Kids love water! They will not only splash the water around, but they will also fall in love with swimming! To be a perfect swimmer, there are different lessons you can teach your kids including water safety, basic swimming skills and a passion for all aquatic animals. Below are some of the simple and fun activities that will help your child take the first independent strokes in water. They are helpful to teach kids as young as 18 months how to swim. Now, let us get started! 1. Talk to the fishes This is done by allowing your child blow bubbles in the water. After this, ask your kid to listen to the pretend response by placing his ear in the water. This great course will allow your child to control his breath. It is the first step to teach swimming to your kid independently. Encourage your kid to be perfect as swallowing water accidentally can be a frightening setback. Tip: To do this easily, make sure your child come up with a smile on the face when your child submerges his or her face and blows bubbles in water. You must do this too to show your child the fun part of it. 2. Motorboat front float This should be done by holding the arms of your child securely, facing you. When this is done, start walking backward through the water. As you are walking backward with a little speed, the water will push your child into a front float position. Whirl slowly in a circle and chant “Motorboat, Go So Fast – Motorboat, Go Slow.” Lastly, chant “Motorboat, Step on the Gas!” You can either encourage your child to kick his or her feet or blow bubbles. This is done to make your kid comfortable in a horizontal swimming position. Tip: Hold your child fast as he gets accustomed to the front float position so that his or her extended hands are around the back of your neck. In addition to this, help your child stretch his or her legs. This will make your child look as if they are taking a nap on the surface of the water. 3. Catch the fishes Before you get started, make sure the pool you are using is at your child’s waist to chest, and both of you should stand to face each other or sit next to each other. After this, ask your child to try to catch fishes with his hands. Ask your child to perform a front-crawl-like arm stroke. This can be done by reaching their arms up in the air and inserting it into the water, pulling the water toward them as if there are fishes in the water that your child is drawing toward their body. This will teach your child to get used to arm action, which is important in swimming. Tip: This must be done with both fingers together to prevent the fishes from escaping between his fingers. 4. Red light, green light Sit beside your child on a shallow step of the pool. However, if your child is old enough, ask him or her to hold onto the side of the pool while facing the wall. The colours of these lights give different orders. While the green light will make your child kick as if crazy, red light means stop and the yellow light means kick slowly. This will teach them kicking and propulsion. Tip: Allow your kid to make use of their toes – this will help propel them through the water. To be safe, make sure your child always ask for permission before entering the water. They should not go to the pool when it is restricted and not when in use. Some rules like no running on the deck and no horseplay should be taught to your child. You should always hire a professional lifeguard if you are hosting a pool party. 5. Starfish/Pancake Flip Teaching children how to float on their back and front can be a more difficult skill for some. In addition, teaching them the skill of rolling over can be a challenge. Through teaching a diverse group of kids, these are two ways I have found that work great! Telling them to hold a starfish pose on their back, being flat in the water, arms and legs wide, helps them to understand how they should feel in the water while floating. To teach them how to flip over from their back to their belly, I tell them to pretend they are a pancake and I sing the “Pancake Song.” The Pancake Song goes as follows: I’m a little pancake on my back, flip me over just like that! Kids love to pretend they are a pancake and then when you say ‘flip’, you flip them over onto their belly. They then learn how to roll over and be in the same starfish pose they did on their back, only now they are on their tummy. 6. Ring/Coin Toss Both of these are awesome ways for kids to learn how to swim deeper or even to the bottom of the pool. They love to show how they can get things from the bottom and bring them back up. Even better, if you have different color rings, let them pick how many and what colors they would like to retrieve. Kids are more engaged and participative if you let them be a part of the decision-making process. Using different coins is another great idea, as they are always happy to find money at the bottom of the pool! 7. Superhero Glides Teaching superhero glides is a fun way for children to understand what “streamlining” is in the water. They get to pick what kind of superhero they want to be, they show the instructor their “superhero” arms, and then they practice gliding across the water. Not only is it a fun way for them to understand the concept, but it also helps them to remember what it is because they are connecting the skill with something fun! As they progress as a swimmer, then start to teach the real names of the skills. Repetition is important at a young age as they are learning many different skills at one time. 8. Ice Cream Scooping The best way for kids to learn how to use their arms while swimming. Much like the superhero glides, it is an easy and fun way for kids to learn how to use their arms while swimming. They get to choose an ice cream flavor they are going to “scoop” for the day and then they practice taking big scoops of it in the water. It also helps to teach children to keep their fingers together so the water doesn’t go through their hands. I first teach it with them staying in one place and then I have them scoop their ice cream across the pool, always telling them that no one wants little scoops of ice cream, we only want big scoops! 9. Chop, Chop Timber Every kid loves a good round of Chop, Chop, Timber when they are ready to jump in! Many children have a fear of jumping in the water. To make this skill enjoyable for them, we turn it into a game. The kids sit on the edge of the pool in a little seed on the ground. We give them water (splash them) and sunshine (make a sun with your arms) so they can grow into a big tree. They get to pick what type of tree they are and then we chop them down at their knees and they jump in. Some kids will start by holding both hands, one hand, or no hands.
