When your little ones have learned how to swim, its time to start having fun. The amount of games you can play in the pool are as limitless as your imagination, and it’s a lot of fun coming up with new games, however there are some classics that you just have to play. We’re going to go over the basics of each, as well as a little look on how these games are more than just good fun, they are great for helping your kids learn skills they need for the rest of their life. Mainly, they are going to learn to have fun, which is arguably the most important thing in life.
The Top 5 Swimming Games:
1) Tag
Tag, or tig, is the most well known game in the world, everyone has played it and knows the rules. There’s even a movie about a group of people who played a giant game of tag into adulthood. One person is “it” and has to touch someone else to make them “It”, and so on until you run out of time at the pool or you decide to play something else. Tag helps prepare kids for team sports later on, as well as developing basic motoneuron and critical thinking skills, but it’s mainly good old fashioned fun.
Such a basic game has brought about millions of variants, including octopus (when someone is tagged they hold hands and work together until everyone is caught), survivor (tagged people work together until everyone is caught), sharks and minnows (like survivor but the tagged people stand in the middle of the pool and the not tagged have to get around them to the other side / “safe zone”) and Marco Polo (tagged person has eyes closed and calls “Marco” which not tagged people say “Polo” right after).
2) Treasure Hunt
This is another super simple game. Just throw something that sinks into the water, and whoever finds it wins. There are loads of specially made dive sticks and other toys available online that make for the best version of these games. Playing this will help your kids sense of direction whilst improving their breath and underwater swimming capabilities, and maybe it will inspire them to be the next Indiana Jones!
A more difficult, incredibly frustrating version can be played by filling a clear, unlabelled bottle with water, screwing the lid back on and dropping it into the pool. The fact its almost impossible to find is why this version is called Invisi-bottle.
3) F-I-S-H
This is like the classic game H-O-R-S-E that is played in sports from basketball to skateboarding. One person sets the trick, such as doing a handstand in the water, and the other players try to do it. If they cannot do it, they lose a letter of the word FISH. If they lose all letters by failing 4 times they are out, until there is only one winner. Depending on what tricks you pick, this can develop a wide range of skills, but creativity is king as they will have to think of new, interesting challenges to get ahead.
4) Racing
A classic race is one of the easiest ways to have fun. Start at one end of the pool and the first one to the other side wins. Races are great for developing swimming skills as much as competitive spirit, and all world champion swimmers will have won their first races as kids. You never know if your kid will be the next world record breaker until later on in life, so get them racing as early as possible.
You can mix it up by doing a floatie race, where you have to stay on a floatation device from end to end.
5) Noodle joust
Like knights of old straddling majestic beasts and knocking each other to the ground with lances of wood and steel to the raucous applause of onlookers, your kids can ride on pool floats, with pool noodles (big floppy floating pieces of foam) in hand. Just knock the opponent into the water to win but be careful to do this away from the edges of the pool, where it is safe to fall. This is a great game for developing hand eye coordination, balance and confidence, and is especially popular among little tykes who love to get physical.
Conclusion
The possibilities are endless and so is the fun when you take your kids to the pool. So get out there now and visit your local pool regularly, especially because many of them offer a government funded kids-swim-free program, so it’s a great value day out!