Water Pool Games for Teens

"Air Mattress Pile Up"

• Inflate an air mattress and place it in the middle of the pool. One by one, allow the teens to climb onto the mattress and stand up. See how many can stand up before it falls over. You can inflate the mattress fully, or only partially to add an extra kink to the game. Make sure the mattress is in the middle of a large pool so nobody will fall over into one of the pool edges, which can cause injury.

Clothing Relay

• Split the group into two or more teams. Have one person from each team put on clothes over their bathing suits. Shirts, shorts, hats, and gloves are all good ideas for this game. Have them swim across the pool to the other side, where a teammate is waiting. They must get out of the pool, take off the extra clothes, and pass them onto the teammate, who will then put them on. Once clothed, the teammate dives in and swims to the other side, where they must give the clothes to the next person. This keeps going until all teammates have swam a leg of the relay. First team done wins.

"In the Ring"

• Inflate a series of flotation rings. Get the teenagers together into teams (or use individuals if you don't have that many players) and have them swim across the pool wearing the flotation ring. It is much harder than it looks! This can also be turned into a relay race if you have enough people, with the ring having to be transferred to the next person before they can swim across.

Water Hoop

• This is a great game for teens who like to play basketball. Get two baskets, one for each side of the pool. Plastic laundry baskets work great for this. Just make sure each basket is the same size to make it fair. Divide the group into two teams; each one gets a "home" basket they defend, while the opposite basket is the one they try to score on. Play begins with an even number of each team in the pool, trying to throw the basketball into the basket to score. If a player gets tired from all the swimming, they can tag in a substitute (if any) to play for them. First team to reach a pre-determined amount of points wins.