# Water guns not shaped like guns?



## Kat_shoshin (Feb 16, 2007)

I know alot of people are okay with the gun play, I am not. I am so torn on the water gun issue. This is my first summer with older kids.

The gun play thread got me thinking about such a toy. I wouldn't know how to google something like this, but I figured, if such a thing exists the MDC mamas would know!

I had a lot of fun with squirt guns as a kid and I know that super soakers don't really look like real guns, but a family tragedy makes me uneasy....

So tell me mamas - can I get water play without having to let them have the hose?


----------



## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

They have them shaped like dolphins and other non-gun things.


----------



## abeliamama (Feb 5, 2007)

I know a company called toysmith sells animal shaped ones at wholesale (small, though) .

I googled animal water guns and 4 places came up...party supply sites. These are small, cheapie ones-no super shooters!

Mama to DD 4-00 and DS 4-03


----------



## karen ann (Feb 7, 2002)

We usually just use generic spray bottles from the 99¢ bin at the drug store. They hold more water thatn a standard squirt gun and can be set to more of a "mist" setting when younger kids are involved in the game.


----------



## lightheart (Jul 2, 2005)

you can do small plastic cups and fill a bucket that they dip from, either small buckets that are each their own or a community bucket (or 2) that sits on the ground they all get to dip from.

can do water ballons but then you have the little pieces of balloons they have to pick up and the waste


----------



## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

Joke stores often have flowers, rings, "gift boxes", etc that actually shoot water a la the ancient gag.

They aren't fancy, and most are probably MIC from who knows what material but they don't look like guns.

I like the squirt bottle idea though! And if you eat things like ketchup or mustard from plastic bottles you could reuse those bottles for squirting fun.


----------



## DaughterOfKali (Jul 15, 2007)

We do the squirt bottles. I get them at Target.


----------



## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

We do squirt bottles too. I get them at the Dollar store. Oddly, they work better than the ones at Target do. They have many benefits -- they're not restricted to 'shooting' games (my kids 'clean', water plants, etc.), and they don't have to be refilled NEARLY as often!


----------



## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

For the past two years we've used water squirters that are long and skinny. You put the end of the squirter in a bucket of water, pull the water into a squirter like a syringe. I've found them at the dollar store.

I'm googling, but not coming up with much.
Here's an expensive version:
http://www.california-water-cannon.com/

The ones we had looked like the Giant Stretch Gun on this page, but without the handle on the end.
http://www.getagadget.com/retailresort2.html


----------



## SAHDS (Mar 28, 2008)

We buy the nylon soaky balls. Submerge them and they soak up water like a sponge, then they can toss them at each other and they cause a great mess - VERY fun. Of course, my children are older (7 and 8), so I wouldn't recommend them for smaller ones.

We also have these:

https://www.discoverytoyslink.com/ec...roduct_id=2724

My children absolutely LOVED them when they were smaller. I think it's a really positive alternative to water guns.


----------



## ThreeBeans (Dec 2, 2006)

I saw some at my grocery. They were long, brightly colored, looked sort of like tiny baseball bats


----------



## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

I was at a Dollar Tree store today, and I saw that they have the water squirters again this year. They are called water blasters, here's a link to them on the Dollar Tree Bulk purchasing site (on the top left).
http://www.dollartreedirect.com/stor...=water+blaster

I realize that these are super cheap ($1 each) and are probably MIC, but I don't know where you could find water toys that aren't MIC. Water toys pretty much have to be plasic, otherwise the would break or leak.


----------

