OK squirt, make my day - this water pistol is loaded. If you want to get the kids away from the computer or television these holidays and out into the garden, then give them water pistols. If it's hot and sunny, it's wonderfully refreshing, and if it's raining, they're already wet so what does it matter?

Latest studies say children need violent games to make them grow up happy and well balanced. A blast of icy water in the chest should sort the job out nicely.

Water pistols have got big. What's more they can soak you at 50 or more paces - largely because most of them use air pressure to force out the jet of water. To do this, they have to be pumped up, which for small horrors is gratifyingly close to realistic gun action. Some of them have to be nursed, machine-gun style.

Not that they look much like guns any more - the new generation of soakers are more futuristic and sophisticated looking. And get you wetter than ever...

PLEASE NOTE!

There is no point trying to have a dignity clause and say you're not joining in, because sooner or later you'll get caught in the crossfire and want your revenge. And after all, it's only water. What's a drop of wet to a water rat?

Have fun.

OUR FAVOURITES

ELC Water Blaster X- Stream X-S 5.0

£8 special reduced price at Early

Learning Centre

"Fantastic. Easy to fill, easy to pump up the pressure and the single jet goes a long long way and lasts much longer than the others before it needs pumping up again. Top marks."

In our final shoot out, the water blaster just finally won out over:

STORM TSUNAMI FORCE 5 £14.99

Enormous. So big it needs a shoulder strap and made our testers' mum feel like Sigourney Weaver in Alien. Bit heavy for little ones to carry, but they tried.. Not so easy to pump up while on the run but what emerges is a veritable tidal wave and well worth the effort.

SUPER SOAKER XP310 £14.99

Easy to hold and looks good. Easy to pump up and doesn't leak though not too good at keeping up the water pressure for extended periods.

SMALL BUT SERIOUS SOAKERS

TORMENTOR £2.95

Shoots a long way, but needs filling up quite often.

SPLASHINATOR 80p

No need to splash out - great value for money. Doesn't have the pump action, but still manages to soak you with a double stream of water from a fair old distance. It's also small enough to conceal and therefore brilliant for a surprise attack.

AQUAPETS £1.99

Tiny fun guns for little people. These are hard to fill because the hole's so small. The water spits out of the pet's mouth when the head is pulled back and produces quite a decent little squirt.

DAMP SQUIBS

NERF TURBO £6.49, Dart and water gun

Took a bit of working out but by turning the nozzle this either fires sponge-sucker darts or water. The sucker darts are quite good and will stick to glass if you lick the end first. The water gun needs a lot of pumping for what is quite a small gun.

SUPERSOAKER XP85 £7.99

Slightly confusing to fill. It dribbles badly and loses pressure quickly as it's badly sealed. There are three streams of water, two of which can be aimed out of the sides, so in theory you could attack all-comers. In practice, it's a bit of a damp squib and we preferred one giant jet.

AVOID: WATERPETS £2.25

Little squeezy animals, that seem just right for tinies to play with but the warning tag on them says they are not suitable for children under the age of three because of the danger from phthalates. We don't know what they are and don't like the sound of them, but the moral of this story is always read the small print.

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