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101 Ways to Play (#48): Swimming Pool Games

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We’re going to the pool today!  What is your child’s favorite pool game?  Check out this past post for games that are not only fun but provide great skill-building opportunities. 

The swimming pool works wonders for kids!  It builds muscles.  It develops coordination.  But best of all it’s a great way for kids to expel extra energy.  The very nature of water is calming, so an afternoon in the swimming pool can be such a calming and organizing activity for our kids’ little bodies.

In addition to all these awesome benefits, the swimming pool is a fabulous place to encourage a multitude of developmental skills.  Here are my favorite swimming pool games:

1.  Marco Polo: 

  • What is it?  This is a classic pool game.  Whoever is “it” closes their eyes and attempts to tag another child by calling “Marco,” to which the other children reply “Polo.”  Whoever is tagged becomes “it.”  
  • Why is it good?  Without the ability to rely on the sense of sight, this game is great for developing auditory and tactile processing skills, specifically the ability to locate the direction of a sound, the ability to sense and feel movement in the water, and the ability to recognize when they touch, even graze, another child.  It is also great for developing body and spatial awareness, as the child must have an awareness of the distance and direction of their own body to the sound or movement they feel.

2.  Categories: 

  • What is it?  The child who is “it” stands on the side of the pool and calls out a category, such as “farm animals.”  Each child chooses an item or thing that fits into that category, such horse, pig, cow, etc.  “It” begins to list items in the category.  When the child’s item is chosen, he or she jumps or gets in the pool (quietly) and attempts to swim to the opposite side.  When “it” thinks someone has gotten into the pool, he jumps in to try to tag the child, who will then becomes the next “it.”
  • Why is it good?  This game is great for building cognitive skills, specifically the ability to create ideas, form categories, and list items.  It also works on the child’s ability to multitask and split their attention, as they not only have to think of and call out items that belong in their category but they have to listen for and detect the movements of the other children.

3.  Races: 

  • What is it?  There are so many different types of races you can do in the pool.  Two of my favorite are beach ball races and ping pong ball races.  In a beach ball race, the kids start on the same side of the pool.  After someone says “go,” they each make their way to the other side while pushing the beach ball with their noses.  In a ping pong race, the kids do the same thing except they must move the balls by blowing them to the other side.  Both of these race can be played in the shallow end or in the deep end for more experienced swimmers.  
  • Why is it good?  Swimming alone is great for strengthening the muscles in the core, arms, and legs, as well as building motor and bilateral coordination skills.  Even if the child is walking or attempting to run from one side to the other, the resistance of the water is great for strength and endurance.

4.  Ring Toss: 

  • What is it?  Ring toss is a pretty basic game but it’s great for eye-hand coordination.  You can make your own rings by cutting circles out of cheap, disposable plastic plates and can simply use an innertube float as a target.  For extra fun, create a large ring from a noodle by taping the two ends of the noodle together.  Use each other as targets to see if you can toss the noodle around the other person.
  • Why is it good?  Great for eye-hand coordination skills!!!

5.  Scavenger Hunt: 

  • What is it?  Throw various things down to the bottom of the pool, such as a penny, a rock, a marble.  Then either call out the object or give the child a clue, such as “find the object that is flat,” or “where’s the object that you would find outside.”
  • Why is it good?  Great for problem-solving skills and cognitive reasoning.  Also great for eye-hand coordination and development of gross motor skills in order to dive down and retrieve the objects.  For little ones, you can choose objects that float.   Exploring which items sink and which ones float is also a great developmental activity.

6.  Obstacle courses: 

  • What is it?  Well it’s pure fun, that’s what it is!  I love obstacle courses.  Create an obstacle course for your child or have your child create one themselves by placing innertubes, floats, and toys around the pool.  Then have them follow the directions to navigate through the obstacles, such as go under the float, around the toy boat, and through the innertube.
  • Why is it good?  Great for creativity when your child creates the course.  It’s also wonderful for motor planning skills, sequencing skills, coordination, and memory, as your child remembers and follows 2,3,or 4 step directions.  And it’s very effective for learning spatial directions, such as up, down, around, under, over, and through, which will eventually translate to pencil-paper skills.

Keep cool and be sure to fill your summer with lots of swimming pool fun!!!


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