30 Best Water Games for Kids and Adults

Summer is settling in and we are already surprised by the big heat peaks. The hydration of children is essential at this time of year and we must remain vigilant.

Watch out, it’s splashing! Discover the ideas for games with water to cool down and let off steam: apple water, the world’s largest bubble, the supply game, the famous water slide, pool games, and other water battles! Perfect for outdoor fun in hot weather.

Take a few ideas from our water games to have fun in the garden this summer and keep the kids busy during the holidays!

Best Water Games for Kids Adults

Combining games in the water with fun activities for children is not always easy. Become aware of water, improve swimming technique, overcome a fear or simply have fun in the pool, here are some ideas to entertain children from 5 years old.

Water games with balloon

water balloons best water games kids adults

No need to wait until all the balloons are full to make water balloon games. Instead, make it a game like this: give each child the same amount of balloons and a small bottle of empty water that they will use to fill their balloons.

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Fill a large water tank where children can put water in their bottles to fill their balloons. The first to fill all his balloons is the winner. Once all the balloons are full of water, you can use them to play other water games or let the children go wild throwing them at each other.

Water bombs battle

Fill a large package of small balloons with water. Once that is done, the children can have fun throwing balloons full of water at each other to start a real battle. The classic, the water bomb battle! This is a big deal and the kids are having a great time!

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

With these water balloons, you can also make a baseball, a pass to 10 or combine them in the shape of a cluster and hang them up high. You then have a pinata of water balloons: guaranteed refreshment!

The largest water balloon fight consisted of 8,957 participants and was achieved by Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Kentucky (USA) in Lexington, USA, on 27 August 2011. 175,141 water balloons were used during the fight. Guinness World Records

The Spoon race

  • 1 player and + several water bombs
  • 1 wooden spoon per player
Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Run a course in the garden, with small obstacles to make it more difficult, holding your water bomb at the end of a wooden spoon. You mustn’t drop the ball, of course!

Water baseball

Here the goal is clear: to water oneself! One player throws the water bomb and the other player has to hit it! If he succeeds, he will be soaked!

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Large water ball

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

In this water game, each child receives a ball. When it’s his turn, the idea is to see how much water he can fill it with without bursting it. He can fill it as much as he wants, but if the balloon bursts, he is eliminated. The one with the largest water-filled balloon is allowed to blow it up right next to the other players.

Darts

For older children and teens, playing darts can be a fun water game. Just hang the balloons on a target and give each one value. See who can accumulate the most points for each exploded balloon.

The grenade

Put yourself in a circle, hold the balloon filled with water, which we will call “grenade”! ».
Throw the grenade as high as possible by shouting the name of one of the players. He must then hurry to catch the grenade before it hits the ground and explodes!
It’s his turn to throw the grenade and so on… until one of them arrives too late and misses the grenade that will explode between his legs!

Hot potato

Just like the traditional water game of hot potato… but whoever holds the balloon filled with water when the music stops, must burst it on his head. One of the water balloon games that the kids are going to want to do over and over again… watch out, they’re all going to want to keep the potato hot.

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Have the children sit in a circle, throw music and start rotating a water ball, each passing it to the player to his or her left. Then, at random intervals, turn off the music. The one who holds the water balloon when the music stops bursts it on his head and is eliminated. The last child in play is the winner.

Rugby water balloon

Just like in real rugby, the purpose of this water game is to place the ball on the goal line. But unlike the familiar leather balloon, water balloons are a little more fragile. Each team, in turn, will take on the role of the offensive or defensive team.

While the offensive team is busy trying to protect its precious cargo, the defensive team is doing everything in its power to break the ball. The team that puts the most balls in safety wins the game.

Obstacle course

Organize an area for an obstacle course and place water balloons at random all along the way. The children stand on the starting line and start a race next to each other avoiding the balloons, the one who bursts a balloon returns to the starting point.

When the first race is over, make a smaller surface for the obstacle course and bring the water balloons closer together, and start a new race. Reduce the obstacle course area until the entire area is almost entirely filled with balloons! Be careful, this water balloon game will become more and more difficult!

Back-to-back

Pairs of children hold a water balloon between their backs and go as fast as possible to the finish line without bursting it. If it bursts, they have to run to the starting line to get another one.

Balloon slide

A simple water game for the youngest. Roll water balloons on a slide with another person downstairs trying to catch him – my son loved doing that when he was a kid

The best water games to play in a swimming pool

Because we are eager for summer to come and we look forward to enjoying the pool, we have made a small selection of the best pool water games for you and your children to play!

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Always respect swimming pool safety rules.

Secret messages

The cult water game in the pool, this water game is simple! In a swimming pool, children are equipped with diving goggles and must put their heads underwater to try to make their friends guess a word, a trade or an expression.

30 Best Water Games for Kids and Adults 14 - Kids Playhouses & Playgrounds

Be careful not to stay underwater for too long, of course! Three attempts are possible in this game of aquatic mimes that will keep them busy for a long time while staying cool.

Balloons in the pool

In the garden or municipal pool, children can also take an inflatable balloon and have fun throwing it, scoring goals or making as many passes as possible without dropping it into the water.

Another water game is to give them a wooden spoon and ask them to keep the ball on the spoon as long as possible. By moving around and then performing the figures of your choice such as lifting a foot or putting your head underwater.

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Aquacourses

Entertainment guaranteed! These are traditional timed races. But for the children’s amusement, it is always better to add an additional challenge (which if not accomplished announces the participant’s defeat). These can be races where:

  • the children must sing a song
  • children must swim without using their legs
  • children must swim with a board, etc.

The aquatic relays

A minimum of four children is required for this water game. In addition, no accessories are required. All you have to do is split the group into two teams and give orders of passage. From the moment a team member has finished swimming and completed the relay (slapping the next one’s hand, hitting the wall, putting a ball in a basket, etc.) the next player must leave, and so on.

30 Best Water Games for Kids and Adults 17 - Kids Playhouses & Playgrounds

The first group of children to finish the relay wins.

The thief

Ideal for leading a group, but without the competition aspect, which makes it a less formal game. Each participant must pin a piece of fabric on the back of their swimsuit, making it stick out.

The objective of the game is to keep the piece of fabric intact and steal others’. Once you lose your piece of fabric, you have to get out of the pool. A game to be played at least at 5.

Water treasure hunt

Throw dripping objects, rings and anything else you want into a pool and offer your children a treasure hunt.

They will then have to pick them up at the bottom of the pool as soon as possible. Race against the clock for a single child, vary by winning the one who brings the most if you have two children to take care of or an aquatic relay race if it is a group of children.

Be careful to vary the depth well by adapting to your child’s level and age and to stay close to him.

Acrobatic swimming pool

In this water game to be played at the pool, your children will have to perform tricks in the water, jumping off the edge or jumping out of the water.

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

You choose the movements to reproduce and don’t forget to capture these moments and take a load of fun photos, each one more than the next.

Basketball and Volleyball

All you need is two teams, and the number of players can vary. Before starting the water game, you will need to have the appropriate balls and inflatable sneaker baskets (in the case of basketball) and pool volleyball or inflatable nets (depending on whether the players are large or small).

You can make your own nets by braiding plants!

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Water polo

The ultimate aquatic sport! Both exciting and technical, this sport is highly recommended from an early age. It will also require two teams, and a ball, to which must be added 2 inflatable water polo cages, which is easily found.

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Do not forget the rules for running the water game correctly: you must not have a foot or take any support in the pool to play without fault! The objective is easy to explain to children: you have to score goals in the opposing team’s goals, just like in football.

The prisoner balloon

Still with two camps to be set up, which will be at each end of the pool. There’s nothing like it to lead a group of children. From 4, to be done with a balloon. You have to touch the children of the opposing team with the ball.

Once touched, the player is taken prisoner, and the prison can be either in the pool or outside. The team that takes all the players of the opposing team prisoner wins!

The circle

Children must have a foot. This water game is played by 6 participants. All you need is a balloon. In a circle, the children throw the ball at each other, and only one is placed in the center of the circle. This one has to catch the ball. If he succeeds, the last one to throw the ball will go to the center, and so on. Ideal to lead the group!

The piranha

The children are in the pool, with the water in the pool (easy level) or on the shoulders (more difficult). They will form a circle by holding hands. A piranha, represented as a balloon, is placed in the middle of the circle. The objective is not to be touched by the floating piranha. When a child is touched he is eliminated from the game.

The more children leave the circle, the more difficult the water game is because the circle is getting smaller and smaller. You can blow on the balloon to make it move, or you can pull the others towards the balloon.

Classic water games

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Duck fishing

Duck fishing is a classic at fairs. In the middle of summer, we offer you a variation that children will love! Look for a water point with calm water…

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Place ducks or floating toys on the water. Your children must then net fish for all toys. With their feet in the water, they will refresh themselves while having fun.

This activity can also be done in a swimming pool.

Water guns

When summer arrives, the toy star is undoubtedly the water gun! Kids love this toy as old as the world.

You can ask your child to do a classic battle, but also to play cowboys by lining up ping-pong balls on bottles. The children must then aim and drop the balls.

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They can use the spray gun to move small cars forward and thus launch a race or aim at targets.

In any case, don’t forget a water charging station nearby so that children don’t get tired of it! Consider adding small drops of paint to the water for even more fun.

Create a rainbow in the garden

Here’s water game kids will love: creating a rainbow in the garden! A fun and fascinating way to demonstrate that when sunlight is projected onto a “screen” of water drops at a certain angle, the water reflects this light by separating all the colors that compose it.

All you have to do is turn your back on the sun, i.e. water in the same direction as your shadow and observe the most beautiful optical phenomenon unfolding before your eyes: an instant rainbow!

Best Water Games for Kids & Adults

Now ask the children to point the hose in different directions (facing the sun, three quarters, etc.) and observe what is happening: is the rainbow moving? Is he still present?
And of course, for the good of science, we take the opportunity to water our brothers, sisters, dogs and even our parents!

At a children’s party, you can dramatize the water game either in a scientific way “how do you make a rainbow?” or in a magical way, “make a wish and cross the rainbow! To your imagination!

Giant soap bubbles water game

Making a giant soap bubble depends on half on science and magic! With two or three things, you can make gigantic and beautiful bubbles and spend the whole day bubbling!

30 Best Water Games for Kids and Adults 26 - Kids Playhouses & Playgrounds
  • Start by putting two straws on the string. Make a knot, a bit like making a noodle necklace but with two straws!
  • Mix the dishwashing liquid and water in a basin.
  • Hold the two straws in your hands and soak your straw necklace in the basin of soapy water. Make a movement neither too fast nor too slow, to pass air through the bubble!
  • To close the bubble, make a drier movement.

Here are our tips for pretty giant soap bubbles: It’s all about mixing: You need ten parts water for three to four parts dishwashing liquid. It is the ideal mixture to make beautiful big bubbles!

The soap race water game

Children will love this outdoor activity: the soap run. For three times nothing, prepare a track and boats for soap races. It is really such an easy and fun to do with the family in summer during the holidays.

Cut diamonds from the coloured paper. Fold them in half and attach them to the toothpicks. Each player uses a different paper color to identify his soap boat.

Place the gutter on the slightly inclined floor. The longer the gutter is, the more hectic the race will be! Attach the hose to one end. The flow should not be too high, just enough to make a small calm river.

Place the soap at the top of the track and let them down. The first one to arrive at the bottom is the winner!

Fishing apples

Place apples in a large bowl of water. Children should then grab the apples with their mouths only with their hands behind their backs.

Take turns or at the same time, as long as there is no waste, the apples will be bitten right after this refreshing activity.

Water slide

Soap the tarpaulin to make it slippery. Each participant starts in a swimsuit on the track and must go as far as possible. Whoever goes the furthest has won!

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For variety, you can add obstacles to avoid or on the contrary to destroy!

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