Swimming Pool Games for Kids – 14 Absolute Favorites

Summer, sun, water fun! For kids, there’s nothing more fantastic in summer than a kiddie pool party in the garden or swimming pool. These fun and simple swimming pool games for kids can be done by anyone with little effort.

For a super fun pool party are great swimming pool games for kids that suit the age and interest of the kids.

Here you will find mainly swimming pool games for children from about 8 years. But there are also some swimming pool game ideas for small children aged 4+ at the end of the article, for which it only needs a paddling pool in the garden.

Anyone can create an unforgettable pool party with great games! You’ll find brilliant tips and colourful and creative ideas for a kiddie pool party on Greatime. Check here if you’re looking for more games with water for summer or water games for kids.

14 Swimming Pool Games for Kids for Larger Pools and the Paddling Pool

In a swimming pool or larger pools that are big and deep enough for catching, throwing, and swapping games, kids ages 6 and up can really let loose. These 14 swimming pool games for kids are a personal best of an incredibly large number of beautiful games. We start with 10 swimming pool games for kids aged 6+ and end with for more paddling pool games for kids aged 4+. You can find even more ideas for water games here.

1. Poker Betting Dive (From About 10 Years)

• This is what you need: Poker chips

The children form two teams. Throw several handfuls of poker chips into the pool. Now the children jump into the pool and try to collect as many poker chips as possible while diving. The game is over either after a set time (5-10 minutes) or when all the chips have been collected from the pool.

There are two ways to determine the winners. Either you count the number of poker chips and the team with the most wins. Or – and this is the much nicer and more exciting variant – you count the points on the chips. The latter makes for a more random result, because when diving you don’t dive specifically for poker chips.

Diving is one of the swimming pool games for kids that can be played in many variations and adapted to a theme such as mermaid or pirate. To do this, you simply sink gems or coins.

2. Water Tournament – Swimming Pool Games for Kids From 10 Years

• That’s what you need: Pool tournament set, winner’s prize

Each child gets an inflatable log (see pool tournament set) or a floatie and an inflatable lance. Once everyone is mounted, the funniest pool water fight imaginable starts. The aim of the game is to push the opponents off their mounts and logs into the water. Only the lance may be used for this and no hands or feet! Whoever plops into the water is out of the game and takes a seat at the edge of the pool to cheer on their favourite. Whoever is left last is the winner and wins the tournament (or the first round)!

3. Underwater Dirty Dancing – Don’t Forget to Take a Photo!

• What you need: Instant camera or smartphone / camera

Unsurprisingly, underwater dirty dancng is one of the swimming pool games that especially excites girls. Or kids on the cusp of becoming teenagers! Many a boy won’t admit it, but judging by the eagerness and enthusiasm, the boys were not inferior to the girls at our party.

Underwater Dirty Dancing is about imitating the famous lifting figure from the film. For this, the boy (or another girl) touches the girl’s hip bones, she jumps up, strikes a graceful pose and the boy tries to hold her up for a long time. Your job is to take a nice photo of it.

At the end, the couple with the most beautiful lifting figure is crowned the winner.

Caution: Underwater Dirty Dancing should be played in chest-high water and in large pools so that there is no danger of someone hitting their head on the edge of the pool!

Tip: It’s especially nice if you take photos with an instant camera and everyone can take one home as a souvenir.

4. Chaos on the Lifeboat – Fun Swimming Pool Game for Kids in 2 Variations

• What you need: 1 or 2 air mattresses

The aim of this game is for as many children as possible to sit on an air mattress. To do this, the air mattress is lowered into the water, all the children are allowed to jump into the water and try to get a place on the air mattress and hold it! The whole thing with time on your neck, because you start counting down from 60 at some point when it gets hot, and at stop everyone has to hold still.

In the first variation, the game is played for 3 rounds and each round all children who do not fall down and get a place on the air mattress get a point.

In the second variant, the children play in two teams and each team gets its own air mattress. This time there is no time limit and the goal is to get the most children on the mattress and thus win.

5. Shark Alert – Who Escapes the Great White Shark?

• This is what you need: Swim rings, air mattresses, floating animals

Each child chooses an air mattress or a floating animal and lies down on it except for one. This child is the shark. The shark chases the children one by one and tries to throw them into the water. If the shark succeeds, the child is also a shark. This goes on until only one child is left and has won.

6. Balloon Race – Team Pool Games for Children Aged 12+

• This is what you need: inflated and water-filled balloons in 2 colours, toothpicks

The children form two teams: Team blue and Team red, for example. An identical number of balloons filled with water and air in two colours are thrown into the pool. Each team gets a toothpick and tries to burst the balloons of its colour as quickly as possible with the toothpick. To do this, one member of each team must take the toothpick into their mouth. The other players in the team fetch the balloons in their colour so that it goes as quickly as possible. The toothpick may also change in the team, but must always be held in the mouth to pop a balloon. The team that pops all its balloons first wins.

This game is best suited for the garden pool, where you can easily fish the balloon remains out of the water. This pool game is not so good for the swimming pool, as balloon remains can clog the pump.

7. Animal Race – Flamingo vs. Crocodile?

• That’s what you need: Floaties, spoons

For this game, the children form two teams and choose a floatie. The floaties (for example flamingo and crocodile) are lowered into the water on one side of a pool edge, the first two riders get on and try to get to the other side as quickly as possible. To paddle forward, however, they only have a spoon at their disposal – nothing else may be used! The child who arrives first is the winner.

For many children, it is worth playing the animal race as a relay. As soon as the first rider reaches the other edge of the pool, he hands over the spoon instead of the baton and the race continues from edge to edge of the pool until the final riders dock at the edge of the pool in a thrilling finale.

Okay, admittedly, in this race the wide flamingo would have the worse physical competition qualities compared to the long, slender crocodile. Make sure that the floaties are anatomically similar, i.e. both tend to be round or elongated.

8. Pepsi, Ice Tea, Sprite! Fun Movement Game With Tasks

• This is what you need: nothing

First, all the children stand at the edge of the pool and each child names a favourite drink and a task to which this drink is now linked. Now you (or the game leader) call out terms in a jumble – for example Coke, Pepsi, Fanta, mango juice, iced tea, some of which are linked to tasks. As soon as such a term is mentioned, the children have to do the task. For example, Coke can mean jumping, for iced tea you have to sit on the bottom of the pool and for Pepsi you have to jump into the water.

As soon as the children have jumped, they must return to the edge of the pool as quickly as possible. Whoever gets there first gets a point. The winner at the end is the child with the most points.

9. Water Rodeo – Who Tames the Bull the Longest?

• This is what you need: Bull – alternatively, you can use a floatie with a child shaking its head and tail, which doesn’t work quite as well but also works.

Water rodeo is great fun for children aged 9 and over. The original requires an inflatable bull in a hoop, which is mounted by a first rider. There are loops on the ring that up to three children can grab to shake the bull and make it buck mightily. The aim is to stay on top as long as possible.

The game is just so much fun (not only for children). If you want to make it a rodeo competition, you can also time it. The child who stays on the bull the longest wins.

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10. Fire, Water, Storm – Pool Game for Children That Is Playable With a Few

• This is what you need: nothing

At the beginning, one player is chosen to stay at the edge of the pool first, all the other children go into the water and splash around. They only react when the player at the edge of the pool shouts “Fire!”, “High water!” or “Storm!”. When the player shouts “Fire!”, all the children have to swim as fast as they can to a corner. If the child shouts “High water!”, the children must leave the water as quickly as they can. When the child shouts “Storm!” all the children have to dive down and lie on the bottom of the pool. The child who is the last to complete the task after each command swaps places with the child at the edge of the pool.

There is no scoring in this game. It is played for as long as the children feel like it – about 10-15 minutes.

11. Fishing in the Arctic Ocean – Swimming Pool Games for Kids in the Paddling Pool

• This is what you need: Per child at least 10 ice cubes, 2 plastic bowls, 2 paddling pools

The children form two teams. Each team gets a paddling pool full of water and the children sit or stand around the pool. A plastic bowl with ice cubes floats on the water in each pool.

On Go! you pour the ice cubes into the paddling pools and the children try to fish the ice cubes out of the water with their feet only and put them into their plastic bowl. When the children are sitting, their feet can be above the water or they can balance on one leg.

12. Angling Competition With or Without Winner

• This is what you need: Paddling pool, at least 2 fishing rods, a beetle and sea creatures

As many children as there are fishing rods and bowls play at the same time. In our set (see link), there were 3 beetles and 2 fishing rods, and there were no more children at our little pool party.

Let all the fish and sea creatures swim in the paddling pool. Now the children try to catch as many animals as possible at the same time with a fishing rod or a bowl. As soon as all the animals are caught, they can go swimming again and the fun fishing starts all over again – one round of fishing won’t be enough for the children :-). Alternatively, all the animals caught can be counted per child and the child with the biggest catch gets a small prize.

13. Free Ice Animals – Fun Search and Melt Game

• This is what you need: one balloon per child with an animal frozen inside, paddling pool

Preparation: Put an animal in each balloon and fill the balloons with water, tie them shut and freeze them. Remove the balloon cover from the ice eggs shortly before the game.

Hide the frozen ice eggs while another adult distracts the children. Now the children look for the eggs and try to melt them as quickly as possible in the paddling pool by rubbing, shaking and pressing them against themselves in order to free the animal inside.

14. On the High Seas – Ships Blowing Bets

• What you need: Paper or one folded paper ship per child, coloured masking tape, paddling pool

Fold one paper boat per child together with the children or prepare them before the pool party. Now mark an X with two strips of masking tape on one side of the paddling pool.

Two children at a time compete against each other. They float their ships in the paddling pool and try to get their ship to the marked target on the other side first by blowing. The winner moves on to the next round. It goes on like this until only one child is left and has won.

Have fun with our swimming party games for kids!

Looking for more ideas for summer games? These water balloon games for kids are fun ways to cool off. Greatime has ideas for great game ideas and helpful and creative tips for kids’ parties, scavenger hunts and more! Every week there’s new inspiration for leisure activities for families, friends and couples for the whole year! It’s worth coming back :-).

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