It’s HOT! At least where I’m at. And if it’s not hot where you’re at, just wait – SUMMER STARTS NEXT WEEK!  In the season of life I am currently enjoying, I prefer a tad bit cooler, however my grandkids are all THRILLED that summer is almost here. It’s been so warm, their mom has already pulled out the plastic swimming pool. They’ve been having a blast with it.

When I was babysitting last week, my grandkids decided they didn’t want any more paper airplanes. They wanted swimming pool toys instead! That was fine with me as my budget said, “Cheap Toys!” So back to the drawing board, errr computer, we went.

We decided to give paper boats a try. What would make better pool toys than paper boats! I was a bit leery, I have to admit. After the struggles I had with the paper airplanes, was I up to the challenges of the paper boats? Guess what? I was! I found a great site to share with you (see below), in case you’d like to make some of these fun pool toys!

The first site I went to had a great pattern. As I was folding it, Grand-Twin one commented it looked just like his paper hat we had made over the winter. Two folds later, he made the same comment. Four folds later, he repeated it. By this time, I was a bit panicked, but IT WORKED. I sent him out to the pool and started churning out the next hat.

By the time I finished the third hat, the first grandkid was back in saying his was “all shwedded up in the pool” (his first missing tooth ). Following him outside, we discovered he had been splashing it on top, underneath, and everywhere else he could get water. That led to a very entertaining and educational discussion about how to put a paper airplane in the water and make wind to blow it without splashing it too much. We even had a great mini-theological discussion about how we can’t see the wind, but we can see what it does. In the same way, we can’t see God, but we can see what He does – His Fruit. Which, of course, led us right back to our Fruit of the Spirit memory verses.

Eight boats, two discussions, and three memory verses later, we were ready to head in for nap. Well, I was ready. They weren’t ready, but cheerfully went in anyway. All in all, a hearty time was had by all, maties.

If you give these fun swimming pool toys a try, let us know what you think about them. And if you have any great sites with more ideas for cheap toys, we’d love to hear about those as well!

Directions for Fun Swimming Pool Toys – Paper Boats

For more fun summer ideas and tips, check out HomemakerBarbi’s Family Friday.