Fox Valley Park District and the City of Aurora co-own a family-friendly aquatic center that features many different water slides, a zero depth entry leisure pool, and a tot-friendly splash pad with tons of spray guns, waterfalls, and sprinklers.

My kids love this pool mat; it floats gently atop the water surface and multiple people can lay on it at once. We first discovered this raft at an indoor swim class where we saw kids and teachers having so much fun "surfing" and jumping off the "boat." The class was celebrating their last swim team session. This would be so fun to have available for a kids pool party, too!

Pay attention to the mat's weight limit, but I think it's moderately sturdy for at least a few young kids to comfortably lounge on.

Easy and welcoming pool accessories are terrific items to have for a kids pool party. An inflatable volleyball net that floats in the pool will encourage multiple kids to play together at once. Use a beach ball or an actual volleyball, depending on player ability.

I also had a few of these balls placed in a snowy backyard as décor for a winter party and our guests had a great time bumping them around and playing catch. These all-season balls are light weight and water resistant.

Arrange 4-6 tall dining room chairs in a circle with the seats facing out. Throw bedsheets over the top and anchor them onto the seats using several heavy books.

My kids build forts all the time using this super simple method. The only downside is eventually wanting your kitchen chairs back!

We saved a few extra large wardrobe boxes for the kids to play in as tunnels. Just connect them with tape! Like little hamsters, they can enjoy crawling through their burrows.

Hopefully your formal dining room isn't so formal that it wouldn't allow a large bedsheet to be thrown over its top, because this is one of the easiest kids fort ideas to try! In fact, throw on a few sheets to entirely cover its sides, too. Kids love a secret hideaway.

This simple yet versatile tent can be used as an imaginative play fort or a quiet book nook in the corner of your child's bedroom. Add LED fairy lights to enhance its magic! This brand touts a 4.5 foot interior, which I think is great for kids of all fast-growing sizes.

These pre-built designs even come with open-and-shut door and window cut outs, which I think are so cute.

While bedsheets are often used for the roof of an indoor fort, even they can become heavy and start to sink down the center. This fort kit comes with extremely lightweight sheets and a set of "sand bags" to help anchor the weight at each ends of the blankets.

Each blanket can also connect with another to increase the fort's overall roof size. There are multiple ways to design this, and your kids will be capable of doing it themselves! All pieces pack back up nicely in easy-to-store, portable tote.

These durable blaster boards are made of sturdy plastic designed to withstand the impact of Nerf shots, snowball fights, and even squirt guns. Snap the handheld panels together to engineer your own fort, fence, or all around backyard bunker!

Parents, just pay attention to how many pieces you need to purchase to fulfill your fort building needs because each panel can be rather small. You may need multiple orders.

These type of outdoor/indoor kids fort building kits come with a handful of rods and connector balls. From rocket ships to castles, kids can easily construct their own fort design based on whatever they are imagining that day! You can also slap a bedsheet over the frame to cover and complete it as a secret hideaway.

Using nothing except a standard box fan, this kids fort inflates to about 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide in diameter in less than one minute!

Don't worry, while inside the fort, the box fan is not accessible by little fingers - and it's gated off by a tight mesh that eliminates the fan breeze.

It's a nice little privacy tent for kids of all ages, and it comes in a variety of designs! The fort is lightweight and stores away simple, too.

Our family uses this knee-high table for picnics, concerts, and every time we are at the beach for the day, too. It's so easy to assemble with the legs screwing in (no tools needed), and the tabletop rolls out flat. Everything folds back in the carrying bag after the day is done.

These rather expensive, high end coolers by Yeti receive high marks for their long-lasting internal refrigeration capabilities. It's a popular brand used by backcountry campers, boaters, and rock climbers alike. Consider this investment for your family's next full day at the beach and enjoy cold food and refreshing drinks all day long.

My family did a lot of research on this 9-lb beach umbrella before purchasing not one, but two of them! I'd definitely recommend this product as good beach gear to have for frequent use. It features durable footing in the sand, withstands strong winds, is easy to transport (e.g., in the car, over the shoulder) and offers easy assembly. To assemble, by the way, requires no tools except its provided sand gopher shovel to dig down a small hole. Its unique design uses the weight of a sand bag (that you fill) to firmly hold the pole in.