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Spend a little of your social budget this year on ramping up the game collection at your neighborhood pool!

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Let’s go over this far-from-exhaustive list of games that can entertain kids (and adults) at the pool this season. Remember that 10-15 minutes out of every hour is adult swim and that’s 10-15 minutes kids can spend annoying their parents to go home or 10-15 minutes when they socialize with other kids playing games.

Lawn Games

Is your neighborhood pool lucky enough to have some truly useable lawn space? Mine is. We don’t have a high dive, we don’t have a slide, but we got lawn! And when it’s adult swim, that’s where the kids go. They’ll play ball-wall against the guard shack, freeze tag, frisbee, you name it. And of course, whatever their Social Director can afford to spend money on for them to play with. Fortunately, lawn games are relatively cheap. Here’s a few…

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Bottle Bash (aka Beerspee) 

This is a favorite among adults and kids. Opposing teams of two try to knock down a plastic bottle on top of a pole using a frisbee. If the receiving team can’t catch the frisbee, the throwing team gets 1 point. If the receiving team’s bottle drops, the throwing team gets 2 points. If both the frisbee and bottle drop, the throwing team gets 3 points. We play until 21, and you must win by 2 (so a bottle drop must win the game). In the adult version, we require one hand to be holding a beer.

This game gets my highest recommendation as Social Director!

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SpikeBall

This game is described as volleyball meets four square. I’ve just ordered this for my neighborhood pool, but I’m going to predict now it’ll be a big hit. This is a 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 game where the same rules of volleyball apply (only two ball touches allowed), but you spike the ball into the net, and the other team has to return the spike or lose a point.

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Target Frisbee

Does your pool have some extra floatie tubes in the lost and found? I’m guessing yes. Well, check out this DIY video on how to turn those tubes into goals for target frisbee.

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Hearthsong Wonder Wave

Okay, this isn’t really a game, but I’m sure the neighborhood kids will make it into one somehow. And it seems perfect for kids in wet bathing suits.

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Honorable Mentions…

• Cornhole – A few years ago Cornhole probably would have been higher up on my list, but let’s be real: it’s lost a little of its luster. But hey, if your pool has a set sitting in some closet, dust it off and break it out.

• Bocce Ball – I love bocce ball, and I’ll suggest to the Board until the day I die that we need to build a real court. But until that happens, it’s hard to justify kids throwing around the world’s hardest balls willy nilly on the lawn. In theory, you could play bocce ball without an official court.

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Pavement Games

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4 Square – Hugely popular among the kids, this game requires nothing more than a four square grid painted on the pavement and a bouncy ball.

Ping pong – If your pool can find the space (and budget) for a good OUTDOOR ping pong table, this makes for an amazing addition to the club. Adults and kids will love it. You probably won’t love replacing balls and paddles, but that’s what Amazon is for. A decent outdoor table is about $600.

Hopscotch – If you’re painting the pavement for 4 Square, save a little paint and make a cool hopscotch board too. A classic game that’s still entertaining to kids.

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Clubhouse Games

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Tiki Toss / Ring Toss – This just involves swinging a ring, which is attached to a string, in an arc so it attaches onto a metal hook. I’ve made about 5 of these in my backyard (about one per kid), as they are an incredibly easy DIY project and the materials cost next to nothing at your local hardware store. I’m filing this under “Clubhouse Games” since you’ll probably want an overhang of some sort to attach the string to.

Board Games – Got some closet space in your pool clubhouse for board games? Build up a collection of classic games by sending out a newsletter to your membership about donating any old sets they have lying around. You’ll quickly get enough board games to occupy the kids during short (or long) swimming breaks.

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Bright Idea: Your Pool Dues payment portal is the perfect way to fundraise any of these “bigger ticket” items for your neighborhood or community pool. That Wonder Wave above is about $200. If 20 families donated $10 each, you’ve got it paid for.

Pool Dues is all about making it EASY for members to pay their dues and ANYTHING else! You can create an unlimited number of products / services that your pool wants to sell or raise money for. 

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