A Bucket of Water

Summer temperatures have officially arrived here in North Carolina, and heat records held for decades were expected to be broken today.  After we picked up Andi from school, we decided to break out a summer project.  We enjoyed this one last year, and it seemed like a good way to cool off when we only had a short amount of time.  Here's what you do:

Fill up a bucket of water.  Place in the middle of the driveway.  The end.

Difficult, huh?

For a few minutes, they followed me around saying, "What should we do?"

Finally, they got it.  The next time I looked over, the single bucket had turned into this:

They were pouring and creating and playing, until ...

My Little Man accidently spilled the biggest bucket while pouring it.

They quickly decided that this was a good thing, however, as they now had a mini-waterfall happening in the driveway.

The kids began to rake away the rocks to make puddles.

Eventually, they went back to creating a 'birthday cake' out of mud, rocks, and picked clover for me.  When the water was about to run out, we emptied out our buckets and put them all away for another day.

All told, the kids played for 45 minutes with just one bucket-full of water and the assorted outside toys they added.  They weren't ready to stop and would've happily played much longer if I had let them, and neither child was the slightest bit wet when they came in - although I wouldn't have minded if they had been.

The kids were creative, they worked together, and they had fun on a summer-like day.  Who needs fancy electronic gadgets??