Making Your Pool Area Your Favorite Spot

While “playing in the pool” may evoke images of kids splashing with pool noodles, and “poolside entertainment” makes you think of adults lounging with a choice beverage next to a tiki bar, the truth is that pools can be used for both adults and kids to play together. While there’s certainly the tried and true piggyback ride, there are also many other ways for pool-goers of all ages to enjoy time together.

Dive-in movies- Set up an outdoor projector, and have the whole family float together in the pool on tubes or rafts, watching the movie. Water-themed movies are highly encouraged!

Dive for change- Collect anywhere from $5 to $100 in quarters, and toss them into the bottom of the pool. The person who comes up with the most money wins!

Fill the cup- Divide everyone into two teams, and have them get into the pool. Each team has a bucket at least 15 feet away from the pool, and a sponge. The team who can fill the bucket the quickest with the sponge, without running near the pool, wins the game.

Poison pool toss- Divide the group into two teams, and divide the pool in half. On the far side of the pool, dump in a variety of different floating (or not!) pool toys. This is the “poison.” The teams need to remove as much “poison” from the far side of the pool as possible by dragging it back to the starting point and pulling it out of the pool.

Sharks and minnows- This is essentially water tag. It begins with a single shark, and several minnows. The minnows stand at one end of the pool, and the shark lurks in the middle. The shark, when ready, yells “Minnows in!” The minnows all jump in and try to swim to the other end of the pool without getting tagged by the shark. Every person the shark tags then becomes a new shark. The minnows that get to the other end of the pool climb out, and then will wait for the new sharks to call them back into the pool. The last minnow alive wins.