Games for Children to Play Using Pasta & a Swimming Pool

Sinking Floaters

• Tube-shaped pasta will float momentarily before sinking slowly. Use this property to make a fun pool toy for relay races. Fill a sock with 1 cup of ziti. Sew or knot the sock closed and place it inside of a second sock. Sew or knot the outer sock and trim the excess fabric to form a ball the size of a baseball. Throw the ball into the water and race to see who finds it first. This game may also be played with film canisters filled with pennies.

Keep Away

• Play an aquatic version of capture the flag with pasta balls. Make two pasta balls as instructed above using different colored socks. Place one at either end of the pool. Separate children into two teams and instruct them to steal the pasta sock from the other team without being tagged. Design house rules based on your specific pool set-up and kids' ages to ensure the safety of your children (e.g., the stairs are out of bounds, no climbing on the walls, no running on the deck, no shoving).

Dolphin Dumptrucks

• Use a fine mesh fabric such as tulle to make a sack with a drawstring. Players may also use lingerie bags or socks to play this game. Set up two buckets at either end of the pool. Fill one set of buckets with loose, dry pasta and a cereal scoop. Instruct players to ferry pasta across the pool. Pasta must be scooped into the mesh bags and emptied into the bucket at the opposite side of the pool. The goal of the game is to fill the bucket on the opposite side. The game is over when the empty buckets have been filled. Modify this game by instructing children to swim in a particular style (i.e., breast stroke, backstroke).

Marco Pasta

• Marco Polo is a variation of hide-and-seek in which the player that is "it" attempts to allude the rest of the players. Blind-folded, the seekers rely on sound to track the person that is it. Usually, the seekers call out "Marco" and the player that is "it" responds with "Polo." Make this game more difficult by giving the child that is "it" a noisemaker instead. This pasta noisemaker will be more difficult to track, evening the playing field if you have kids of different ages. Fill a large plastic beach ball with air. Drop in a few pieces of pasta, such as angel hair pasta or orzo. Seal the ball and shake it to make sure there is an audible sound.