to the P.E. game- get your trash out of my yard- try to keep all of the water balls off your side of the lawn.
We also gave participants the simple rules of keeping the water balls on the lawn (not the sidewalk or street) and keeping their aim of water balls to be shoulders down on people.
The program went so well! We had to fill up the kiddie pools several times. Participants did not want to stop playing. One participant said that she liked the water ball fight even better than the pool party.
It was definitely a highlight of the Golden Ticket Party and we plan to hold another water ball fight this year.
If you are looking for a fun, water game program, I would highly recommend checking out reusable water balls.
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