WATER SQUIRTBALL

In this one-on-one water showdown, players win points by squirting a beach ball over an opponent's goal line. You can use soaker-type squirt guns or--for a more serious session--garden hoses with pistol-type nozzles, as we show here. (If you have just one spigot, divide your main hose with a Y connector, then attach two other hoses and nozzles.) Designate two end zones in the yard using cones, Frisbees, lawn chairs, or what have you. Each player takes a nozzle, the ref turns on the water, and the players try to blast the beach ball over the opposing player's goal line, while preventing the ball from crossing his or her own.

MY CUP RUNNETH OVER

Two players or teams stand on opposite sides of an oscillating sprinkler. When the sheet of water passes into his or her side, each player tries to be the first to completely fill a cup or yogurt container. Here's the catch: you have to keep both feet planted. If you take a step trying to get that extra drop (or to avoid a spray in the face), you have to dump out your cup on your own head. Variation: Players gather around the perimeter of an impact sprinkler (the tick-tick-tick, fttttttttwp kind) and, without moving their feet, try to fill a cup as the stream of water passes by.

DIVE FOR CORRECT CHANGE

Young swimmers love the challenge of diving for coins. Now, with goggles and a fistful of change, you can test their underwater dexterity and their math skills at the same time. Throw the change in the pool and ask your aquanauts to bring back, say, 17 cents. For older kids, challenge them with a figure like $1.27 (and you thought you'd never find a use for those Sacagawea dollar coins!).

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL

As much a test of reflexes as an actual game, this wet and wild home-run derby requires a collection of tennis balls and water balloons (preferably of similar color). The pitcher selects a ball or balloon from a bucket, hiding it carefully in his glove, then pitches it to the batter, who must decide whether he wants to swing (which depends in large part on whether he wants to get soaked). To keep things moving, switch positions after the batter either lets three tennis ball strikes go by or bashes three water balloons.

SPRAY-BOTTLE CAPTURE THE FLAG

Here's a hot-weather, bathing-suited version of the classic summer camp group game capture the flag. Divide your players into two teams, each of which must defend a flag (in this case a water balloon) while trying to capture (and stomp on) the opposing team's. Instead of tagging opposing players to "freeze" them, you squirt them with a spray bottle. And, because this is a cool-off game, to release your teammates from a freeze, you have to squirt them again!

Jonathan Adolph is Executive Editor for FAMILYFUN magazine. Barbara Rowley is a FAMILYFUN contributing editor.

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• Summer Games