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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.

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Teaching Your Kids to Tread Water: Stage 1

First, teach your kids the basic concept of what they’ll do with their arms and legs to tread water. It won’t be pretty at first, but it will get them started. Here’s how.

The First Stage of Teaching Your Kids to Tread Water

Stand next to your child in the water. Ask him to dig holes with his hands and ride a bike with his legs. Let him grab you for support or a break whenever he needs to.

Tips for Teaching This Swimming Skill

  • Make sure your child’s chin is up, pointing at the sky.
  • Make sure his arms and legs stay under the water instead of thrashing in the air.
  • Have him practice until he feels confident treading water while you’re a pace or two out of his reach.
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Teaching Swimming Body Shape and Position: Mastery

When your kids have learned how to glide in streamline position, you can start to teach them the idea of rolling in the water to make their swimming stronger. This land exercise is the precursor to a lifetime of rolling in the water.

Teaching Your Kids to Roll When They Swim

Eventually, most of your child’s time swimming will be spent rolling from side to side, slicing through the water, instead of on his stomach, pushing through the water. Because of the way the shoulder joint moves, swimming on your side allows you to be even longer. You can give your child a feel for this on land. Have him stand facing a wall with his body touching it. Ask him to stretch both hands up. Have him keep his fingertips against the wall and twist his torso from side to side.

When the side of his body twists close to the wall, that arm reaches higher than it does when his torso is flat against the wall. The same thing happens in the water. Doing this will also help him feel how his core and back muscles move when he rotates. Eventually, that’s what your child will aim for in the water.

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Teaching Swimming Body Shape and Position: Stage 2

Yesterday’s post showed how you can start to teach kids swimming body shape and position on dry land. Here’s how to move the swimming lesson into the pool.

The Next Stage of Teaching Kids Swimming Body Shape and Position

In the pool, you can practice doing streamline glides on the stomach, back, and sides to get a feel for the differences. Finally, have your child concentrate on the difference between how his body moves in the water when he’s dog paddling and how it moves when he’s streamlined. Does one way of moving feel more like real swimming?

Ask your child to try things in the water. How would your body move if you were really slippery? What could you do to feel slippery in the water? How would your body move if it weighed nothing? What could you do to feel like you weigh nothing in the water? (Practice shifting balance to see what feels more like weightlessness.)

When you’re starting out, stand just a few pace from the edge of the pool and let your child aim for the pool, preferably ending right at the steps so that he doesn’t have to lift his head and arms out of position to grab onto the edge. You can also have him push off from the side and aim for you.