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Time to Play! Body Shape and Position

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. Here’s a game you can play on dry land that will help give your kids a feel for the best body shape and position for swimming.

A major advantage you have when you’re teaching your kids to swim is that you can try things out of the pool that help your kids learn to swim. The next time you’re at the playground, try this. Have your child hang from the bars or rings. Does his body feel long? Does it feel loooong? Have him stand on the ground reaching for a bar or ring that’s too high for him to grasp. How does it feel?

That stretched feeling, or as close to it as possible, is a good one to practice. Kids tend to scrunch their bodies up and revert to a dog paddle when they’re learning to swim, but ideally they should keep their bodies long. Having a no-pressure reference point from dry land will help them know what to aim for when you’re teaching them in the pool.

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Time to Play! Popup Breathing

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. Once your kids are able to take a breath whenever they need one, they’re well on their way to water safety. This game will help them get a feel for how to surface whenever they need to breathe.

One of the things that you need to teach your kids when they’re learning to swim is that pushing down with their arms moves them up in the water. To help them practice this without realizing they’re practicing, make it a game. How high up can they get by pushing down into the water with their arms?

Can they pop up so that their shoulders are above the surface? Their chests? Their waists? Can they pop up higher than the edge of the pool? Can they pop up higher than you can? (It’s up to you to decide whether to let them win.)

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How to Use Exploration to Teach Your Kids to Swim

The more your kids direct their own learning when you’re teaching them to swim, the more engaged and ready to learn they’ll be. Instead of directing them, you need to involve them in the process of discovery, but how do you do that?

After you explain and demonstrate a swimming skill, use questions and suggestions to guide your kids through the process. This method of teaching is a little bit like being a journalist. Instead of asking yes/no questions, ask open-ended questions that give your kids a chance to use their problem-solving skills to learn to swim. For example:

Instead of:

  • Can you blow bubbles?

Try:

  • If you were going to blow bubbles, how would you start?
  • What’s your favorite way to blow bubbles?
  • Show me how you blow bubbles.
  • Let’s blow bubbles together.

Give suggestions or clues to help. Instead of saying, “Touch the water with your lips,” say, “What would happen if you touched the water with your lips?” or “How about trying to touch the water with your lips?”

Use games and imagination to reinforce and expand skills and to make repetition and practice interesting. Games and imagination engage the learner so that he practices without realizing it’s practice. Games also distract from fears and discomfort.

Has your child ever told you he’s hungry only at bedtime after the fun and activity of the day are finally over? Playing games and using imagination when you’re teaching your kids to swim will help them experience the swimming lesson as a fun, flow-state activity. They’ll want to stay in the pool and keep practicing, and they’ll want to come back tomorrow.

Kids learn by playing. Plan ahead, choosing several games to try. If one doesn’t interest your child, try another. When your child tries changing or expanding a skill you’re practicing or a game you’re playing, you might be tempted to narrow his focus. Don’t. Encourage him to try things he initiates, as long as you’re there to keep him safe.

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Time to Play! Gliding in Streamline Position

Kids learn by playing. The more you can making 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. When you’re teaching your kids to swim, gliding in streamline or torpedo position is one of the skills that’s the most fun for you and for them. It’s usually the kids’ first taste of what it really feels like to swim. The freedom and lightness are intoxicating! It’s fun all by itself, but you can use this game to wring every last giggle from it.

Place clues around the edge of the swimming pool. Point your child to the first clue and have him glide to it. The first clue leads to the next, and so on. The last stop should have a treat: a joke, a medal, or another prize your child will like.