Here is a compilation of my five most favorite water toys from when I was a kid in the 90's. A lot of the toys on this list aren't really toys or purchasable at all (which may be indicative of my family's economic status at the time) but they were very fun regardless and may help you find some great ideas on how to get wet on the cheap during summer.

When I was a kid my parents were finally able to buy me a Super Soaker 100. I was overjoyed, until I found out my neighbor had a Super Soaker 200...that kind of ruined my day. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun to have. I used to be stupid though, and put mud in my water tanks and try to shoot dirty water at people. Ahh good times. The great thing about the super soaker was the tanks. Being able to load up on water and go on a rampage was a lot of fun. Squirt-gun fights are definately a thing of the past that I miss quite a bit.

Ahhh, the infamous slip and slide. I loved these things, my neighbor (he had all the cool toys, darnit) had one in his backyard. It was great fun but there was one small problem. Our back yards in Seattle had a LOT of rocks so needless to say it kind of hurt when you gave yourself too much of a running start. Definately need soft ground for this one, but sliding on that was a lot, and I do mean a lot of fun.

Oooh the joy of Water Balloons. I loved filling them up as large as I possibly could (needless to say I blew quite a few up on the nozzle). The best part of a water balloon fight is that first hit when you get your clothes wet, what a shock! My favorite part of a water balloon fight was to try to get through with dry clothes, didn't happen often but if it did I would brag quite a bit.

The only problem with Water Ballons (which I hated) was having to pick up the balloons afterwards...what a pain in the butt; I just wanted to have fun.

A HUGE step up from a super soaker is to just take the damn garden hose and attack your friends (especially useful when your losing a squirt gun fight). I'm ashamed (not really) to say I've done that quite a few times. My parents had a nice watering nozzle on our hose so I was able to spray my friends like it was a super duper soaker. Needless to say that's a fun way to cool down in the middle of summer.

Okay, maybe I was retarded but I loved running through sprinklers when I was a kid. When I was little I would do it all the time my parents tell me. As I got older, I guess I still did it a lot. ;)

It's not really a toy but definately a fun way to cool down and in a non-competitive way. Our sprinkler was simple and connected to the garden hose, so we'd use it in the backyard and turn it into a big mud pit. What a mess; it would always require a shower afterwards.