Saturday, July 9, 2011

Swimming Pool Games

I have been scouring the Internet for more swimming pool games to play with the kids!  Here are some:

Atomic Whirlpool - Have everybody get in the pool and line up single file along the edge with very little space between him or her. Have everyone walk for a couple of minutes, then jog another couple of minutes. Then take a ride on the carousel of water! Or REVERSE IT!

Battleships and Submarines - Divide the group into two teams. Each team has a “base” against the wall of the pool, opposite each other. The battleship team comes off the wall and taunts the submarines into chasing them. The submarines push off when ready, swimming underwater and try to touch/tag the battleships before the battleships reach base. If the sub is successful, the battleship switches sides and the sub gets a free walk/swim back. If the sub is unsuccessful, the sub must swim back to its side. However, if the sub has to come up for air and the battleship splashes the sub, then the sub switches sides! The point of the game is to try and get everyone on your team.

Belly Flop Contest - Kinda self explanatory!  Get your contestants, find a prize for the winner, and have the audience judge by applause, according to:  Judge on 3 categories: Form/Creativity, Pain and Air

Bottle - You’ll need a clear plastic 2-liter bottle. Make sure the wrapper is peeled off the bottle! Leader fills the 2-liter all the way to the top with pool water and puts the cap on. The game leader divides the group into two teams and assigns each team an “end” of the pool. A chair is placed on either end of the pool as the “goal.” Have the teams lined up on different sides of the pool. The players need to be facing away from the pool WITH their eyes closed. The game leader then throws the bottle into the pool. When it splashes in the pool, players can turn around, open their eyes, and jump in after it!  The object is to get the bottle to the other’s teams’ chair. If they can put it in the chair, they get a point. First team with 3 points wins.

Bumper Boats - Have about 5-6 sturdy tubes – “Bumper Boats” - for as many players as you have in the pool. This is like Bumper Cars at a fair or carnival, only in water. Tell the kids to kick off the sides of the pool and try to knock as many people off their “boat” as possible. Last one floating wins.

Chicken - In Chicken, you need at least 4 players, but it can be as many as you want as long as it’s an even number. Have all the players pair up, with one sitting on the shoulders of the other. When the game leader says go, it’s every team for themselves. The team’s objective is to knock the other teams over. The last pair standing is the winner.

Crocodile Hunter - Get a big inflatable croc and choose 3 volunteers who will each have 60 seconds, by themselves to do the best show of croc wrestling in the pool. Give points for creativity, death rolls, etc. 

Rubber Ducky - Put 3-4 players at one end of the pool and give them one rubber duck apiece. When you say go, they must use their nose to push the duck to the other end of the pool. They can also “blow” the duck forward; they just can’t bite the duck and swim to the other end with it in their mouths, hands or feet. Feel free to distract the other players by splashing water in their faces or splashing water toward their ducks to knock them backward. They just can’t actually TOUCH the other players or the other players’ ducks. The first one to get his duck to touch the other end of the pool (obeying the rules) is the winner.

Gator - Have one person designated as the “gator.” He or she treads water in the DEEP END of the pool while all other participants are standing on the side. The leader will then yell “gator!” and at that point, the players standing on the side of the pool have 30 seconds to successfully jump in, swim to the other side of the pool, and get out without being tagged by the gator.  Anyone who is tagged in the first round has to join ranks with the “gator” and try to tag the swimmers in the next round. The game goes until there is only one person who has not been tagged.

King of the Tube - Each team selects a champion who can stay on a tube the longest. One at a time, a champion sits in a tube, and when the timer starts, the opposite teams all try to tip over the champion WITHOUT TOUCHING HIM, only the tube. Time each champion; see who stays on the longest.

Noodle Joust - Have two players to sit on a raft in the middle of the pool. Each player has a pool noodle and they joust with the noodles to try and get the other player off the raft. When one player can get the other player off the raft, they are declared the winner. The winner then jousts the next player.

Pool Volleyball - Play this swimming game just like regular volleyball, but in the water. Divide up teams into 3-4 players per side. The back player serves the ball over the net and the other players on the opposing team must hit the ball back over the net. If the ball is not hit back, then that team serves.

Water Freeze Tag - One player is “it”. This “it” tags players and the player must freeze where they are. Other players can unfreeze them by swimming under their legs, climbing out of the pool and doing a cannonball, or anything else you may think of to get them “unfrozen”. When all players get tagged “it” can then choose another player to be the new “it”.

I got these pool games from all over the web.  Many of them were on multiple sites so it is very hard to give credit.


Always remember to have adult supervision and the most important aspect of any swimming pool party or swimming games is swim safety.

1 comment:

  1. What fun games! We played a few of those in our day as well. Right now, my twins are so sick of the water from hours of swimteam, they won't even go with me to the pool anymore for fun!

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