Summer Mischief and Simple Pleasures: Water Activities for Bored Kids Due to unseasonally warm weather, the swimming area at our local lake closed. To say our boys were bummed when we walked toward the water is an UNDERstatement! My husband said, “I have an idea! My sister and I did this when we were little… Go buy some huge garbage bags.” I baulked. I gave him the look. Yet he insisted… “Trust Me,” he said. So I did. Voila! A memory was born. Recipe For ‘Fun In a Garbage Bag’ Materials: hot kids large garbage bags a hose a flat place Directions: Have hot kids stand or sit on the inside seam of the bag. Have “volunteer” Spray them fill the bags with water from the hose. Observe the fun. Confession: I was absolutely sure the kids would hate this activity. I was absolutely positive they would not participate. I was absolutely, positively, completely wrong! Lessons learned: Trust husband. Don’t take life so seriously that I neglect the overly simple. Divide “I’m too cool to try” kids from the “Sounds awesome!” kids. This varies in each home. Our 22, 17, and 13 year olds said, “No way.” Our 11 and 9 year old reluctantly tried and loved it. Warning: The water was from our well. We stopped when the boys truly began to shiver in the 95 degree yard. This activity would have been better in the shade. ALL water activities should be supervised. Use discretion with younger children. Good luck getting your older kids to try!!