Lately, our summer days have been filled with long hours at the pool. My kiddos are finally at the age and swimming ability where I can sit and watch them splash around with their friends. I am always amazed at how many ways they come up with to play in the pool and I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite pool games for kids. Kids these days have come a long way since the old days of “Marco Polo”! :)
1. OVER/UNDER FREEZE TAG: One child is in the pool facing the wall while other children are standing on the same wall ready to jump. The goal is for the person in the water to try to “tag” someone as they jump over him. If he does, that person is frozen and must remain still in the water until a teammate swims under him to allow him to move again. The game continues until the tagger has frozen everyone!
2. WATERMELON RELAY: Yep, it’s exactly what you think. Recently, I watched as our swim team coach tossed two watermelons into the water and challenged two children to try to push them to the other end of the pool without standing up or touching the bottom. It was HARD but the kids were laughing hysterically and had a blast!
3. SILENCE: Have one person stand on the side of the pool deck with her back turned away from the pool. The other kids are positioned in the water along the same wall. The goal for the kids in the water is to get to the other side of the pool as quietly as possible. The person outside the water tries to turn around and catch kids that leave the wall by diving in and tagging them. If you’re tagged, you’re it!
4. SUPERMAN: One child is in the water with his hand up. Other children stand on the wall and try to dive over the hand in the air without being touched. The child in the water can jump up but cannot wave their hand around to try to touch those that are diving over!
5. BOBBERS: This is like a game of dodgeball in the water! Using a foam ball, the child that is “it” tries to hit the other swimmers as they bob up and down in the water. No swimming forward or backward is allowed…only up and down. If you come up out of the water and you are hit with the ball, you are it!
photo credit: flattop341 via photopin cc – Text added
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What fun games! We are spending a lot of time at the pool this summer.
Thank you Mary Anne! Enjoy the rest of your summer!