You don’t need to stay all day inside to beat the heat of summer if you have a swimming pool. To add spice, arrange some pool games for both kids and adults. Because we actually want a little more than only swimming.
Summer means warm sunshine and longer days to linger outside and you are not going to miss the enjoyment. For this, we have rounded up 20 swimming pool games right here that you’ll love for sure.
20 Swimming Pool Games to Make Summer-Fun
Now, check out these amazing pool games and try to cross as many off your summer bucket list as possible!
Game 1: Squirt Gun Races
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How To Play
First thing first, you’ll need to get this game going are- Sturdy string, Duct tape, Scissors, Plastic cups, Squirt guns.
You can use a drill or a pair of scissors to make the holes in the bottom of the cups. You can create as many stages of the obstacle race as you wish, 3 or 4 stages are enough to have fun.
For the first stage, wrap the string around each pillar under the balcony and use duct tape to seal the ends to each other. For the second, go from the balcony to the patio, past the pool to a grassy area in the backyard.
Once they cross the patio and reach the tree, it’s time to hop them in the shallow end of the pool. Everything is ready!
The kids have to use their squirt guns to get their cups from the shallow end to the deep end of the pool, splashing pool water in the cups will be cheating. Now, count their time to complete the task and see who the winner is!
Game 2: Greased Watermelon Polo
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How To Play
For this game, you will need a watermelon, vegetable oil, or petroleum jelly. That’s it! What to do now?
All of you guys have to divide into two teams. A referee will drop a watermelon into the center of the pool. The watermelon has to be covered in vegetable oil or petroleum jelly to double the fun!
Now, the teams will kick, push, or swim with the watermelon to get the watermelon to the opposite team’s side, the opposite team will try to do the same. Getting a sleepy watermelon across the pool is far more difficult and exciting than you might think.
A point to remember, don’t violate the rule of this sport by lifting the watermelon out of the water and throwing it. You may guess, throwing a watermelon into a swarm of people can be very dangerous.
Game 3: Swimming pool basketball
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How To Play
If you love basketball, you love playing it more in your swimming pool. Not complicated, more fun of course!
For this one, you’ll need 2+ players (even numbers), basketball and 2 basketball hoops.
Players will break into even teams and play by the half-court basketball’s rules (minus the dribbling). The ultimate goal is to score the most points for sure.
To make the game more interesting, establish a limit with a shot clock for how long players can hold onto the ball before they pass or shoot. Kids and adults both will be cheering up!
Game 4: Mr.Shark’s Supper Time
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How To Play
Have you ever played ‘what’s the time for Mr.Wolf’? Mr.Shark’s supper time is the same as this game, just in water.
To start the game, one kid will be the shark and stand at the pool’s end facing away from the water. Other kids will call out, ‘what’s the time Mr. shark?’ He’ll replay with time like ‘it’s 2 o’clock’.
The group will take 2 steps forward and it will continue for some time. They actually will attempt to reach Mr.Shark without him first catching him. When the shark will sense someone is close he’ll call out instead of a time like before ‘It’s supper time’ then he’ll turn around and try to catch someone before they make it back to the starting line. At this point, there will be much screaming and excitement.
Game 5: Popsicle – Swimming pool games for adults
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How To Play
This popsicle is not for eating! To play this, you’ll need 4+ members.
First of all, select an area of your pool where all the players can stand with their heads above the surface.
One of the players will choose to be it and attempt to tag the rest of the players. When a player is tagged they have to stand in place with their hands straight above their heads (looks like a popsicle) until they’ll be unfrozen.
Players will unfreeze the POPSICLES by swimming between their legs. But if a player is underwater, he/she can’t be tagged. After a few minutes, switch between the player who is ‘it’.
Game 6: Pool Tag Survivor – Swimming pool games for kids
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How To Play
To play pool tag survivor, you are going to need 4+ players and a blindfold. That’s it! You will have fun while playing this game, let’s see how good at surviving you are!
One player will choose to be it and call out the words ‘froggy’, ‘dolphin’ or ‘submarine’. Players will race across the pool and must avoid getting tagged.
The ‘froggy’ will swim underwater, ‘dolphin’ on the surface of the water and ‘submarine’ along the pool floor. When a player will make it to the other side, they’ll say ‘survived!’
The player who is ‘it’ will have to try to tag players with their eyes closed (blindfold system). The last player standing gets to be ‘it’ in the next round.
Game 7: Mother Duck
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How To Play
Mother duck! Funny name, huh? It’s also fun to play this game. You’ll need some ping-pong balls and any number of people to play this.
Firstly, toss the ping-pong balls throughout the pool and must every one play outside the pool for some time. Once the ping-pong balls disappear throughout the pool then say GO, everyone will jump into the pool.
Now, the players have to ‘herd’ the balls to a designated wall in the pool but without touching them. Yes, they can make waves, splash or do something else to move the ping-pong balls across the pool without physically touching them.
When the ping-pong balls will touch the designated wall, they’ll pick it up from the water and put it in a bucket as a score. Who will collect the more, will be the champion.
Game 8: Change Champion
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How To Play
Toss some coins of varying amounts (nickels, quarters, dimes and so on) to the bottom of your pool. You should choose the depth based on your swimmers’ experience to set aside the risks.
When you say ‘go’ the players will get into the water as well as see how much change they can collect from the bottom of your pool. Kids will have much fun but the tough part is, they can pick up only one coin per hand at a time.
Continue until all of the changes are found. The person who will collect the most money (not the highest number of coins) will be the champion. But if you want to make it easier, you can count the numbers only, ignoring the dollar amount.
Game 9: Ping-Pong Pursuit
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How To Play
Kids love to play with ping-pong balls, so make their pool time more enjoyable. In fact, these balls are perfect for pool games because they float.
You’ll need 8+ players and 40 ping-pong balls to start the game. Now, see how to play this one.
Have all the players stand inside the pools but let their eyes close or turn their faces outside of the pool. Then, ditch the ping-pong balls in the pool and splash the water so the balls will be all over the pool.
When you’ll say ‘go’ the players will go for searching the ping-pong balls with closed eyes. The first player with closed eyes finds the ping-pong balls will be the winner.
Game 10: Marco Polo
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How To Play
The kids of the 13th century know very well about this pool party classic! The kids at your party should not miss this one. Let’s know how to play this.
You can play this with any number of players. One person who will be ‘IT’ has to close his/her eyes for a set number of seconds while opposing players disperse in the pool. Then ‘IT’ will swim around and attempt to tag other players.
When ‘IT’ detects the presence of others it will call out ‘Marco’. The other players, regardless of their location, have to respond ‘Polo’. When the ‘IT’ will be successful in tagging another player, the later becomes ‘IT’.
Game 11: Cardboard Boat Race
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How To Play
This is not only a race but also an opportunity to get crafty and hands on! Kids can build their own cardboard boats teamwise, solo or through your help. This will be a bond activity for mothers and their child.
Don’t you think building a cardboard boat can also incite them about creativity, imagination and learning. You can set a time limit for the boat creation process to make it more challenging. To make the boats kids will need cardboard boxes, duct tape and any other materials they might want for decorating or reinforcing the structure.
When the boats are ready, players will line up at the start line at one end of the pool. You’ll say ‘go’ the players will paddle across as fast as possible in a race to the finish line. The player who completes the task first will be the winner.
Game 12: Balloon Toss
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How To Play
Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned balloon toss? Playing this game in your pool water will be a new twist to the classic game.
You’ll need 8+ players to have the proper fun of this game. Buy a fair amount of balloons and inflate them with water (instead of air). You’ll also need 4 beach towels (1 towel per group of 2 players).
Now, each team will consist of 4 players divided into two pairs. Both pairs will receive a beach towel to use as a launcher. So, what’s the object of the game? It is to send the water balloon back and forth between the teammates using only the towel to catch and throw the balloon. Exploding water balloons is inevitable, so aim to play for a few rounds or set a score.
Game 13: Chicken Fight – Best Swimming pool games to play
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How To play
This one is maybe the most struggling and also enjoyable. Kids and adults both will participate in this game. So, get ready for war in this classic grappling pool game!
For this game, you’ll need 4+ players, better if it is even numbers. Players will break up into two teams as well as work together to form a ‘chicken’ like the image. For clearance, one player will stand tall in the water while the other will sit on their shoulders.
The funniest part of the game is when opposing teams square off. The object of this game is to struggle the opposing ‘chicken’ by knocking off their team member’s shoulder. The last team that still stands will be the winner.
Game 14: Guess and Go
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How To Play
You can play this guessing game with any number of players. One person will be ‘it’ and stand at a corner of the pool (facing away from the pool). Others will stand inside the pool, right in front of the ‘it’.
Then, ‘it’ will pick a category such as colors. Everyone in the pool will think of a color in their head and stick to their color for the entire game (e.g. red). ‘It’ will yell out a color while still facing away from the pool.
The twist is here, If someone already has chosen the color what ‘it’ yelled out, they’ll swim to the other side of the pool before ‘it’ will jump in and tag them. If the persons can swim to the other side of the pool, they’ll be safe but if they’ll get tagged, they’ll be ‘it’.
Game 15: Underwater Obstacle Course
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How To Play
Set up an obstacle course to let the kids go through it for fun. To make it more spicy, set up a time limitation and the fastest kid will be the winner.
Check out some great obstacle course ideas:
- You can use some hula hoops as rings that kids will swim through.
- You also can use noodle floating to jump/dive over.
- Making a shot in a floating basketball net can be another option.
- Climb on a pool float as well as swim it across a portion of the pool.
- Swimming through a bunch of toys/cones can be amazing.
To start the game, say ‘go’ and take a stopwatch. The kid who can pass through the obstacles first, will be the champion.
Game 16: F-I-S-H
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How To Play
Arrange a pool game version of the popular basketball game H-O-R-S-E. You can play this game with any number of players you want, nothing else needed!
The object of game F-I-S-H is for players to successfully copy the actions/moves of their opponent in the pool. Can you imagine the fun?
For clearance, if one of the players does a handstand for 5 seconds so does the opponent. If the opponent fails to copy the moves successfully, they will get a letter, spelling out the word F-I-S-H. If any player now spells F-I-S-H, he/she will be out.
Continue playing until everyone is done with spelling out F-I-S-H. The other person who will survive till last, will be the winner.
Game 17: Floatie Race
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How To Play
Since kids are wandering here and there in your pool with various pool floats, why not a race with these? Let’s see how to play this.
For this game, you will need 2+ players and 1 inflatable floatie for each player/team (sharks, crocodiles, tubes, etc). Players will line up with their floaties at one end of the pool.
Any floatie they can use as long as it’s big enough to sit on and keep the rider afloat. When you say ‘go’ players will race to the opposite end of the pool on their floatie.
Want to make the game more grappling and funnier? Add a rule where players have to restart if they fall off their floaties. Now, see who has reached the other end of the pool first. He is the champion!
Game 18: Crocodile Hunter
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How To Play
Worth mentioned, this is a multi-part game involving several skills that players will have to utilize to win. To play this, you will need 2+ players, 2 inflatable crocodiles and hula hoops.
To start, line up the crocodiles along one edge of the pool. Players will stand on the opposite edge of the pool facing their crocodiles. When you say ‘go’ players will toss their hula hoops at the crocodile. The very first objective is to loop the hoop around the crocodile’s head or tail.
When one player successfully lassoed the crocodile, he will jump into the pool and swim toward the crocodile. From there, the player will mount the crocodile and race back to the STARTING point. See the complexity, that’s why I told it to be a multi-part game!
If you have a larger group, try a relay-style race. Add a rule where players have to reset the crocodile and hula hoops when the first layer makes it back. Continue repeating it until the last player on the team makes their way back!
Game 19: Pool Tic-Tac-Toe
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How To Play
You can simply buy a tic-tac-toe board or make it at your home. To make at home, tie nine hula hoops together so you have three-row both horizontally and vertically.
First, put the tic-tac-toe board into the water. After that, take turns tossing beach balls into the tic-tac-toe board and also try to land it in the hula hoops. But in case, you can’t get it to land in the hula hoops, it will be the other person’s turn. The first person who will land beach balls three in a row, will be the winner.
Game 20: Atomic Whirlpool
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How To Play
Last but definitely not least! This is a simple yet highly entertaining game to play in the pool. You will need 2+ players for this game but the more the number is the merrier will be the game.
The object of this game is to create a whirlpool out of sheer human force. Players will walk/run in a clockwise direction along the inner edges of the pool or a designated ‘whirlpool circle’.
After some time, a whirlpool will begin to form. So, from this game, players will experiment with physics as they toss a ball or even themselves into the whirlpool.
Conclusion
We are at the cut-off point! We talked about 20 swimming pool games which you will surely enjoy.
On a hot summer day, you need to keep your kids in your swimming pool for a long time. These games will keep them in the pool with much fun. But be careful throughout the playing time since kids may happen something unpleasant in deep pool water.
Happy playing!