Swimming Pool Games

Swimming Pool Games are a great way to enjoy your pool. You can purchase pool toys and games, or just get creative and make some up yourself.

Races / Competitions

Remember to keep the courses safe and use your own common sense, such as use of the shallow end for swimmers who are not confident in the water. Possible races can include:

  • Obstacle courses… include things such as swimming through hoops, pushing a ball through the water. Swimming underwater, retrieving objects from the bottom of the pool, etc. But
  • Distance under water,
  • Time under water, etc.

Diving Games

Retrieving items eg set of keys, coins, diving bricks
Going through weighted hoops (if available)
Distance you can swim under water
Amount of time you can hold your breath underwater.

Marco Polo

The children’s game Marco Polo  is a form of tag played in a swimming pool.

One player is chosen as “It”. This player closes their eyes so they can’t see and tries to tag the other players. The player who is “It” shouts out “Marco” and the other players must respond by shouting “Polo”, which “It” uses to try to acoustically locate them. If a player is tagged then that player becomes “It”.

In a variant, if “It” thinks that someone has climbed out of the pool, he or she can shout “fish out of water”, and if anyone is out of the water they become “It”. If someone sits on the side of the pool with their legs in the water, “It” can call out “mermaid on the rocks”, or “fish out of water” and that player becomes “It”.

The game can also be played on land as well, with slightly modified rules. It is similar to Blind man’s bluff where one person is blindfolded while others choose hiding places around the room.