
What are some good pool games for kids to play?
We spend a lot of time in the pool over the summer, and I’d like some fresh ideas to keep the kids entertained. What are some of your go-to pool games for kids? I'd love to hear what keeps your kids having fun in the water—whether it’s silly, active, competitive, or just something that works well for a range of ages. Open to all ideas, and bonus if they don’t require a ton of setup or equipment!
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Categories - pool style! - is a variation on pool tag, where the player who is "it" stands outside the pool, facing away from it, while all the other players remain inside the pool next to them. "It" chooses a category - colors, animals, states, Harry Potter characters, etc - and all the other players have to pick something from that category, without telling anyone what they pick. "It" starts to call out names/things related to the category, and if a player's selection gets called, they have to try and swim to the other end of the pool before "it" hears them and jumps in to tag them.
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Marco Polo is always the first game I think of to play at the pool! Whoever is "it" closes their eyes and wanders around the pool trying to tag the other players. Anytime the person who is "it" says "Marco?" the other players have to respond "Polo!"
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Keepy Uppy is an equally fun game to play in the pool as it is out of the pool! Just keep a beach ball (or two or three) up in the air as long as possible.
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Octopus is a variation on swimming pool tag that is especially fun to play with a lot of people. One person starts off as the Octopus, and tries to tag all the other players as they swim across the pool. When a player is tagged, that player and the Octopus have to hold hands, and work together to keep trying to tag other players. Anyone who is tagged joins the Octopus chain, and everyone in the chain has to hold hands in order to tag the other players. If too many players join the chain (making it difficult to swim), you can break up into multiple Octopus chains.
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Popsicle tag is the swimming pool game version of freeze tag. The player who is "it" tries to tag all the other players, who freeze in place with their hands in the air - like a popsicle! - whenever they are tagged. Players "unfreeze" other players by swimming under their legs.
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A ping pong ball hunt is a fun pool game for kids who like a little competition. Number as many ping pong balls as possible, starting with 1 and going up to as many as you have - 25 to 30 work well. Divide players into two teams, give each a container for collecting the balls, then toss the balls into the pool and have players collect as many of them as they can. Add up the numbers on the balls to see who wins! You can introduce a bunch of variations on this game for fun, like only allowing players to collect a single ball at a time, or assigning teams to collect only certain balls (like odds/evens).
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Air charades is popular with my kids, especially when they're playing with younger kids and everyone has a different swimming ability. It's a spin on traditional charades, with players acting out an animal, dance move, pose or other easy clue for other players to guess. The challenge? You have to act out your entire clue in the second or two you are in the air as you jump into the pool!
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Treasure hunt is a simple yet always fun swimming pool game. Just throw a handful of coins (or other small sinkable objects) into the pool and have the kids dive to get them. Let them keep the coins as a prize or gather them all to throw in again.
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Chicken Fight is a classic competitive pool game where teams of two compete to see who can wrestle the other player off of their partner's shoulders.
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Sharks & Minnows is a great pool game to play with lots of people, so consider breaking it out at your next pool party! At the start of the game, one person is the Shark and everyone else are Minnows. Sharks and Minnows start out at opposite ends of the pool. When the Shark calls out, "fishies, fishies come out and play!" the Minnows begin to swim across the pool. Then the Shark calls out, "shark attack!" and begins trying to tag the Minnows before they make it to the other end of the pool. Anyone who gets tagged becomes a Shark, making the game increasingly challenging for the remaining players.