Soft paddles are used and helmets with faceguards worn in competition. Games Games in canoes are great fun, but make sure someone is keeping an eye out for accidental capsizes, canoes getting blown away, people getting cold, and people getting hit by paddles. Plastic canoes are less likely to get damaged than fibreglass ones. Games with a Ball A wide variety of games can be based on the canoe polo idea. Play outside or in a swimming pool.
Helmets are often a good idea.
Youngsters tend to concentrate only on the end of the paddle in the water, not the end waving around in the air, or their mates face. Two people stand up and swap canoes. One person gets out of their canoe and does a lap of the raft going under and over alternate canoes. Remove one empty canoe each time. If you can cope with a large number of people in the water, then persuade everyone to stand up.