Fun for all at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa. -- Photos by Kate Pocock.

It wasn't that long ago that resort programs for children meant coloured sandpails on the beach and dog-eared board games at the front desk. Today, resorts boast their own water parks, tons of play space devoted to kids and unique programs that take advantage of the destination's history, geography and culture.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Arizona's resort playground in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Over 50,000 hotel rooms are ready and waiting for families in a hot, sunny climate -- more than in all the Hawaiian islands combined.

Many of them offer awesome mountain settings, spectacular swimming pools and suites or casitas. Even better, prices plunge in summer. A room at a five-star property like the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort at Gainey Ranch that goes for about $420 US in high season (yes, you read correctly) can be had for $180 in summer or even less during summer promotions. Sure, it's warm from May through September.

But when better to jump into some of the most elaborate swimming pools you'll ever see complete with water slides, jets, special toddler areas and poolside casitas. No wonder that a quarter of a million Canadians head to Arizona each year, most of them during summer.

As for keeping the kids busy topside, it was thanks to one Arizona woman that resorts around the continent offer kids something other than sandpails, board games or a room full of TV and computer screens.

It was during one Easter weekend some 18 years ago, that Anne Lane, Director of advertising and public relations at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort at Gainey Ranch, noticed there were an awful lot of kids hanging around the property with not much to do.

So she enlisted the help of her VP, Managing Director and Recreation Manager to pull together some activities. "We did creative cooking with the chef, organized some nature walks, and did arts and crafts with some Tie-dye T-shirts," says Lane. "No-one had ever done these kinds of things before."

It was a big hit. And thus was launched Camp Kachina, the first Camp Hyatt program and the forerunner of kids resort activity programs all over the continent.

Today, many Scottsdale/ Phoenix resorts follow suit with unique programming that might include cooking activities with resort chefs, outings into the desert, horseback rides or "dive-in" movies where large film screens are set up over spectacular swimming pools for the audience (who might be watching Finding Nemo or other family classics from an inner tube) and educational sessions on beading with Native Americans or close encounters with the state's birds of prey.

Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch

Recently at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch (for more info, 480-483-5526, 1-800-55HYATT or scottsdale.hyatt.com), the vivacious Lane has launched Family Camp programs: mornings in the desert where parents and kids can jointly discover cacti or family campfires with Native American dancers and s'mores.

Lane echoes many hotel managers: "We want guests, kids too, to go home with a better understanding of where they've been and to learn about it in a fun way." It's been such a success that adult-only sessions on indigenous dancing or tequila tastings have been introduced. And all because of the kids!

Some other Scottsdale/Phoenix properties that offer spectacular settings and fun programming for kids:

- Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa (888-218-8989 or wildhorsepassresort.com), an authentic component of the Gila River Indian community with native-inspired architecture and food, a desert property that includes 150 wild horses and coyotes, and pottery making and basket weaving for kids;

- Fairmont Scottsdale Princess (480-585-4848, 800-344-4758 or fairmont.com), a water park with shade for toddlers and the two longest water slides in Arizona, on-site fishing for families and revolutionary additions -- a restaurant play area for kids with movies and big pillows and a special teen hang-out lounge offering a play list of 1000 songs;

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess

- Phoenician Scottsdale (480-941-8200, 800-955-7352 or thephoenician.com), nine swimming pools and a water slide that sports hightech music and lights for teens on certain weekends, family yoga sessions on the lawn, tennis lessons for all ages and a parlour dishing up homemade ice cream.

For many other off-site family activities and other properties, contact the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau (800-877-1117 or experiencescottsdale.com).

HOW TO GET THERE: Air Canada flies daily Toronto to Phoenix (888-247-2262 or aircanada.ca); America West airlines flies Toronto or Calgary to Phoenix twice daily and from Edmonton daily (800-327-7810 or americawest.com); WestJet's new route is from Calgary to Phoenix three times a week (888-937-8538 or westjet.com).