"Bucketheads"

The girls and I learned a new water game at VBS this week. It's called "Bucketheads." The children were soaking wet and they had a great time so I thought I would pass it along. Perfect for summer!

You will need:
four plastic bowls
glue
two large bowls or containers
several kitchen sponges, cut into small pieces (the more sponges the better)
two plastic bins or other containers
water
two jump ropes or lengths of rope
paper/pen or chalkboard/chalk for counting
timer


To prepare:
Glue two plastic bowls bottom-to-bottom side. Repeat with the other pair of bowls. This makes a "buckethead" hat -- the child sets one bowl on his/her head as a hat and the other bowl is then facing upwards to form a container for the sponges to get thrown into.

Cut the kitchen sponges into small pieces. Divide them evenly between the two plastic bins or other containers, which are filled with water.



To play:
Divide the people playing into two teams.

Each team gets one "buckethead" hat, one bin of water + sponges, one large bowl, and one jump rope.

One person from each team is the Counter. One person is the "Buckethead." The remaining people on the team are Throwers.

Arrange the jumpropes or lengths of rope into two circles. One person from each team stands inside a circle and puts on the "buckethead" hat. (For older children, you can lay the rope out straight to make a line and have the "Buckethead" stand behind it. This rope is simply the barrier to keep the people throwing sponges a reasonable distance from the "Buckethead.")

Set the bin of water + sponges by the Throwers. Set the large empty bowl by the feet of the "Buckethead."

Set a timer for one minute. The Throwers from each team reach for and throw the wet sponges at the person inside the circle (or behind the rope line). The goal is to fill the bowl of the "buckethead" hat with sponges. Once the hat is full, the "Buckethead" dumps it out into the large bowl by their feet and the Counter counts how many sponges have been dumped, then carries those wet sponges back to the plastic bin for the Throwers to keep on going. They have a full minute. At the end of the minute, the Counter from each team announces how many sponges were successfully thrown into the hat. The team with the most sponges wins!

The children then switch places so that someone new gets to be the "Buckethead."

It's fun to "accidentally" throw the wet sponge at the person instead of into the hat. And everyone gets nice and wet and cool.