I have a confession to make: I do not like summer. At all.

Don’t get me wrong. There are things I like about this time of year — summer vacation, summer trips — and especially here in Japan, the summer festivals and fireworks.

But the weather? No thank you. Pass. It’s too hot, and every year it gets just a little bit hotter.

Here at ISN, we’re very aware with how hot things get this time of year. And while we want our students to learn more about nature and enjoy themselves outside, we also want to ensure everyone can have fun safely.

Of course, step one is precautions. Teachers and staff constantly keep an eye on the students to make sure everyone is feeling alright. Regular water breaks are taken, and each student is given a salt candy tablet to keep those electrolytes up.

But that’s not the fun stuff. No no, the best way to beat the summer heat is playing in the water! And here at summer school, we’re making sure there are plenty of opportunities for that.

Our students have ransacked our arsenal of water guns to wreak havoc on each other and the teachers.

We also have a wading pool set up for easy refills and keeping those feet chilled.

We’ve also visited some nearby parks to sample their streams and ponds. Ice-cold perfection!

We even used water to launch our homemade rockets!

But if you ask me, the best day of the summer school week is Pool Day. For the little ones or those who aren’t so comfortable with the pool, we had floating and toy-diving in the kiddie pool. For those with a bit more experience, we swam laps and played games in the big pool.

Quite simply, nothing beats playing in the water on a hot summer day. And judging from our kids’ faces, they seem to agree!

–Josh