Here in Arizona, this is one huge thing to look forward to with kids: Splash pad season! Arizona has an amazing assortment of free splash pads offered at parks, malls, and even at the Phoenix Zoo. With splash pads being a regular routine activity over the summer, this is an easy way to get learning into your child’s summer schedule with little to no resistance. Below are listed several ideas on how to turn cooling off over the summer into learning time. Learning ideas are grouped by levels. 

All Ages:  

• Design their own splash pad. You will be amazed at the ideas kids come up with! Since everyone visits numerous splash pads over the summer, kids will be filled with different ideas. Give them criteria for their park; for example, the splash pad must have no more than five water squirters and must include a dumping bucket. Learners must draw out their designs. Older kids can do a power point presentation and have to present it one night to the family. Extension: Create a 3D representation of the splash pad (clay, diorama, magna tiles, Legos).  

Preschool and Lower Elementary: 

• Water Race: Place two equal buckets at two different water spots and see which one fills up quicker. Come up with a hypothesis on why one bucket fills up quicker than the others. This requires kids to make observations and think about what they see and experience. Extension: Keep moving the buckets around all the different water equipment until you find the one that fills up the bucket the quickest. 

Tweens: 

• Low or High Pressure: Like the activity above, but now they will determine which water equipment has a high or low water pressure. Will set buckets at each water equipment and time (need a stopwatch) how long it takes to fill up the bucket. If it takes longer than six seconds to fill up 1 liter, then it is considered low pressure. Extension: Make a chart at home later to compare different equipment’s water pressure.  

Teens:  

• Saving or Wasting?: Calculate the cost of running a splash pad over the summer in your area. This will involve completing research on the computer to find out the cost of water in your city, on average how much water a splash pad uses daily, and the date of your splashpad.  A phone call to your city’s park and recreation office may be required as well in order to find out how many gallons of water your particular splash pad uses. At the bottom of this article, we have provided numerous resources and links to help locate this information quickly. Extension: have your learner complete this on all your city’s splash pads to determine which splash pad is the most expensive.  

Resources:  

https://www.advancedbuilds.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-splash-pad/ 

https://buckeyewaterdistrict50.com/rates-and-policies 

https://www.raisingarizonakids.com/splash-pads/  

https://www.splashpadsusa.com/splash-pad-cost/ 

https://www.vortex-intl.com/news/article/aquatic-play-project-cost-breakdown-budget-and-expenses/ 

https://www.watertoys.com/how-much-water-do-splash-pads-use/ 

Written by Tammy Johnson, M.S. as part of ESAConnection’s Summer Learning Idea Series for Summer 2025.