Water Sponge Bombs

Today is our last day of school! I’m so excited for summer with my kids! We’re having a kick-off celebration with a couple of friends: a water party! I’m all about low-key right now so we’re throwing out a couple of water toys, our crayon water squirters, and other simple water activities. We’ll have hot dogs for lunch, popcorn for a snack, and otter pops, of course! Should be a fun afternoon!

We wanted to do water balloons, but they’re just so time-consuming to fill and then the clean-up is messy. So, I decided to make these water balls out of sponges. They absorb water better, are less painful when hit, are re-usable, and best of all, there is NO clean-up! Perfect!

Here’s how to make your own:

Materials:

sponges (the Dollar Store is great for these! I used 3 sponges per ball)

tie (I used zip ties, but I’ve heard people use dental floss or fishing line or other string)

scissors

Procedure:

1. Cut your sponge with scissors into long pieces. I cut mine into fourths because my sponges were smaller. If you have a larger sponge, you’ll want to cut more pieces. Each of my pieces is about 1/2-inch wide. Also, cut the sponges when fresh out of the package so they’re “moist.” If your sponges do dry out, wet them slightly for ease in cutting.

2. Lay your tie out flat on the table.

One on left made with 8 sponge pieces. One on right made with 12.

3. Stack your sponges on top of the tie as shown in the picture. This is a great project for your kids! I experimented a bit with this. I liked my stacks 4 wide and 3 high (12 sponge pieces total). You’ll see in the picture above that the one on the left is smaller; I only used 8 pieces. I tried one with 16 pieces, but it was too big for me to tie well (just me being wimpy, probably).

Can you see the tie in the background there?

4. Pull your tie tight! The sponges will squish together naturally.

5. Cut your tie, if needed.

6. Fluff sponge pieces, if desired.

7. Get wet! And have fun!!

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