Water play offers the perfect opportunity to boost a child’s motor development and help them become accustomed to more advanced swimming techniques. For many parents, incorporating games is the best way to get their kids in the water to build important foundational skills.
Additionally, there are many pool games that can be played without investing in toys. Here are three of our favourites!
Game #1: Mermaid Races
This game is also known as “Dolphin Races” or “Submarine Races.” This race involves holding your breath to see who can swim the longest underwater. It’s an excellent way to encourage exercise and develop swimming skills, and is best suited for indoor pools.
Start by lining up the swimmers at the end of the pool and explain that the first “mermaid” to reach the end of the pool while holding their breath is the winner. It doesn’t matter how deep they go, as long as they are underwater. This is a fantastic way to help improve not only their speed, but also develop their lung capacity
Game #2: Marco Polo
Marco Polo is a classic game and is best done with a family or group. It’s also a fun game to be played with children who are learning how to get comfortable in the pool.
First, decide who will be “Marco” or “It” among three players or more. The child playing “Marco” goes to the side of the pool and covers his/her eyes and counts to ten, while the other players move as quietly as they can to different areas of the pool. When Marco stops counting, he/she keeps their eyes closed while attempting to locate someone else in the pool. The game is meant to have the other players to move around, while being as quiet and undetectable as possible as “Marco” searches for them.
When Marco wants a clue as to everyone’s positions, he/she yells out “MARCO!, to which all the other players must respond by yelling POLO! This will help Marco find another player to tag. Once another player is tagged, they then become Marco and the game begins again.
If a player sits on the side of the pool during the game, they are referred to as a “fish out of water,” which is a sly strategy some players use to exit the pool and move around outside of it. If Marco calls “fish out of water” to a player who has attempted this, then that swimmer becomes Marco.
Game #3: Treasure Hunt
This is a game for more advanced swimmers that is, and ideally played with a group.
To put it simply, an adult or supervisor tosses a bunch of items into the pool and the players race to retrieve them. Traditionally, this is played with loose change, which has the dual purpose of being actual treasure while also challenging the players to both spot and retrieve.
There are endless possibilities for items that you can throw in your pool for children to retrieve, such as marbles or anything small and weighted that you have lying around.
The challenge involved in retrieving the items makes it ideal for larger pools, but be sure to check beforehand if there are any rules or regulations concerning the items that are permitted.
These games, while being inventive, have the added value of developing swimming skills much more effectively than simply playing with pool toys. As long as you can keep the games challenging, children will build the necessary skills faster. Just remember to keep it fun! To find out more about ways to entertain your children in the pool, contact us at http://canadaswimschool.com/contact.
Have a tip you would like to share with us? Post it in the comments section below. See you at the pool!
