Family Fun: Backyard Water Balloon Baseball

The 2016 summer games in Rio will kick off in less than a month and the fever has hit our home! Watching the games together as a family has become a tradition I welcome. It’s the one time our usual “electronic time” rules don’t apply and we soak up as much together time in front of the TV as possible. There are countless benefits to watching the games as a family and just as many to recreating the sports together in the backyard. In fact, that’s just what we did. A quick trip to Meijer had everything we needed to re-create baseball in our family’s own unique way. We had so.much.fun!!! We later put our summer games creativity to the test in the kitchen. Check out our 5 Healthy Summer Games Inspired Snacks, here and our DIY Gold Medal Snack Containers, here.

If you were in the summer games in Rio this year, what sport would you play?

What You Need:
Water balloons – LOTS of prefilled
****(Bunch O Balloons were perfect for this game!)
Whiffle bat
Water gun – large, pre-filled or Water squirter & bucket of water
4 Hula hoops (or other items for bases)
Beach ball (optional)

Set Up:
Set up the playing field as a standard baseball field using Hula Hoops as bases.
Place a bucket of pre-filled water balloons (and beach ball if using) on the “pitcher’s mound”.
One adult is designated pitcher and stands on the “pitcher’s mound”.
Another adult or 2 stand in the outfield with water squirters & buckets of water (for refills) or water guns.
Kids/ Adults line up to take turns batting.

How To Play:
One child at a time stands at “home plate” to bat.
The adult pitcher pitches water balloons one at a time to the batter.
The pitcher throws balloons until the batter hits & breaks one.
After the batter hits & breaks a balloon, they run to first base.
The pitcher tries to tag them with a water balloon as they run.
The pitcher gets one throw per base (one throw from home to 1st, one throw from 1st to 2nd, etc).
If the water balloon hits the runner, they are out – If the water balloon misses the runner, they keep running.
The runner can choose to run to the next base or stay on the base they are on.
As they runner runs the bases, the outfielders squirt them with water (just for added water fun).
If the runner gets all the way back to home base w/o being hit by a water balloon, they get a run.

Variations:
Use the 3 “strikes” and the batter is out rule.
Use beach balls or baseball tees for younger children.
Switch adult positions with child positions halfway through the game.
After the game, declare it “water fun time”!
Have players collect the broken balloon pieces to earn a popsicle or fun treat.

Have Fun!!

*****

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Meijer. This writer & site received compensation & product in exchange for this post. As always, all opinions expressed are those of the writer and in no way influenced by companies or products mentioned within. Post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for clicking through them! It helps keep 4 The Love Of Family here for you