Games and Activities
The entire party time will be taken with the kids swimming and playing together in the pool. Hopefully, you will dive right in and lead some games, or have a few parents who are interested in getting in as well so they can lead games too:
- Marco Polo. One child closes his eyes and tries to find and tag other kids by following the sound of their voices. The child who is "it" says "Marco," and the other kids respond by saying "Polo."
- Hold a Rubber Duck Race. Give each child a rubber duck and have them use their noses to move it to the other side of the pool. First one there wins!
- Play Shark! Have the birthday kid start off as the shark and tag the fish (the rest of the kids in the pool). As the fish are tagged, they also become sharks. The game is over when the pool is full of sharks!
- Have a splash contest to see who can make the biggest splash! Make sure to follow pool rules, however!
- Place floating toys throughout the pool and divide the kids into two teams. Blow a whistle and see which team can gather the most floaters in two minutes.
- Have the kids swim through rings, i.e. hula hoops.
- Play water volleyball.
- For younger children, have a water balloon toss.
- Splash Tag . Divide the players into two teams. Give each team a tub of water and each player a large sponge. Have them try to tag each other with the wet sponges.
- Splash Machine . Divide the kids into two teams and have them line up. Have the players pass a bucket of water down the line and dump it into a tub. Rotate the line so everyone has a turn at the front. The team with the most water in the tub at the end wins the game. The other team will be the wettest!
- Balloon Pop . Fill a kiddie pool with water and throw in enough balloons for each player. Have the kids try to pop the slippery, wet balloons in the water by sitting on them.
- And if you don't have a pool, the kids can cool themselves off in a lawn sprinkler or an inflatable water slide (you may be able to rent these at your local rental center).
Place small toys in balloons, fill the balloons with water, and freeze them. The kids will have to pop the balloon and let the ice melt before they can retrieve their toys.
