source: www.youthwork-practice.com | 2000 Games, Devotions, Themes, Ideas and more for Youth Work
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more ... Water Games

Car wash

Is expandable in that cars to be washed at the car wash, car model and wash programmes can be incorporated. So: “I am a Mini and would like a full-wash/soft wash/normal wash”. Advantage is that each person can ascertain how many water jets they need.
Coffee-Splash

The children sit in the water on a float and paddle with their hands to the other side of the pool. After strenuous exercise provides a good balance, and is greatly enjoyed by the children.

The Mill

The children and supervisors stand in a circle and move in a predetermined direction. The leader starts with the words “We count to ten the Mill stands still”. Then everyone counts from 1 to 10. Now the leader says “We count to 100 the Mill goes under”. Everyone walks in the opposite direction and count 10, 20, 30….100 and then dip their heads under. Then everyone walks back in the direction they started and the leader says: “we count to one thousand the mill starts to zoom”. Everyone starts counting again from 100, 200, 300…1000 and then starts to run. The leader then starts again from the beginning: “We count to ten, the mill stands still.” All count to ten again and stop at 10.
Sent in by Stefan
Rescue Bridge

All apart from one hold onto each others hands. Then the one remaining person lies on the hands of the others and is transported in this way and to finish is thrown into the water.
Car Racing

All the children receive a small ring that serves a steering wheel. And so we are at the Formula 1. At the starting line all the children set off in their cars; no one is allowed to be touched. The children should loudly imitate cars. En route, a storm could unfold – the children are squirted wet by the team leader. At the end of the race the cars are to be driven back into the garage i.e. the swimming pool edge. This works brilliantly as a warm up game for younger children
Bottle championships

For this you need an approx 1-2 metre long inflatable air-bottle; sit on this and using a spoon try and reach the other side.
Sent in by Heßler Julia
Under-Water-Chinese whispers

The children stand in a row, the first in the row thinks of a word which he tells to the person next to him under water. This continues down the row. The last person in the row has to say the word out loud.
Sent in by Astrid
Towel-Transport

Each team receives a dry hand towel. This towel has to be spread out and transported over the water; that is the children have to keep the towel dry by keeping it out of the water whilst swimming. At the end the two towels have to be weighed using kitchen scales. The team with the lighter towel (i.e. drier towel) wins.
Sent in by Sonja.
Rain- sun- storm

The children swim around each other in the pool (perhaps to music). The team leader randomly calls out the words – rain, sun or storm. With rain, the children should splash water like mad (using hands or feet), with sun they should lie on their backs and float in the water and for storm they should get to the edge or onto am moving float/mat in the water (more difficult).
Sent in by Simone

White Shark

At one corner of the pool attach a rope and a belt. One of the players is tied to this – acting as a white shark. The other players have to attempt to reach the other half of the pool without being caught by the shark.
Ring Sport

Particularly good for adults also wanting to have a pool party. You simply buy a large rubber swimming ring. Then each person has to try and sit with their back-sides in the ring. This is timed. Larger or heavier people will find it harder to get in than lighter people. This is great fun and gives you something to laugh about. You could also have a “movement-rally”. Additionally while you are at it, you can also try diving through the ring – in and over the top and out of the bottom or in from the bottom and out over the top. Old car hoses (beware to seal off any vents) are good for this purpose.
Animal Sounds

Several players have to draw cards one after the other with animal pictures on. These then have to be mimicked acoustically under water in an amazing and impressive way. The person with the loudest and most recognisable animal sound wins and receives a cup.
Who has the longest?

2 players dive simultaneously under water; then time how long each person manages to stay under. Who will be able to hold their breath the longest?
Swim noodle ring

Two players circle around the Swim noodle of the others. To do this a swim noodle is attached to the person’s back using a belt tied around the waist. It is important that the swim noodle is sitting loosely i.e. don’t tie the belt too tightly so that it becomes impossible to pull the swim noodle out.
Long jump and long-dive

Stand on the diving board or something similar and try to jump as far as possible and then dive down for as long as possible. Whoever dives down for the quickest length of time is out. At the end one person remains.
Journey to Jerusalem

Each child receives a swimming noodle or a ring and using a connector, is formed into a circle. I switch some music on and the children have to start moving. When the music stops all the children have to find a tyre. Whoever is left without a tyre is out. One tyre is then taken away from the pool and the child who is out sits at the edge of the pool. The game continues in this way till only two children and one tyre remain.
The water figure

This idea stems from the film Dirty Dancing. Two ‘players’ (ideally a boy and a girl) stand opposite each other. The boy places his hands on the girls hips and when both a are ready, the girl jumps up and the boy supports her in the air – he has to hold her like this for as long as possible. Of course both participants have to be standing in water (minimum height of chest level) so that nothing can happen.
TARZAN

Hang a rope to a post and then play Tarzan so to speak; the mini-plastic-paddling pool should be placed further and further away – the winner is the one who manages to jump into the pool when others fail to do so.

Note: the jumping height should not be high. The plastic pool will otherwise not last long. Beware- risk of slipping!
Poker chips

A box of poker chips is thrown into the pool and the opponents have to collect as many chips as possible, and continue until they have all been collected. Then they are counted: the team with the most chips wins.
Water-song

Two people stand opposite one another in the water. Then both go under water. One person sings a song. When both come back up to the surface the other has to guess which song was being sung. If they guess wrong then the other person has to sing another song under the water. If he guesses right however, it is their turn to sing.
Seal-Game

There are two teams who stand on one side of the pool. This operates like a relay – each team has a ball which they have to transport from one side to the other on their heads.
Guess the person

There has to be a minimum of 3 players – more if possible. One person is chosen as the ‘searcher’. The others spread themselves out in the pool and with closed eyes the searcher has to try and catch the others. Whoever is first to be caught now becomes the catcher.
Blowing boats

Each child makes a coloured paper-boat. The boat then has to be blown from one side to the other.
A contribution from Martina