13 Backyard Water Olympics Games
Ready, Set, Splash! Dive into a splash-tacular summer with our Ultimate Guide to a Water Olympics showdown! Whether you’re looking to beat the heat or battle for bragging rights, these games promise to bring the competition—and the laughs. So, grab your swimsuits and competitive spirit—it’s time to make a big splash and find out which team will be the ultimate Backyard Water Olympics champion!
We’ve even created a Backyard Water Olympics Scorecard 🗒️ to get you started!
1. Water Balloon Relay
Supplies: water balloons🎈 and 2 laundry baskets 🗑️
Prep: Place a laundry basket on one side of the yard for each team. Fill a bin or cooler with water balloons and set it on the opposite side.
How to Play: For this Water Olympics relay, one player from each team will stand across the yard holding a laundry basket on top of their head. One player at a time takes turns tossing water balloons across the yard, aiming for the basket. Players holding the basket may move around, but the basket must remain on their heads. After time is called, count how many balloons landed—and stayed—in the basket!
How to Win: 🏅 Team with the most water balloons in their basket wins! Add points to the Scorecard.
2. Sponge Run
Supplies: 2 large sponges 🧽 and 4 buckets 🪣
Prep: Set up two stations for each team. On one side of the yard, fill a bucket with water and place a sponge inside. Directly across the yard, place an empty bucket for each team. Use tape or a marker to draw a fill line on each empty bucket—that’s the finish line!
How to Play: This game is played relay-style. The object of this Water Olympics game is to be the first team to fill a bucket with water! Simple enough, right? One player at a time will soak the sponge, balance it on their head, and race to the empty bucket to wring it out. Then they run back and tag their next teammate. Continue the relay until one team fills their bucket to the marked fill line.
How to Win: The first team to fill their bucket to the water line is the winner!🏅 Award points to the winning team and add them to your Scorecard!
3. Water Bottle Toss
Supplies: 2 empty water bottles, 4 buckets 🪣
Prep: Set up two stations for each team.Fill a bucket with water for each team and place an empty water bottle inside. Across the yard, place an empty bucket for each team. Use tape or a marker to draw a fill line on each empty bucket—that’s the finish line!
How to Play: The first player will dunk their water bottle into a full bucket of water, filling it to the top and tossing it to their teammate across the yard. The teammate that catches the water bottle will empty the remaining water into an empty bucket. Then, players switch roles.
How to Win: Continue this Water Olympics relay until one team fills their bucket to the fill line, noted by a piece of tape or a marker. The first team to fill up their bucket wins! 🏅 Award points to the winning team and add them to your Scorecard!
4. Over/Under Pass
Supplies: 2 plastic cups 🥤 and 2 buckets 🪣
Prep: Form a line of players for each team. Place a full bucket at the front of each line and an empty bucket at the back.
How to Play: For this Water Olympics game, each team should get in a single file line between their two buckets. Players pass a cup of water from front to back, alternating over their heads and under their legs. The last player dumps the remaining water into the empty bucket and runs to the front to continue the relay.
How to Win: The cycle continues until time is called. 🏅 Team with the most water in their bucket when time’s up wins! Add points to the Scorecard.
5. Dizzy Waiter
Supplies: 2 trays, 2 pool noodles, plastic cups 🥤, 4 buckets 🪣
Prep: Fill 2 buckets with water and place them at one end of the lawn. On this same side place the 2 trays and pool noodles at each team’s station. On the other end of the lawn, place an empty bucket for each team. Use tape or a marker to draw a fill line on each empty bucket—that’s the finish line!
How to Play: Taking turns, players spin around a pool noodle seven times, pick up a tray of full water cups, and carefully carry it across the lawn to their empty bucket. Once they reach the other side, they dump any remaining water into their team’s bucket and run back with their tray and cups where they will tag the next teammate.
How to Win: 🏅 First team to reach the fill line wins! Add points to the Scorecard!
6. Drip, Drip, Drench (a twist on Duck, Duck, Goose)
Supplies: 1 sponge 🧽 and a bucket of water
Prep: Fill a bucket with water and soak the sponge. Have players sit in a circle on the grass.
How to Play: For this Water Olympics game one player is “it” and walks around the circle, squeezing a little water on each head saying “drip, drip, drip…” until choosing one person to shout “drench!” and squeeze the whole sponge on their head. That player jumps up and chases “it.” If caught, “it” goes again. If not, the drenched player becomes the new “it.”
How to Win: 🏅 Play just for laughs or give points to the team with the most successful “catches”! Add them to the Scorecard.
7. Water Gun Relay 🔫
Supplies: 2 water guns 🔫 and 4 buckets 🪣
Prep: Each team gets a filled water bucket (for refilling) and an empty bucket across the yard. Create a boundary line around each team’s target bucket.
How to Play: The goal of this Water Olympics game is to be the team with the LEAST amount of water in your bucket when the time ends! Players try to fill up the other teams bucket with water only using water guns. One player can stay behind to “goal keep,” blocking shots from behind the boundary line.
How to Win: 🏅 Team with the least amount of water in their bucket at the end wins! Add points to the Scorecard!
8. Sponge Dodgeball
Supplies: 8–10 soaked sponges 🧽
Prep: Place soaked sponges in a line down the center of the lawn. Each team will then line up on and stand on opposite sides of the lawn.
How to Play: Each team will line up on opposite sides of the lawn. On “GO!” players run to grab sponges and try to hit players on the opposing team. If you’re hit, you’re out. If you catch a sponge thrown by the opposing team, the thrower is out.
How to Win:🏅 The team with the last man standing wins! Add points to the Scorecard.
9. Shaving Cream Water War
Supplies: shaving cream, swimming goggles, water guns 🔫
Prep: Each player covers themselves in shaving cream–from head to toe– avoiding the eyes and mouth. Players should wear swimming goggles for eye safety.
How to Play: Players try to wash shaving cream off of their opponents using water guns, while keeping as much on theirselves as possible.
How to Win: 🏅 Team with the most shaving cream left after time runs out wins! Add points to the Scorecard.
10. Water Balloon Pop
Supplies: Water balloons 🎈, plastic forks 🍴, blindfolds, string
Prep: Hang about 20 water balloons for each team (in different colors) on a clothesline or tree at random. Designate a color for each team. Teams will designate one player to be blindfolded and handed a plastic fork.
How to Play: The goal of this Water Olympics game is to be the first team to pop all of your own balloons! One blindfolded player from each team enters the play area at a time, armed with a plastic fork. Teammates stand at a distance, giving verbal directions to guide their blindfolded player toward their team’s balloons.
Here’s the twist: both teams will be playing at the same time, which means two sets of instructions are being shouted at once! With all the noise, blindfolded players can easily get turned around—and might even pop a balloon for the wrong team. No physical guiding is allowed, so communication is key!
How to Win: 🏅 First team to pop all of their own balloons wins! Add points to the Scorecard.
11. Pool Noodle Joust
Supplies: 2 pool noodles, sprinklers
Prep: The key to an epic pool noodle joust in the heat of summer is to simply… turn on the sprinklers! Have each team choose one jouster.
How to Play: For this Water Olympics game, each team nominates one representative to participate in a pool noodle joust against the other team. The two chosen players face off with pool noodles. First player to land 3 light taps (“jousts”) on their opponent wins the round.
How to Win: 🏅 Team with the winning jouster earns the points! Add them to the Scorecard.
12. Frozen T-shirt Race
Supplies: 2 frozen t-shirts 👕🧊
Prep: Soak t-shirts in water, wring them out, and freeze them overnight.
How to Play: On “GO!” each team races to thaw out their frozen t-shirt using only their hands and body heat. The first team to have a player wearing the frozen t-shirt wins!
🏅 Winning team scores the points! Add them to the Scorecard.
13. Slip-n-Slide Bowling
Supplies: Slip ’n slide, 6 empty plastic liter bottles (bowling pins), 1 inflatable beach ball 🏖️
Prep: Set up a slip ’n slide on a gentle downhill slope or grassy area. Line up 6 empty liter bottles like bowling pins at the end.
How to Play: One player at a time runs and slides down the slip ’n slide, trying to knock over as many “pins” as possible using their body or by launching the beach ball ahead of them.
How to Win: 🏅 Team with the highest total number of pins knocked down after all players go wins! Add them to the Scorecard.
🏁 Ready to Compete?
With the games set, the water balloons filled, and the scorecard printed, you’re officially ready to host your very own Backyard Water Olympics! Whether you’re playing with neighbors, cousins, or your crew of campers, these games are guaranteed to bring out the laughs.
Don’t forget to [download our Backyard Water Olympics Scorecard🗒️] to track points and declare your champions!
Looking for More Family Fun?
Check out our [Top 10 Rainy Day Activities for Kids] or [Simple Activities to Get Kids Moving]!
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