Exploring Underwater Games

These games are all focused on working on recreational athlete becoming more comfortable underwater. They are not meant for competitive athletes unless it is just for throwing in something easy and fun!

Remember to stay away for 'lets see how long we can hold our breath' games as they are not safe.

Also remember to ALWAY supervise any underwater activities!

Sharks and Mino's

Ages 5-12, 6+ People

Water Activity

No Equipment

Sharks and Mino's is a 'British Bull Dog' style tag game.

The shark is in the middle of the pool and when the shark 'chomps' his teeth, the mino's try to swim across pool without getting tagged by shark.

If a mino gets tagged then they have to join the shark.

Remember to change up who is shark frequently.

Variations:

-Underwater is a safe zone. If a mino is underwater they can't get tagged.

-Sharks can only tag if they are underwater

-Mino's can only swim under water. If they come up to take a breath then they cannot move but they are safe.

The Penny Game

Ages 5-10, 1+ People

Water Activity

Sinkable Toys

O the penny game!! This one is super basic. Use pennies or sinkable toys and through them into the pool. Let the athletes retrieve them.

Do this in the shallow end for weaker swimmers or athletes having difficulty getting down to the bottom of the pool.

The Under Game

Ages 5-12, 1+ People

Water Activity

No Equipment

Another really basic game. Kids love it though!

Basically have the swimmers swim and 'under' and see how far they can make it. Make sure they see how far they made it and mark it with a flutter board if you have to.

Have them try it again to see if they can go any farther.

You can even keep track of this to see if they can go farther week to week.

** REMEMBER TO SUPERVISE WHEN ATHLETES ARE DOING UNDERS

Underwater Dance Party

Ages 5+, 2+ People

Water Activity

Music needed

An underwater dance party is pretty much just that!

Allow the swimmers to have fun and interact with eachother. They can come up to breath when ever needed but the point is to be dancing underwater.

Change the music every 30 seconds or so and hopefully they will change the way they are moving. Try to give little to no direction and let them experiment on their own.

Movement Laps

Ages 5+, 1+ People

Land or Water Activity

No Equipment

This game works for all ages and abilities and is a great simple way to get athletes out of their shell and get more comfortable underwater.

Have the athletes work on their own and call out different ways for they to swim across the pool underwater.

Some examples are:

-Swim like you are a jellyfish

-Swim touching every line on your way

-Swim spinning the whole time

-Swim with your big toe out of the water the whole time

Reverse Leap Frog

Ages 8-12, 3+ People

Water Activity

No Equipment

Have group get into a line. Everyone except for person on end gets into a back layout (sailboat, tub, pretzel would also work).

The swimmer not in back layout swims under the swimmers one at a time, popping up in-between like leap frog!

Make sure to switch to that everyone gets a turn at both roles!

Underwater Tunnel

Ages 7-10, 2+ People

Water Activity

Hula Hoops

Give each athlete (except one) 1 or 2 hula hoops. Have the athletes with hoops get into a line and hold the hoops out at different levels.

The athlete who doesn't have the hoops swims through the newly created tunnel of hula hoops.

Rotate the athletes so that everyone gets a turn.

Do this in the shallow end for weaker swimmers and in the deepend for stonger ones.

If you done have hula hoops the swimmers can create their own tunnel by standing in a straddle in the shallow end.

The Underwater Animal Game

Ages 5+, 1+ People

Land and water activity

No equipment

Again, The animal game is essentially charades. The 'classic' version is that we ask the swimmers to think of an animal, and act it out while the others guess. All you have to do for the underwater version is do it underwater! Remeber toGet the swimmers to practice first. The point is to get them to move creatively so give them time to try it out. I usually get them to do a lap, or to the 3rd line and back as their animal.

There are lots of fun underwater animals. How does a squid move? Jelly fish? Seahorse? Sooo much fun! Again I don't like using dolphins, and sometimes I take out types of 'fish' all together. They aren't really moving differently if they are a clown fish vs a goldfish.

So here are some variations on the animal game:

-BRANCH OUT FROM ANIMALS!!!! Try other things. Some of my faviorts are: Natural disastors, forms of transportation, emotions.

-Do it in groups. You can do pairs or bigger! How would you make a snake if you had to be connected with someone?

Musical Hoops

Ages 5-12, 4+ People

Water Activity

Hula Hoops

Musical Hoops is like musical chairs but with hula hoops in the water!

Layout 1 less hula hoop then you have swimmers. Play music and have athletes swim around. When the music stops then the athletes have to swim underwater and pop up in an empty hoop.

Remove one hoop each round until there is only one left. The person who is first in that last hoop is the winner.

To follow our MAX rule, no one sits out. If they do not find a hoop in one round then they have to do a back layout or 10 bobs or something else instead of being 'out'.

Variations:

-Play 'sardines' version. More then one person can fit inside one hoop!

-Play in shallow or deepend depending on athletes skill level

Shapes Game

Ages 5-12, 1+ People

Land or Water Activity

No Equipment

This is a game can be done upside-down in the deepend, in a handstand in the shallow end, or just underwater in the deepend.

Have athletes go out in pool and find their own space. Call out different number, letters and shapes for them to try to make. Some examples are: T, X, 6, Star, Circle, i, O, P

Freeze Tag

Ages 5+, 4+ People

Land or Water Activity

No Equipment

You can play this in the shallow OR deep end.

Pick a tagger (or multiple for larger groups). Remember to change who the tagger is frequently.

When a swimmer gets tagged they have to hold a backlayout (or anyother position for that matter) until someone swims under them!