The Ultimate Summer Toy: Water Guns

As we’re moving into the dog days of summer, it’s starting to be consistently hot outside. For many, there won’t be many temperatures under 80 degrees, even at night, for the next couple of months. That means it’s going to be hot, hot, hot.

Going to the pool is normally a family favorite this time of year, but things are a bit different under the current conditions. You can also look at a home pool, but we normally just have those dink flimsy ones, and they’re not really that good. Beyond that, we have a lot of bees in our area, and so it’s usually not very fun to get in them.

Sprinklers are also a great option for getting wet, and I’ll write about them in a future article. Really, anything to get wet while outside is going to feel great. The only problem with a sprinkler is that you can’t take it with you to another location easily. It’s got a limited range of mobility.

If you want the ultimate summer toy, it has to be a water gun. It’s mobile, it gets you wet, and it can be used almost anywhere. Water guns are a highlight for children of basically any age, and adults have been known to go just as hard with water guns as kids. In fact, we don’t let the adults play water gun fights anymore as it can get a bit heated.

There are so many options for water guns out there. We have a few different varieties, but we’ve found our favorite include the following features:

• Doesn’t shoot too much water at once. There are times when you want to get soaking wet from a water gun, but we generally like to just get hit by a light stream of water.
• Easy to shoot. No one wants a water gun that’s really hard to shoot. Besides, if you have younger children, you’re going to want something that they can shoot easily.
• Holds plenty of water. You also want a water gun that will hold enough water that you’re not refilling it every 2 minutes. As long as you have a water gun that doesn’t shoot too much water quickly, it should be easier to keep your gun filled longer.

My youngest child is absolutely obsessed with his water gun. He carries it everywhere outsides these days. It’s usually great as he can cool us all off a bit when we want him to. My older son is a bit more annoying with his water gun as he just wants to shoot us with it, even when told not to. He gets shot back at when this is the case though, and he has learned to control himself a bit better.

Overall, water guns are by far our top toy these days. They get used on a daily basis. We’ve still got a few more months of them ahead as well. The heat isn’t looking to go anywhere soon. If you don’t have a few water guns around, make sure you get some for your kids.