When you play by the river, the sea, or at a pool, what do you usually do?Of course, it’s fun to change into a swimsuit, jump right in, and swim around, but having a few simple toys gives you even more to do—and makes it even more fun.So in this article, we’ll introduce games you can play with water guns!Some of them are perfect for enjoying with little kids in your own backyard.On hot summer days, stock up on water guns and have a lively time playing together with family and friends!
- Handmade Water Gun Idea Collection
- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- Kids will love it! Summer vacation games, recreation, and hands-on activities
- [Playable from infancy] Fun DIY water play toy ideas
- [List] A roundup of games and recreational activities kids love
- [Great for water play!] DIY plastic bottle toys: easy ideas you can copy
- [Enjoy Summer to the Fullest] A Roundup of Games and Recreational Activities at the Sea and on the Beach
- [Enjoy Summer to the Fullest] Roundup of Toys and the Newest Gadgets for Playing in the Pool
- Fun games in the river. Recreational games
- Kids Will Love It! Fun Games for Your Barbecue
- [Active Outdoors!] A roundup of garden games you can enjoy with your kids
- Games that get the whole family excited! A collection of ideas you can start right away with no equipment
- A roundup of fun games and recreational activities using balloons
Enjoy summer! Water gun play roundup (1–10)
Water-gun airsoft
Do you know about sabage? It’s short for “survival game,” a combat-style recreation where players dressed in camouflage and goggles shoot at each other with BBs or paintballs.
In some places, people even rent out mountains or buildings to play, so it can feel pretty serious.
Doing sabage with water guns sounds fun too! Since the “weapons” are just water, it’s okay if you get hit on the head or face a bit.
People from small children to seniors can enjoy it! It’s a perfect activity for summer.
Rock-paper-scissors: tap with a water gun, put it on, and shoot!
This is a reflex-testing game where you instantly decide your next move based on the outcome of rock-paper-scissors.
Although the familiar image is attacking and defending with a squeaky hammer and a helmet, here the game uses water guns and water-blocking boards.
The rule is that whoever gets water sprayed on their face loses.
Even if you block the shot, the water that splashes beyond the board will gradually get the rest of your body wet.
If you’re bad at rock-paper-scissors, you might win the game yet end up in the funny situation where your face is the only part that isn’t wet.
Drawing with a water gun
When you play with water, the ground gradually gets wet, and sometimes it even starts to look like a picture, right? Why not focus on the way the ground gets stained with water and try drawing with a water gun? Use a type of water gun that shoots in a straight stream, and, while controlling the flow and your movements, draw whatever you like.
Since you’ll be drawing from a distance, it often won’t turn out exactly as you imagined, but that irregular shape can be part of the fun.
Water Guns vs Poi Scoops
When it comes to the fun of summer festivals, it’s all about the food stalls—and the star of those stalls is undoubtedly “goldfish scooping.” Just watching people enjoy goldfish scooping somehow makes you feel cooler.
The tool with the round frame covered in thin paper used to scoop the fish is called a “poi.” Try buying a box of those poi and play around with different ideas! They’re perfect as wearable targets for water gun fights, and a game of “water-gun Russian roulette,” where you stack multiple poi to test their strength, is guaranteed to be a hit.
You can even make poi yourself, so the fun is endless!
Dodge the water gun!
It’s a simple game where you move your body to dodge water fired from a water gun.
Precisely because it’s simple, you can enjoy it with various rules and variations.
One easy-to-understand rule is to announce whether the water will be fired to the left or right, then start on a signal, and have players dodge while recalling the announcement.
You can make it more interesting by complicating the firing directions or changing the type of water gun, which will alter the feel of the game.
If you dodge successfully, you get a sense of achievement, and even if you fail, you can still enjoy the refreshing coolness.
Bamboo Water Gun Battle
Have you ever made a water gun out of bamboo? If you were a mischievous kid back in the days before video games, you probably made a bamboo water gun once or twice.
The trick is in the plunger: you have to make the tip tight with a handkerchief or gauze so the water doesn’t leak.
If you like doing experiments, it could make a great summer project—try changing the type of bamboo, the length of the tube, or the size of the nozzle.
You can actually do some surprisingly scientific analysis!
Water Gun Fireworks
@funsportjp Kids’ happiness is really simple. This firework water gun is just too much fun!Kids' Water GunSummer activitiesWater play goodsLet's play together as parent and childFun water gunOutdoor play#KidsToys#FireworksWaterGunBoosting Reaction SpeedSummer MemoriestoyParent and child
♬ Original sound – Children's Energy 🎾 – Children's Energy 🎾
Fireworks exploding in the night sky are one of the essential events of summer.
How about playing with a water gun that spreads water like fireworks? Instead of the usual straight trajectory, the water bursts outward all at once like an explosion, letting you feel surprise and excitement in that moment.
You can shoot it into the air to enjoy it like fireworks, or incorporate it into water fights and use it like a shower—it sounds fun either way.
Try experimenting with how much force to use when pumping so it looks even more like real fireworks.
Water Gun Roulette
It’s a fun game that also involves the mind game of guessing which of the two squares—red or blue—the water gun will spray.
At the signal, participants first move to one of the squares, then spin a roulette to decide which side gets sprayed.
The fewer people standing on a square, the more water each person ends up getting, so managing the numbers is a key tactic.
You can let everyone decide on their own, but if you add a turn to discuss which side seems likely beforehand, the bluffing element can emerge and make the game even more exciting.
Play by putting colored water into a water gun
This activity is about filling a water gun—usually used with clear water—with colored water so you can enjoy the difference from the usual play.
It’s important to consider why you use colored water: to prevent clumping inside the gun, make sure to use dye specifically made for water guns.
Simply watching the colored water flying around is fun, but it’s also recommended that participants wear white T-shirts, which will gradually become dyed and add to the enjoyment.
Prepare a variety of colors and make the whole scene colorful together.
Playing with the ultimate water gun
It seems that water guns are no longer just toys for kids—there’s even a “Strongest Water Guns” ranking on Yahoo! Shopping.
The product that takes the top spot is the “Electric Water Gun Z-ONE.” It’s billed as the ultimate water gun, boasting a 14-meter range and a 900 ml tank capacity.
And the price, tax included, is a whopping 24,800 yen at the time of writing! That’s beyond the realm of a mere toy… If you’re ever heading out for a lakeside or seaside camping trip, you’d definitely want to keep firing this ultimate water gun across the water! With one in the family, you could have endless fun.