spray bottle fun! summer play the GRAND way!

2 days ago
8 min read

Friday, July 31, 2026

It seems like this summer's heat wave just doesn't want to let go!

While the season didn't start out extraordinarily hot (for us, at least),

July has certainly made up for lost time with a long stretch of steamy, humid days!

And while we know

many parts of the country have experienced even more intense temperatures,

it's been plenty hot here in Minnesota, as well!

When the thermometer keeps climbing,

it's easy to run out of ideas for keeping kids cool, active, and entertained.

The good news?

You don't need a swimming pool, an expensive water park,

or a trunk full of fancy toys to create a memorable summer afternoon.

Sometimes the best solutions are already waiting at home!

That's exactly why we love finding creative ways to turn

everyday household items into opportunities for fun and learning.

Today we're sharing our second post in a favorite series,

Summer Play the GRAND Way!

This summer, we're celebrating the simple joy of turning everyday items

into extra-fun experiences!

Last month, we kicked off this series with our post Fun with Foil!

It’s amazing what you can do with a roll of tin foil!

This time, we’re featuring a simple spray bottle!

It’s a budget-friendly favorite that's ready to cool everyone off!

In our last post, we shared simple water activities to help your Littles

cool off during these hot summer days!

Today, we're building on those ideas with another easy way to beat the heat—using an item many of us already have tucked away in a kitchen cabinet or utility closet. A simple (and CLEAN!) spray bottle can become an extraordinary tool for play and learning. Fill it with water, add a little imagination, and you and your Littles will be ready for games, creative projects, hands-on learning, and exciting new discoveries!

Why We Love Spray Bottles!

They may be simple,

but spray bottles offer so much more than a refreshing mist on a hot day!

The best part?

Your Littles will simply think they're having fun...

While they're building important skills along the way!

During these hot summer days,

our spray bottles have come in handy many, many times!

In fact, they are usually filled and ready to go!

Here are some of our favorite ways to cool off with spray bottles!

Spray Bottles with Your Littlest Littles!

Your toddler Littles will love this one as you play Peek-a-Boo and spray away! Aim for their toes, fingers or belly button or spray yourself and watch all your Littles giggle!

To make the experience more fun for young ones, use lukewarm or room temperature water in your spray bottle!

Another GRAND Idea!

🔶 Toddler Littles will also love using a spray bottle to “clean” outdoor furniture, bikes and more! All they’ll need is a spray bottle filled with water and a sponge or cloth! We know lots of Littles who love this "cleaning" activity, too!

Spray Away Scavenger Hunt!

It is super easy to have the spray bottles filled

so when our Littles are looking for something to do,

we simply ask them to spray away!

A Spray Away Scavenger Hunt is especially fun and can be adapted to fit your location and your Littles’ interests! Send your Little(s) in search of a variety of things… The biggest rock they can find, a little bug, something orange and, of course, the prettiest flowers they can find are examples of some of our favorite searches! At the same time, your Little(s) will cool off in the misty spray as they run around!

Another GRAND Idea!

🔶 Change the focus of your Little’s Spray Bottle Hunt, depending on where you are or what you are doing! A Neighborhood Hunt, a Garden Hunt or a Color Hunt are all variations that Littles of all ages enjoy!

Before we go any further…

Find, Say & Spray!

With just a piece of sidewalk chalk and a spray bottle,

this simple activity transforms any driveway or sidewalk into

a fun and sneaky way to spark your Littles' interest

in learning their ABCs and so much more!

Start by writing letters on the pavement. You can include both upper and lowercase letters if your Littles are ready for it!

Then, call out a letter, let your Little(s) find it, say it and spray it! It’s that simple!

More GRAND Ideas!

More ABC & Spelling Fun!

🔶 For older Littles, write the entire alphabet on the pavement. Have your Little find, say and spray the letters in ABC order!

🔶 Have Littles spell their names, by finding, saying and spraying the letters in order!

🔶 Have Littles find, say and spray different sight words or spelling words that you’ve written on the pavement.

Shape Fun!

🔶 Draw different shapes on the pavement and then ask your preschool or older Littles to find, say and spray each as you say them! For older Littles make it more challenging by giving hints about which shape you are thinking of rather than naming each (i.e. find, say and spray the shape that has no sides or corners.)

Number Fun!

🔶 Write numbers randomly on the driveway or sidewalk. Littles find, say and spray each number as you call it out OR they can say each number themselves as they spray each one!

🔶 To challenge preschool Littles, roll one die and have them find, say and spray the number that matches. School age Littles can roll two dice and add up both faces to find, say and spray the correct number!

Spray Bottle Freeze Tag!

Of course, one of our favorite activities is when everyone grabs a spray bottle

and a game of Spray Bottle Freeze Tag ensues!

The rules are simple… One player is “it” and he/she chases the other players trying to spray them with the water! Players must freeze if tagged with the water. Frozen players can only be unfrozen when someone else sprays them!

Another GRAND Idea!

Target Tag!

🔶 Tape a large sheet of colored construction paper or cardboard to the front and back of each player's shirt. "It" can only freeze a player if they manage to hit the paper target with their spray bottle. The soggy paper makes it obvious who is frozen!

Duck Races!

For family fun, we filled a large plastic bin with water (an underbed one works great)! We put it on top of a table. Each person had a plastic duck and, in the photo below, a water gun. We’ve also successfully used spray bottles that we’ve set to a “stream” rather than a “spray”.

The goal was to be the first person

to get their duck from one side of the bin to the other,

using only the spray bottle to move the duck!

If you don’t have plastic ducks,

you can always make little sailboats from aluminum foil, toothpicks and paper!

Another GRAND Idea!

Spray the Bubbles!

🔶 Blow bubbles, creating a target for your Littles to “hit” with their spray bottles!

Animal Rescue!

Need another cool activity for a hot summer day?

Rescuing frozen animals is always a fave!

Ahead of time, freeze some plastic animals, dinosaurs or toy figures in an ice tray.

When frozen, put the cubes on a tray along with a bowl of warm water, a spray bottle, a small hammer, an eye dropper (or turkey baster) and any other tools you think would be helpful to release the animals from the frozen icebergs!

Let your child spray, drip drop, hammer and work those animals

from their frozen kingdom!

Another GRAND Idea!

Ice Rock Melt!

🔶 Instead of freezing animals in ice, freeze rocks in ice cube trays! Let Littles melt the ice, using the spray bottles, to discover the rocks hiding within!

Spray Bottle Painting!

In the past, we’ve used spray bottles to create several art projects!

Here’s our latest artwork, using tissue paper!

We cut up pieces of colored tissue paper and used a permanent black marker to draw a large outline of a shape (flower, heart, leaf, star, fish, butterfly). The only other needed supply is our trusty spray bottle filled with water!

Our Littles then laid squares of tissue paper on the shape, overlapping the squares as they went. Don’t worry if the tissue paper extends past the shape's outline. Once the project is dry, you’ll cut around the shape. Use the spray bottle to lightly spray water on the project after every few additions of tissue paper.

Repeat often but watch closely as you don’t want to add too much water, either!

Okay - maybe there's a bit too much water

but, boy, was someone having fun!

For this project, we chose regular colored tissue paper instead of bleeding tissue paper, which can sometimes create quite a mess with young Littles, staining their fingers and yours! As we suspected, the color from the tissue paper did not transfer to the white paper. Instead, the water did help the tissue paper adhere to the surface, creating a fun textured effect.

If you'd like the tissue paper pieces to stay in place permanently, simply brush or lightly spray the finished project with a mixture of water and a little craft glue or Mod Podge®. Once dry, your colorful creation will be ready to display!

While some pieces of tissue paper flew off later,

our Little was content with the water effect and so were we!

Another GRAND Idea!

Spray Bottle Paintings - Another Way!

🔶 For this project, our older Littles used washable markers to color a picture on a paper towel (be sure to put newspaper or other paper under the artwork to prevent the markers from bleeding through the paper towel).

Once your Little has finished creating, they can lightly spray their artwork, creating a blurred effect!

If your Littles are like ours,

they’ll want to make another one, and another one, and…

You get the idea!

Do you have any fun ideas to add to our spray bottle activities?

If so, we’d love to hear more!

Please share your thoughts in the comments section at the end of this post!

Of course, you can also find our latest ideas on Instagram and Facebook

where we post regularly!

We invite you to follow us there!

We also invite you to stop by often throughout the summer months to check us out!

We’ve got lots to share!

Next week we’ll be back with our next installment of

This Week’s Summer Spotlight!

as well as another monthly recap, too!

And, don’t forget, you can always sign up to subscribe to our blog!

That way, you won’t ever miss out!!

At the end of the day, it's not the supplies that make an activity special—it's the people who share it together.

Time and again, we've discovered that ordinary household items can become extraordinary tools for play, learning, and making memories. All it takes is a little imagination, a willingness to get a bit wet, and a heart that's ready for fun.

So don't worry about creating the "perfect" summer. Instead, enjoy the simple moments, celebrate the little victories, laugh often, and make the most of every opportunity to spend time with the Littles you love!

Fill up a spray bottle, head outdoors, and…

Enjoy a little summer play the GRAND way!