Affordable pool sports, floating board games, and gear that turns your backyard into the most-used pool in the neighborhood. Most picks under $100.

Your pool is gorgeous. It cools you off, it raises your home value, and it makes your backyard the envy of the cul-de-sac. But after a few weeks of summer, even the most beautiful pool can start to feel like a one-trick amenity. Swim. Float. Repeat.

The fastest way to fix that is also the cheapest. Pool toys and games. Real ones, built for adults as much as kids. At Blue Haven, we have spent more than 65 years designing backyard pool resorts, and the pattern is the same every summer. Pools with a basketball hoop and a volleyball net get used more often. Family game night moves outside. Adult dinner parties end in a pool joust bracket. Kids invent rules and stick with them all summer.

Below are 10 of our favorites. Most are under $100, none require a contractor, and every one of them is built to make your pool the place everyone wants to be.

—Check out these muscle-building options designed for using in the water

By Guest Expert Matt Dustin, BS Exercise Science, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist

Tired of boring workouts at the gym? It might be time to consider some aquatic fitness. 

A swimming pool is an ideal environment for exercise, and resistance training in water can be a great alternative to stale routines with the same old gym equipment. Plus you get to keep cool in the water and skip getting sweaty.

—How working out in in heated H20 can enhance your fitness and overall health 

By Guest Expert: Matt Dustin, BS Exercise Science, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist

When the temperature drops outside, thoughts of going for a run or making a trip to the gym in the cold can be unappealing, to say the least.

Rather than break your good regimen, consider taking your workout to the closest hot tub, inground spa—or a heated whirlpool or hydrotherapy pool that may be available at your gym or housing complex.

Whether at home or at a public facility, the warm bubbling water is ideal for both exercise and hydrotherapy—even when it’s cold outside.

Enjoy functionality and style in a private pool designed for fitness

Form & Function: Unlike generic lap pools at public facilities, the design you have custom built for your backyard can have eye-catching features like this towering planter-cascade waterfall, as well as a private hydrotherapy spa.

Swimming laps is an excellent form of exercise that delivers a full-body workout. While you may currently make them part of your fitness routine at a community pool or public facility, you could be doing so more comfortably in your own residential lap pool!

Fitness, family fun, convenience, hydrotherapy, and avoiding public-pool dangers 

Residential pools provide homeowners and their families with multiple opportunities for beneficial exercise, relaxation, and family fun in the privacy of their backyard.

UPDATED

Along with adding beauty to your outdoor space and value to your home, a swimming pool can contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

Your pool should be the place your family relaxes, not the place you stress about sunscreen. But walk down the sunscreen aisle and you face a wall of bottles, each one claiming to be the best. Pick the wrong one and you risk sunburn, premature aging, and a higher skin cancer risk for the people you love most.

We design backyard pools that families spend their whole summer around, and the right sunscreen is what keeps those days going. Here are 7 simple rules for picking one that actually works in and around the water.

Simple steps that make all the difference

Whether you’re an active or recreational swimmer, you’re probably familiar with how chlorinated pools can wreak havoc on your hair, skin, and nails. For your hair in particular, chlorinated water can break down and dry out the cuticle─leaving you with a brittle, tangled mess!

Unfortunately, chlorinated swimming pools are tough to avoid: While pool sanitizing technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years, many public and private pools still use heavy chemical loads in their water. Outside of the controlled environment of your backyard pool (where safer, gentler methods like UV light and ozone can be used), you’re bound to encounter chlorine─and all of its nasty side effects.

Looking to enjoy a dip in the pool while keeping you hair fresh, happy, and healthy? Stay low-stress and tame your tresses with these 5 Ways to Protect Your Hair from Harsh Pool Chlorine.