sponge balls

 While watching my sons filling, throwing and breaking water balloons during our recent camping trip, I thought there should be something easier to do.  Later that weekend I read about something similar in the Sunday newspaper.  Sponge balls.

Simple, easy to make and reusable.
Here's what you need:

kitchen sponges in a variety of colors.  You will use about 2 for each ball.
Heavy twine
Cut the sponges crosswise in strips about 1/2" wide
Stack about 12 pieces in the center  of twine 12" long.
Tie tightly at least twice, wrap around the ball and tie on the other side.  Trim excess string.  Let the kids help, they'll love it.
I bought  packages of 3 sponges at Dollar Tree and made 8 balls for $4.00.  Sometimes you can find big bags of sponges for a couple of dollars, so look around.
That's it, give the kids a couple of buckets of water to refill their sponge balls and stand back if you don't want to get wet.