Sum Splat: Learning with Water Balloons

Sum Splat  An addition game using water balloons



 

Water balloons are so much fun for the summer! But besides being a great way to burn off some energy, they can also be a surprisingly good learning tool! We used water balloons to create this sum splat game to practice some simple addition.

 

 

Here’s what you’ll need:  Water balloons, chalk, a permanent marker, and a water balloon pump.

 

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1. Fill your water balloons with water. We use this water balloon pump that has a tying feature (no more sore fingers!).

 

 

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 2. Write your numerals on the balloons with a permanent marker (we did 1-5).

 

 

 

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3. Write all of the possible sums on the pavement using sidewalk chalk.

 

 

 

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 4. Get your balloons (and kiddos) ready.

 

 

 

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 5. Have your child choose two balloons and add them together.

 

 

 

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 6. Splat the sum with the water balloons!

 

 

 

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 Splat!

 

 

 

What is your favorite thing to do with water balloons?

 

 

4 Comments

  1. I love this idea – perfect for the summer heat. Where did you buy the water balloon pump with the tying feature? That is too cool!

  2. I have a 3-year old who’s learning to identify letters and numerals. I can see that this can be used to work on learning numbers by splatting the matching numbers from balloon to concrete! Oh! It would work with letters too!
    Awesome!

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