6 Fun Water Games for Your Next Pool Party

Photo credit: beglib from morguefile.com

There's no better way to celebrate summer birthdays than with a pool party! Whether you're lucky enough to have a pool in your own backyard, or you're meeting party guests at the local pool water games are always a hit. (Always play it safe in the pool and make sure children are supervised at all times.)

Pool Party Games

Noodle Jousting Tournament: In this game, two players at a time to sit on rafts with foam noodles. Each player tries to knock the other player in the water by jousting with the noodle. The person left standing takes on the next player, and the person still on the raft at the end of all the rounds is the winner. Set up a tournament bracket for serious fun.

T-Shirt Races: Divide the swimmers in two teams and provide an oversized T-shirt for each team. Swimmers must swim the length of the pool in the T-shirt and then hand it off to the next teammate in a relay-style race. This game is best for more advanced swimmers.

Scavenger Hunt: Place items that sink and float in the pool. Call out items to be found and the person who collects the most at the end of the game wins! To make it difficult, use riddles instead of calling out the item names. Use only one of each item, or a limited number of items to keep the game challenging.

Ping Pong Plunge: With a magic marker, write a different number on ping pong balls and then toss them all into the pool. The object is to be the one who collects the most ping pong balls with the highest value.

Marco Polo: This one is an old favorite. A version of tag for the water, Marco Polo is played by choosing someone to be "it." That person must close his or her eyes or be blindfolded while calling out "Marco." The rest of the players must reply "Polo." If the first player tags someone, they become "it" and the game continues as before.

Volleyball: If you have a pool net and a volleyball, this one is a lot of fun. But you can also play by roping off the pool and using a plain old beach ball.

What are some of your favorite water games?

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