The Water's Great and the Game is Fun

Summer is a wonderful time to get wet and get moving. Poolside games do not have to be limited to swim races. Here are some suggestions of active family games to play in the backyard or at the pool when the weather's the warmest and the water beckons.

A Dousing Good Time: With clean sponges and squirt bottles as your tools, you can have a wild time with water. In your backyard, fill a clean bucket with water and leave the sponges to soak. Fill up squirt bottles. Divide up the supplies and start the fun: fling the sponges and empty the bottles.

Hose Play: Even a simple water hose can give you lots of fun. Create a stream of water by placing your thumb over the opening of a hose. Have the players limbo under the stream. Find out how low they can go without getting wet. Or, have players jump over the same stream of water, raising it higher and higher until players can no longer clear it without getting soaked.

Musical Sprinkler: This is an aquatic take on the old favorite, musical chairs. With a few favorite tunes playing, have kids dance and hop around a sprinkler. But, they have to freeze in position when the sprinkler is turned on and stay that way until the water gets turned off again.

Shark Attack: A great family swimming game. The person who is "it" places a hand on his or her hip to make a shark's fin and swims after the other players to try to tag them. Whoever is tagged becomes a shark too until all the players are tagged.

Have a Ball: Place an inflated beach ball in the pool. Then, move the ball—you can't touch it with your hands—to a designated goal. Push the ball with waves or with your forehead or arm. You can also replace the ball with a watermelon. Push it around, and when you're done slice it up for a summery hydrating snack.

Keep in mind that any game that works on land can easily be converted to water. Try "Mother, May I?" but instead of giant leaps and bunny hops, ask permission to swim backstrokes and breaststrokes. Or play "Monkey in the Middle" with an inflated beach ball by throwing it between two players standing in the pool while a third person in the middle tries to get the ball.

Use your imagination, because the water's ready and waiting for whatever creative, active game you can come up with.