It’s the first day of summer tomorrow! It has already been feeling pretty summery lately though. With the temperatures rising and sun shining, I usually want to stay in and enjoy the AC. I know, I am horrible. I don’t like being hot, but my kids LOVE being outside. I have to make myself get over it and just go out and play. One of the best ways to survive the heat is with some nice cool water.

In the past we have had kiddie pools that easily get holes in them and can get slimy gross quickly. We haven’t been motivated to buy any pools for the kids this year because we still have to finish the garage/playroom, and we didn’t know what kind to get anyway that we hadn’t already tried in our price range.

In all the cleaning, minimizing that we have been doing in the garage lately, we happened to have a few large storage tubs sitting around empty. That’s when I got the idea! Fill up the tubs with water and use them as kiddie pools!

I am sure I can’t be the first person to think of this…

So they can’t swim laps, but it didn’t seem to bother them at all. They got to get in the cool water and splash around.

Plus, they learned about which toys will and won’t float and which toys bubble when you submerge them under the water. Yay for learning through play.

If you don’t have any empty tubs lying around, go through one and see if there are things you can get rid of, or at least dump it long enough for the kids to play in it for awhile then fill it back up. Or you could buy a big one for $8-12 depending on what you get. Parent friendly–No blowing up required!