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How to Teach the Back Float: Stage 1

People tend to think of floating as basic, but it takes a lot of practice. Even for adults, floating without moving is tough. Floating is about getting a feel for buoyancy and your body. For kids, who are less buoyant, it can be one of the hardest things to master. Here’s how to teach your kids to float on their backs.

First of all, remember that the back float can feel precarious for kids without much body fat. We’re most buoyant in the lungs, but even if the chest remains near the surface, the legs and lower body will tend to sink. The sinking feeling can cause kids to panic. It’s important to ease into teaching this swimming skill.

The First Stage of Teaching the Back Float

The back float is an ideal skill to practice on dry land. Most kids don’t like the feeling of being in the water on their backs. They tend to try to lift their heads and bend at the waist, which makes them sink. Practicing on land helps them to get a feel for what to expect of their bodies before they have to cope with the water. Have your child lie on his back on dry land and focus on keeping his shoulder blades and bottom touching the floor and his legs and arms relaxed. Have him tilt his head back so that his chin is pointing up.

Use the bathtub to help your child get used to the sensation of lying on his back in the water with the water over his ears. Have him lie on his back while the pool fills or drains and the water is just deep enough to cover his ears. Lie in the bath yourself with your child lying on top of you on his back. He’ll get used to the sensation of being buoyant and floating but feel completely supported by your body.

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Teaching Your Kids to Move Underwater

Once they have a feel for moving in the water and for breath control, most kids love to dive under the water. It’s fun and freeform and as close to being a fish as you can get. Here’s how to teach your kids to move underwater.

Moving Underwater: The first stage

Have your child stand in the pool in a spot where he can touch the bottom. Ask him to touch his toes. Next, drop sinking toys or coins and have him pick them up.

The Next Stage

Move to deeper water. Have your child hold onto the edge of the pool and try to pick up sinking toys or coins from the bottom.

Show him how to move his hands from his thighs into a palms-together position and then move them like an arrow into streamline position. Next, have him turn his hands so that his palms face away from each other, shape his palms into cups, and pull his arms out, with his elbows slightly bent, until his hands touch his thighs. Have him practice this motion out of the water and on the surface until he’s ready to use it to propel him to the bottom of the pool. At this stage, he can use a flutter kick.

Once he feels comfortable with his arm motions, have him try moving his legs like a frog to kick. He should bring his heels to his bottom and then kick both feet out to the sides with his ankles flexed. When his feet are extended to the sides, he can flick his feet like flippers to point his feet and bring the soles of his feet together, legs straight. Have him practice the movement while he’s lying on his stomach on dry land. The power of this kick comes from the flick of the ankles and the quickness of the return to straight legs.

And, Finally

Have him play with the movements. How would a fish move through the water? How about a frog? A dolphin? A whale? A shark?

Have him swim under water from one side of the pool to pick up a sinking toy or coin you’ve dropped on the bottom of the other side.

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Time to Play! Treading Water

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. Try using this game to teach your kids how treading water feels in different positions.

Have your kids move in the water like ducks. Like dogs. Like bears. Like elephants. Show them videos of land animals in the water. What’s as fun as watching an elephant swim? This is also a great time to talk about how humans may have to learn to swim, unlike other land animals that are born knowing how, but how we can become much more graceful swimmers than the animals that tread water all the time.

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5 Keys to Teaching Kids to Tread Water

Once you’ve taught your kids the basics of treading water, you’re ready to teach them these five keys that will let them tread water for a long time with minimal effort.

Teaching Kids Five Keys of Treading Water

Over the course of several lessons, you can teach them these nuances to help your kids get stronger and more efficient at this important swimming skill.

Slow Movements

When they’re first learning to tread water, your kids will get tired easily. They’ll move his arms and legs quickly. It’s counterintuitive, but moving their arms and legs slowly will support them better than moving them quickly. Have them experiment with speed.

Egg-Beater Legs

As he becomes more comfortable, have him experiment with moving his legs like old-fashioned eggbeaters. With both of his legs bent at the hip and the knee, as if he’s sitting in a chair, have your child move first one leg and then the other, with the motion coming from the knee. Ask him to draw a big circle in the water with one toe and then the other, moving the toe forward and then toward the center of his body before bringing it back, away from the center, and forward again.

Alternating Movements

Have him work toward moving both legs at the same time. The rhythmic, alternating movement of the legs means that when one foot is forward, the other foot is back. This method of moving the legs is so efficient that it allows you to tread water without using the arms at all.

Figure 8 Hands

Have him practice making figure 8’s with his hands, making his hands into cups to maximize water resistance.

Minimal Effort

Have your child practice treading water with as little effort as possible. If he’s breathing hard, ask him to slow down. Take as many breaks as necessary, and work toward the point where your child can tread water for five minutes without taking a break, touching the bottom, or holding onto the side of the pool.