Traditional running relays and competitions often are too exhausting in the summer heat, but you and your children can chill out with these alternatives--perfect for neighborhood parties or family reunions.

RAFT RACES

For this pool game, you will need a whistle and an inflated raft or tube for each player. Have the racers line up on their rafts at the pool's shallow end. When you sound the whistle, they must kick, paddle and otherwise propel themselves to the deep end and back. The first racer to touch the wall back at the shallow end wins. For a greater challenge, set a few rules before the race: Racers can only kick or only paddle; they must sing as they race; or they must retrieve a quarter from the edge of the deep end and carry it back to the shallow end. Another game involves seeing who can glide the farthest simply by pushing off with their feet from the shallow-end wall.

BUCKET BRIGADE

Set up two teams of two or more players, two wading pools, two buckets and two water hoses. To play, one member of each team stands in the wading pool with a string tied just above his or her ankle. At the signal, the teams have to fill their buckets and then run (if there are only two players) or pass (if there are more than two) the buckets to the pools, where the water is dumped around the players' feet. The first team to get the water level above the line on one player's ankle wins--and everyone gets to join her in the pool

BOBBING FOR APPLES

This traditional autumn activity is a quick cooler in summer. Just clean out an old-fashioned washtub or a plastic wastebasket (the wider the better), fill it with water and several apples, then bob away. For an even greater challenge, use your plastic backyard pool.

WATERMELON SEED SPITTING

Hand out slices of watermelon for this fun activity that legitimizes spitting on the sidewalk. Have everyone line up and spit the seeds, seeing whose travel the farthest. Afterward, have a bucket brigade or some other water game to wash off the leftovers.

OBSTA-COOL COURSE

If you are planning to water your lawn, you also can set up a get-wet obstacle course with a sprinkler centerpiece. Stations could include drop-kicking a water balloon, jumping rope in the sprinkler spray, shooting a squirt gun at a predetermined target, or any other creatively wet challenges. You can use a stopwatch to keep track of time for each player or run a relay with two teams going through in opposite directions.