Top 5 Fun Swimming Pool Games

Your backyard swimming pool doesn’t just provide a place to cool down, but a place to come together with friends and family. Some of the best memories come from the silliest games shared in your pool. Here are our top 5 favourite swimming pool games.

An oldie but a goodie. This traditional swimming pool game has been around almost as long as the explorer himself! 🙂  How do you play? Select one person to be “Marco Polo”, and while they stand in the shallow end counting to 30, other players scatter silently around the pool.  Once the counting is complete, Marco Polo begins by walking or swimming around the pool with their eyes closed calling “Marco”… the rest of the players have to reply “Polo”.  Using sound alone, Marco Polo has to search for the other players, and once they find and tag them, they are out. The goal is to be the last person standing! Some long standing rules include: Marco Polo cannot open their eyes, other players may not leave the water, players MUST answer “Polo” when called, and finally players CAN move while Marco Polo is searching!

Jumpers line up at the side of the pool, or at the diving board. Callers gather in the shallow end for the show! As a jumper gets ready to leap into the air, the callers yell out an animal name. The jumper then must adapt their jumping form to suit the animal, and provide the animals sound as well! The Callers then judge the jump out of 5 points, and hold up their scores on one hand. Continue until all jumpers have gone, and all scores are in… or until you can’t stop laughing at your brother-in-law’s attempt at a flying, trumpeting elephant!

A classic that can be played with 2 people or 20! Pick a side, and keep that volleyball in the air as you send it from one side to another. You can use a net, or just an imaginary line. Once the ball touches on the water, the person who failed to catch or volley back is out. The winner is the last person left, who kept the water volleyball dry!

Players – or “Dolphins” – line up at the shallow end, facing the pool wall with their eyes closed.

The “Dolphin Trainer” drops several sinkable objects around the pool. Assign points for each of the objects (some can be worth more than others). Once the trainer is finished, they “blow their whistle” or call GO, and the dolphins head out to search the pool for hidden treasure. Dolphins have to dive deep and shallow, and check sneaky spots, like ladder steps, to find all the objects.

There are endless endurance and speed contests you can hold in your swimming pool. Nothing gets people going like some healthy competition! Plus, these contests are especially good for promoting a little extra swim practice for the kids, without them even noticing it! Race from one side of the pool to the other, see who can hold their breath underwater the longest, or who can perform the most amount of underwater somersaults in a row! It is always important not to push yourself too hard in these contests, and to always come up for air or take a break when you need to, the goal is to have FUN!