Beat the summer heat with a dash of splash
By Fern Shen
Washington Post
Summer is upon us, and that means plenty of sunny, hot days.
Gannett News Service
So, what are you going to play with? As usual, stores are overflowing with toys that seem cool — toys that spin or squirt, splash or smash in interesting ways. But how good are they, really?
Nina Gbaba, 9, aims a Waterworm while helping to test summer toys at the Silver Spring, Md., YMCA.
There's nothing worse than bringing home a toy that seemed great on TV and finding out, once you try it, that it disappoints.
Never fear, the Summer Toy Test is here.
We picked out some tempting toys and tried them out last week on a team of experts from the after-school program at the Silver Spring, Md., YMCA. Some of these toys fell short. Others were terrific. Our testers managed to have shrieking good fun with all of them.
Take the Splash Tangle, which is basically a Twister mat, with water squirting out. Kids put their feet on the circles and squares and shrieked as the water spurted up into their faces and armpits. Soon, though, it sprang a huge leak — a seam in the plastic split apart. The fountains of water became pathetic little dribbles.
"It was fun," said Victor Gamez, 9, "except that it popped." No problem for this hot-and-sweaty bunch. They enjoyed tangling themselves up in a big knot on the slippery, wet mat. "You still got to slide on it," said Marcos Richardson, 7.
Testers thought the Waterball stacked up well against traditional water blasters.
"A lot of them are harder to shoot, because you have to pump them," Victor said. "This one, you just pull it back and let it go." Nina Gbaba, 9, liked how many shots you get out of one filling.
The Waterworm started out being terribly frustrating, but ended up being wonderfully fun — after we figured it out. It's very hard to fill the first time (the same way a balloon can be tough to blow up, at first, unless you stretch it). Push the tip of the worm waaay down onto the water filler attachment. And beware: If you overfill them, they'll explode and break!
