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The Best Outdoor Water Play Sprinklers – 2020 Reviews

What’s more fun than splashing around outside with your child? With the help of water play sprinklers, your child can be cooling off in the hot summer sun and getting some well-earned exercise at the same time.

You’ll need to do a bit better than just setting up your lawn sprinklers and letting them rip, though. In this article, we’ve assembled five reviews of the best outdoor water play sprinklers on the market so that when it comes time to chill out on the grass, your child will have the right device to keep them in a good mood through the heat.

Fun Splashers Kids Sprinkler Fire Hydrant

With a smiling red and orange fire hydrant as its form factor, this play sprinkler doesn’t fail to excite. Thanks to its lightweight format and garden hose attachment, you can even take this sprinkler with you on the go. Kids love these!

The nozzle on the top of the hydrant can spray water nearly 8 feet into the air if you have enough water pressure. While the nozzle doesn’t rotate or have a particularly compelling dispersion pattern, your kids will still enjoy the heavy globs of cool water falling from the sky. You can find this happy hydrant in red, pink, or blue.

The major downside to this sprinkler is that it’s a bit top-heavy. Your child might accidentally knock it over while running around its base. Luckily, the unit is light enough that your child could easily place it back on its feet and be ready to play again in no time flat. It’s still one of the best!

You also won’t be able to water any part of your lawn with this sprinkler. The water that it produces out of the top is a thick torrent, which might damage your more sensitive flowers and cause erosion of your soil if you let it go for too long. Save it for playing with the kids in the summer.

We consider it one of the best water play sprinklers on the market.

Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Blossom Bright Sprinkler

This sprinkler is as gentle as the flowers on its top. While the sprinkler accepts a standard hose connection, it doesn’t rotate or have any water pressure to speak of.

The Melissa and Doug sprinkler is ideal for the smallest kids who might be bothered by stronger water pressure. It isn’t a sprinkler intended for running through in the standard outdoor play style but rather works to keep a water-friendly toddler cool in a refreshing way that won’t leave them soaked if you would prefer they stay somewhat dry.

Older children will probably find this sprinkler somewhat boring because it doesn’t provide any variability or danger of getting wet. Nonetheless, this sprinkler can be a sweet addition to your toddler’s outdoor set, and they’ll appreciate a little splatter of water on the hottest days.

HALOFUN Vandora 39in-Diameter Sprinkle and Splash Play Mat

You can solve two problems with one product thanks to this sprinkler and pool combo. Especially for children who love to lounge around in a pool and do some playful splashing, this splash mat with a sprinkler is a great pickup.

While the sprinklers aren’t exactly very strong, they’re more than enough to entertain a toddler on a hot day. The mat is large enough that you could potentially even fit two separate kids.

To work this sprinkler, you inflate the mat by breathing into it, screw the garden hose into the splash mat, and then turn on the water. The central basin will gradually fill with a little bit of water as a result of the streams which surround it, but you can add some of your water if you don’t want your child to wait. When your child sits in the pool, they’ll be surrounded by cool air and cool water, and they’ll have a great time flopping around.

You should probably watch your kids while they use this toy, especially if they’re very young. There aren’t any parts to choke on, nor is there enough water in the bottom of the mat to be an issue, but if the mat gets punctured, it might become wrapped up dangerously. The mat itself is about as durable as you would expect an inflatable beach ball to be, so try to make sure that you set it down in an area without any sharp objects before inflating the mat.

Bestway H2Ogo! Fun Blobz Sprinkler

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The Fun Blobz Sprinkler is ideal for children who prefer more splashing than sprinkling from their yard water toys. The sprinklers themselves have light streams of water which rise about a foot or so off the mat before falling back down to create a slippery and cool surface to play with.

Your kids will probably enjoy this sprinkler the most if it’s paired with other aquatic toys which they can bring into the backyard. It’s more than enough to keep them cool while they lounge, but it lacks a lot of the active play that children crave.

This sprinkler is big enough for a few kids to play on it at once, which is great. They may not want to run on it too much, however. The material is fairly fragile, and after too much horsing around it might tear. The consequences of a tear aren’t very bad since the mat isn’t inflated, but it will still be somewhat unsightly.

Buyplus Lawn Sprinkler

This is the best sprinkler for children who like to run through the water over and over. Thanks to the rotation and many nozzles equipped with the sprinkler, the pattern is constantly changing, a joy to watch, and a lot of fun to rush through. Your kids probably won’t succeed in staying dry if they decide that they’re going to try to make it through this sprinkler’s spouts of water.

Much like other sprinklers, the Buyplus accommodates a standard hose connection, but it can also link up with other units of the same type. That’s right, you can very easily daisy-chain three or four of these sprinklers together and give your children an entire outdoor arcade of flying water fun. You’ll need strong water pressure to chain together more than a few units, but it’s still a great feature which your kids will love.

This sprinkler is great for more than mere play. With a range as wide as this sprinkler offers, you can easily set it up to irrigate a part of your garden without worrying about damaging any of your sensitive plants or flowers.

You may want to avoid letting the youngest children sit near this sprinkler, as its spray – while manageable – could be a bit offensive to them.

Splashin’kids 68″ Sprinkle and Splash Play Mat Pad Toy for Children

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The advantages of this splash mat are obvious: with this mat, you’ll get a quick and easy sprinkler set that is ready for one or two young children to start enjoying right away.

When they play on this splash mat, they’ll be regaled by pleasant sprinkling and they won’t make a mess on the grass.

The drawback of this splash mat is that its aesthetics aren’t anything to write home about. Unlike most other sprinklers for kids, the aesthetics of this splash mat are simply boring. Kids probably won’t care, but pickier children may find it to be a bit unengaging.

Tidal Storm Hydro Swirl Spinning Sprinkler Outdoor Sprinkler Toy

With the Tidal Storm Hydro Swirl, your kids will know that fun times are imminent. The hoses and sprinkler nozzles on this sprinkler wave around as though they have a mind of their own.

It’ll be nearly impossible to stay dry if your kids are within its vicinity, which is something they may think is a desirable feature.

The animated sprinkler can’t perform its highly entertaining feats without a cost, however. Because of the movement that the sprinkler performs as a result of the water flowing through it, parts tend to wear out relatively quickly in comparison to other children’s sprinklers.

BANZAI 54In-Diameter Sprinkle & Splash Play Mat

This sprinkler is one of the most straightforward that is on the market. The sprinkler’s water jets aren’t particularly high, but it’s an approachable height for young children.

The main issue with this splash mat is that the water tends to go everywhere because the sides are very shallow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I look for in a play sprinkler?

You’ll want your sprinkler to rotate, have a standard garden hose connection, and not spray the water too hard at your child.

When the sprinkler rotates, your child will enjoy it more because the sprinkler will have some unpredictability or at least variability. You don’t need to purchase a sprinkler with a complicated movement pattern, however.

The standard garden hose connection is an absolute must for your sprinklers. If you can’t connect the sprinkler to a garden hose easily, you’ll need to use a portable water reservoir, which is a real pain and will interrupt your child’s playtime.

Finally, you’ll want a sprinkler which doesn’t have a reputation for unleashing a torrent of focused water. Your child will be moving around through the sprinkler’s stream all the time, so they’re probably going to get hit with water in their eye at least once or twice. Keeping a soft stream guarantees that your child won’t be any worse for the wear after their sprinkler gives them a little bit of focused attention by accident.

Are water play sprinklers safe for my child to use?

Provided that your water is safe and of the correct pressure, yes. There are a few other stipulations which you should think about concerning the safety of your child’s water spray sprinkler, however. Some spray water up to 8 feet.

First, hoses and other tubes are a necessity with these toys. If your child has a tendency to get tangled in them, you should supervise their use of these toys. Likewise, if your child often finds streams of water in the shower to be very bothersome, be sure to pick out a sprinkler unit which has a gentle spout. These are usually intended for younger kids.

If your child is young, don’t send them out into the yard with a powerful sprinkler intended for older kids. While the sprinkler probably won’t hurt your child, if the water hits their eye they may become very distressed when the pressure is too strong.

While it isn’t an issue with sprinklers themselves, the mud which inevitably is made when playing with the sprinklers can also be a hazard which younger kids may get stuck in or sucked into – this won’t be a problem so long as you are supervising.

Finally, make sure that there is no mineral buildup in the sprinkler. Build up minerals will damage the sprinkler over time, but more importantly, they can be hazardous for your child to eat. Few of these minerals will be problematic enough to avoid bathing in the sprinklers, but it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to contaminants.

Are water play sprinklers good for creative play?

Water sprinklers usually aren’t the best toys for creative play. Your child can play pretend at the same time as running through the sprinklers if they can maintain their attention long enough, but realistically the sprinklers are more for active, easy fun.

If you want to improve the creative play potential of water sprinklers, you should consider encouraging your child to find a constructive use for the water force emitted by the sprinklers. Failing that, you might have some luck adding on an inflatable mini-pool and a few bath toys to give the impression of an oceangoing playtime experience.

Which brands are the best?

Most brands of water sprinklers are comparable, but you should probably pick a brand that caters to children’s sprinklers specifically. Garden-quality sprinklers are going to be too expensive and potentially too strong, neither of which is desirable for your child’s sprinklers.

Sprinklers made for kids are also aesthetically pleasing, which garden variety (no pun intended) sprinkler brands are not.

Having Fun In The Sun

Now that you’re ready to pick out a fun sprinkler don’t forget that your child will need a bathing suit! Be sure to always set up your child’s play sprinkler carefully and on solid ground.

Likewise, make sure that the water source you’re using is clean. Once everything is all ready to go, call your child and keep a towel nearby – they’re about to have some serious fun running through the sprinkler in the backyard.