This post is sponsored by Kreepy Krauly.
Well it’s no surprise that so many Australians have a backyard pool, or that at least two people in nearly every street have one. Our Aussie climate makes swimming possible all year round and my kids LIVE in our backyard pool over Summer school holidays.
Today we would like to share some of our favourite pool games but first I would like to share some information about the one thing I would NOT own a pool without…my pool cleaner, we call him Fred, he doesn’t talk much…he just cleans, sucks, scrubs and skims my pool, everyday….did I mention he does it EVERYDAY?!
Making sure my pool is clean and safe for my kids is very important, most of my friends are surprised to learn that I clean and maintain our swimming pool and not my husband. I was raised by a mother who helped with all the household maintenance and I would often help her with the pool cleaning as part of my chores growing up. My husband works 6 days a week and I would hate him to spend his one day off doing work that I can easily do myself, it’s EASY if you have a quality pool cleaner and a good local pool maintenance store who check your water/chemical levels for free. You can find more pool maintenance tips here.
The biggest favour you can do for yourself is to invest in a GOOD automatic pool cleaner. We always used the Kreepy Krauly brand when I was growing up and the first house my husband and I purchased had a Kreepy Krauly too (it was 10 years old when we sold that house and it never had an issue). When we bought our current house it had a different brand and I had to replace the inside rubber tube THREE times in one year due to wear and tear. Eventually it became too costly to repair. I made a HUGE mistake by purchasing a cheap replacement cleaner on eBay…what a waste of money, it only lasted 3 months and never did a good job of cleaning the entire pool (I was lucky if it would clean a third of the pool). Our house backs onto bushland so we get a LOT of eucalyptus leaves in our pool so we need a pool cleaner that can handle that without missing a beat.
I was thrilled when Kreepy Krauly approached us to share their awesome 100% AUSTRALIAN OWNED AND MADE products. I can attest to their quality after owning one in the past and from using one of their current models, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend one to any pool owner. We’ve had the VTX 7 installed and it hasn’t missed a spot! Their customer service is fantastic too, they ensure you get the right cleaner for the job, they will install and demonstrate the cleaner too. The Kreepy Krauly’s amazing design has less moving parts than others on the market, meaning there is less chance of things going wrong.
Like I mentioned, I have no hesitation in recommending this great Australian product, and now is the perfect time to buy! Kreepy Krauly are running a fantastic giveaway where you can go in the draw to WIN $10,000 for purchasing a new pool cleaner – read all about the giveaway on their website here. Or why not visit your local Kreepy Krauly pool shop or arrange a FREE home demo?
Now for the POOL GAMES! *INSERT SPLASH HERE*
*We recommend adult supervision at ALL times when children are in the pool, these games are ideally for confident swimmers or with an adults help and guidance. There should also be strict rules given to all swimmers like – no running, pulling on other swimmers or dangerous diving. You may like to add other rules to your ‘house pool’.
- Marco Polo!
Everyone’s enjoyed playing this at some stage right? Everyone loves it, well maybe not the neighbour’s after they’ve heard “Fish out of water” for the hundredth time LOL! This game is best with more three or more players. One person is ‘it’ and they have to keep their eyes closed while they try to ‘catch’ the opposing players. The ‘it’ person can call “Marco” and all the other players need to respond with “Polo” if they are in the water or “Fish out of water” if they’re on the edge of the pool, once the ‘it’ player has tagged someone that player becomes ‘it’ and the game continues on, and on, and on! - Relay Races
This is a great game for pool parties and works pretty much the same as any other relay. You might like to make it fun by getting the players to swim to each end with a Ping Pong ball on a spoon (like an egg and spoon race). Or have each player try to get a ball from one side to the other without touching the ball, they have to start again if they touch the ball (my kids try to blow the ball across or carefully try to splash the ball along). - Ping Pong Games
Ping Pong balls make a really FUN and cheap addition to any pool. You can draw numbers on them and have two teams try to collect the highest ‘points’ by adding the totals of the balls.
- Target Practice!
We made this floating target using some non-slip matting from our local discount store, it’s a plastic foam that floats really well! Simply draw a target and each player can take turns to play a game similar to darts.
- Underwater Obstacle Course
These are really fun! You can add some Hula Hoops to swim through and place some items on the bottom of the pool to collect. To make our hoops we cut a hula hoop in one section and filled it with pool water, taped it shut and attached a small section of pool noodle to the top. - Make a mini whirlpool
This works best with more than four swimmers. Simple start in a circle and swim around in the same direction until you feel the pull of the whirlpool and all float around in it’s force. - Seaweed (Similar to Red Rover)
We start with one player in the middle of the pool, all the other players line up against one end of the pool. The player in the middle calls “Seaweed” and all the players try to swim to the other side of the pool without being tagged. Once a player is tagged they hold hands with the middle player and create a string of seaweed to catch the remaining players. The winner is the last person not caught in the ‘seaweed’. - What’s the time Mr Shark?
This game is played in the same manner of ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf”. A single ‘it’ player starts at one end and the other players at the opposite end. They shout “What’s the time Mr Shark?”, the ‘it’ player says a time like “4 o’clock”, then each player takes 4 strokes towards the ‘it’ player, this continues until they shout “dinner time” when the ‘it’ player turns and tries to tag as many players before they reach the safety of their starting edge. The tagged players then join the ‘it’ player until everyone is tagged. - Volleyball
You can find some really inexpensive inflatable volley nets at most toy stores and this game is so much FUN to play in the water on a hot summer’s day! - Splat Ball Tag
These Splat Balls are so easy to make from clean kitchen sponges. They’re kind of like reusable water bombs! You can use them in the pool to play a similar style game to ‘dodge ball’, luckily these don’t hurt when you get hit! Read all about them here. - Water Polo
You can alter this game to suit the players swimming strength by adding the rules that players can’t touch any other player during the game. You can have two goals or simply have one space where the player needs to ‘place’ the ball. - Pool Noodle Races
Pool noodles are another inexpensive pool addition, they’re so much FUN to race on too! Each player floats on the pool noodle and races to one length of the pool. This works great in a fun relay race too! - Water Balloons
Kids LOVE water balloons and using them in the pool is SO MUCH FUN! They don’t tent to burst as easily so they can enjoy them longer than the usual 5 minutes on the grass ;). An added game is seeing who can collect the most broken balloon pieces at the end to clean up! - Floating Cork Number Games
So we might have saved a few corks over Christmas and New Year, please don’t judge me! Haha. This is a super fun way to put them to use – read all about that here. - Floating Sight Words!
Who said learning couldn’t be FUN! I used some non-slip matting to write some sight words and floated them in the pool. Miss 7 stood on the side of the pool, I would call out a word and she would need to retrieve it. These would be fun in the bath too! - Capture the change
This game is another great way to learn, if you can spare a few dollars’ worth of change! Simply throw the money in the pool and have the kids race to collect it, they then need to race to count their stash…and maybe get to keep it! - Keep the cotton ball dry!
Each player is given a dry cotton ball which they need to keep dry to the other end of the pool. The players can try to wet each other’s cotton balls whilst still trying to keep theirs dry. - Glow Stick Pool Party!
Okay, I’ve left the best for last! There is NOTHING my family love more than swimming at night! Add more FUN to the mix by throwing in a bunch of glow sticks! We used a variety of types and sizes, some sank and some floated. We also placed some inside balloons filled with water, they looked AMAZING at night! The kids spend ages diving and collecting the sticks!
Do you have a swimming pool at home? What games would you add to this list?
Louise x
PS- We are running a special giveaway to WIN one of THREE amazing Unicorn Pool Floats! How amazing are these?! Entry is FREE and EASY, simply click the below image and share with us your fondest swimming pool memory. Good Luck Fun Mums!
Unicorn Floaty
If you want to become a Fellow Fun Mum Member & receive all of our fun craft, recipes & activities as well as special offers & promotions – click the button on our home page 🙂
I love your site! What fabulous ideas you have come up with!! I am book marking this for when I have my younger relatives visit! Thank you!
Great post! those are definitely fun activities kids will surely enjoy. Would like to know, what pool cleaner you are using. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Nick, we have a saltwater swimming pool and use the Kreepy Krauly all year round to keep it clean. Louise x
Fun ideas! I’m planning a pool party and I will definitely try some of these suggestions.
I will play these games with our Special students with modified strategies and methods.