Nothing says summer quite like a swimming pool – right? We don’t have one of our own, but we have a pass for our local public swimming pool this year. Spending so much time in the water we have discovered some pretty fun pool games for kids.

Swimming itself is a perfectly splendid thing to do on a hot summer day. Add in a few cool pool games and we are talking a summer day dream. Everyone needs a little inspiration from time to time, including these little fish of mine. So when our swimming fun needs a little kick, we try a few of these cool pool games. 

Cool Pool Games for Kids

I hope you love these pool games for kids as much as my own little fish!

Marco Polo – this classic game works best with many children or if the whole family wants to get in on the fun. It is very much like tag. One person is ‘it’ and closes their eyes. He yells MARCO and everyone else has to answer by yelling POLO. He then swims to try to catch someone and that someone would become it.

Monkey in the Middle – this pool game can be played with 3 or more kids. It is a game of catch with one ‘monkey’ in the middle trying to grab the ball. If the monkey get’s the ball, the person who threw the ball has to go in the middles.

PingPong Games – this pool game by Hostess with the Mostess sounds like so much fun. Bring a bunch of pingpong balls and let the kids hunt for specially marked once, or toss them into a floating bucket!

GlowStick Swimming – Over the Big Moon shares a great idea about adding glowsticks into the pool. Think of all the fun that would come from this addition: diving games, scavenger hunts, colour tag – plus it looks just plain AWESOME.

The Lost Bottle Pool Game – Did you know that a plastic bottle becomes practically invisible when filled with water and sunk? How cool is that! This makes for a fabulous pool game for kids. It is like an awesome treasure hunt.

Diving Games – there are so many ‘sinkies’ out there now! Any sort of diving weight that can sink to the bottom of the pool works for some great diving games. Kids can see how many they can get in one breath, they can try to find them with their eyes closed, or they can race to get as many as possible. The options are endless!

Races – races make great pool games for kids. Some fun twists might be to race without using your arms, or with only using your arms, or with your eyes shut.

It really doesn’t take much with my kids to get them back engaged in swimming. Often one pool game suggestion is all they need! They might play that game for a little while and then turn it into something completely different and the play continues to snowball.

Here in Canada our outdoor pool season is fairly short, so I think this helps my little ones to love the pool as much as they do. If it was an all year option it would likely take a little more thought to engage them in pool games.

I hope you have found a few that are just right for you and yours!

xo

Sarah

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