Dive for Treasures Team Challenge

Kids love diving to collect treasures from the bottom of the pool! In this game, expert swimmers will get to show off their skills of holding their breath and kicking down and up as they race to collect the most toys for their team. For children in water-wings, this game can be modified to include toys that float on the water’s surface. You can play this game with as little as two kids or as many as your pool can fit!

You will need:

At least 2-3x’s the amount of pool toys as there are children
- I like to use a mix of toys that sink to the bottom and toys that float on top of the water to make it more dynamic and friendly for all swim levels!
2 swim-thru hoops
- These will be laid flat on the outside of the pool to act as a team base, where the children will return their toys to win. You can opt for fancy Treasure Chests to stay on theme or use storage containers you may already have. I prefer to use hoops because they have a large surface area and no tall edge, so it’s easy for multiple children to access at once, even while swimming.

How to Play:

Divide your party into two teams. If there is a diverse age group or varied swim levels, try to split them evenly so each team has some divers and some floatie friends.

Place each hoop near the pool’s edge on opposite sides of the pool. Assign each team to a colored hoop and have them line up along the corresponding edge.

Toss ALL the toys into the pool, spreading them out as much as possible. On your countdown, both teams will jump into the pool and race to collect the most toys. If you’re short on toys, only allow children to retrieve one toy at a time, swimming it all the way to their team’s hoop, before returning to collect more toys.

Once all the toys have been collected, have the children help you count up the toys in each hoop. The team who collects the most toys in their designated hoop, wins!!

Rules to remind the kids:

Do NOT jump in until my countdown.
Only carry ONE toy back to your hoop at a time. If I catch you carrying more than one toy, I’m gonna toss ‘em ALL back!
NO Throwing! This isn’t basketball, you must swim each toy to the pool’s edge and place it within your team’s hoop.
If you know how to dive under the water, please go for those toys first and allow our friends in floaties to retrieve the floating toys.