Time to Play! Kicking

Kids learn by playing. The more you can make learning to swim fun for your kids, the more they’ll like it, the quicker they’ll learn, and the more fun you’ll have teaching them. Kicking is a critical swimming skill. Although it doesn’t provide much power, it’s important for stability. When you’re teaching your kids to kick, you can get a leg up by playing this game on land.

Have your child sit in a chair and hold onto the edge with his hands. Have him extend his legs and see how fast he can kick. How slow. How straight he can keep his legs. Are his ankles flexible? Is he flipping his feet like he’s trying to flick his shoes off?

Now try it in the water.