Introduction to Teaching Kids to Swim at Home
Time in the pool outside of swimming lessons is important in teaching kids to swim at home. It is conducive to your child’s learning, progression and development in the water. It is also important to his/her actual learn to swim lesson. As swimming teachers know, the hardest child to teach any skill or activity may indeed be your own.
Fun in the pool with your child in a less structured environment will increase independence. It will also help your child develop a deeper respect for the water. We recommend the use of incentives, such as toys or coloured balls.
You know your child better than anyone else so don’t hesitate in using whatever you think might work for him/her. Weather and temperature are factors to take into consideration when getting the most out of your time in the water and teaching kids to swim at home.
Controlled Kicks
When you start to teach kids to swim at home, you can assist your child with their kicking. This will give them a better understanding of movement and propulsion in the water. Place your child on their tummy and bring their arms around your neck (cuddling you). Then, by placing your thumbs on their calf muscles, you can gently manipulate fast, little kicks on the top of the water. This activity is called “cuddle kicks”.
You can also manipulate the legs by holding them in a sitting position. With their back resting against your tummy, manipulate their kicking legs on top of the water and walking forward. These are known as "soccer kicks". By manipulating your child’s kicking legs you are keeping the kick under control and restricting the depth of the kick. Essentially, you are working towards gaining nice long legs, pointed toes and floppy ankles. You can make a game out of it by throwing a coloured ball to the other side and chasing it.
Back Floating
Another step to teach kids to swim at home is back floating, which is a valuable skill at all ages. This is usually easy to achieve under the age of six months because they are a little less mobile. As they learn to sit up independently, being on their back is no longer a preferable position for them. Stand behind your child and place the back of their head on your shoulder and walk backwards. Sometimes singing or talking to your child during this activity can distract them. As they get more comfortable, you can support their neck with one hand and place your other hand under their back.
The aim here is to reach a point of relaxation where you can slowly work towards removing all hand contact with your child. We encourage saying things like “eyes to the sky/roof, keep your tummy nice and dry, lie on top of the water”. If you have access to a kickboard, by all means, use it as an aid where it is placed on top of their tummy and encourage them to squeeze it. Do not ever force a child on their back against their will. It can scare them and make your job of teaching them so much harder in the long run.
Set small goals as they become more fearless and confident. Give them a goal of three seconds to start with and increase this as confidence grows.
Monkeys on the Wall
Teaching "monkeys on the wall" is an extremely important safety skill for children to be able to move from one area to another. It is important that your child has mastered a strong hold on the wall. This will improve their strength and as their grip improves, they should practice independently for short periods of time.
To teach this technique, we simply move along the wall using a hand over hand movement. This will require some assistance from you and as always, toys are a great incentive for encouraging kids to move towards. Place the toys sporadically along the wall. As your child advances with this skill and improves, it is important that you always remain close and within arms reach.
Turnarounds
Another step to teach kids to swim at home is the skill of turning around under the water. We encourage this as soon as your child has developed good breath control. You can do this by holding your child under the arms and facing away from you. Give the trigger cue “name, ready, go”, lift and lower your child under the water and turn them back towards you, whilst encouraging them to reach for your shirt.
It is advisable that you start with a couple of these above the water first. We strongly recommend that you ensure your child is competent at turning back to the wall from the side of the pool.
By practising these turns to both sides, it will discourage them from potentially developing a favourite side. You could also utilise a toy, whereby they have to turn back towards the wall to retrieve it.
Independent and Explorative Play
Letting your child play independently on a ledge or in a shallow area of a pool, with some toys, can be highly beneficial and increase your child’s confidence in the water. Here, they can get a chance to make small errors and correct themselves. For example, if they slip off the edge, they can turn back to the wall. When learning to swim at home with this activity, it is important that a carer is nearby at all times.
Things that we as adults take for granted can be quite daunting and unfamiliar for children, as simple as walking in waist-deep water. However, for a toddler, they might not be used to walking and remaining balanced in waist-deep water. By giving children the opportunity to independently sit, play and explore in shallow water, we will not only provide them with self-control but teach them respect and love the water as they learn the difference between deep and shallow.
Swimarounds
This swim at home activity is a great way of encouraging independent swimming and teaches children how to change direction in the water.
To practice this activity, we recommend starting with your back against the wall and holding your child under the arms to your side (with their back also against the wall). Giving the cue, assist them to swim in a semi-circle, around you and back to the wall on the other side. The use of a ledge or a step in the water can be really beneficial in the teaching of this skill.
You can make this activity fun by encouraging your child to swim towards an incentive such as a floaty toy or a coloured ball. As they master this with your assistance, start to encourage them to come off the ledge by themselves and kick and paddle around you. Remember to practice to both sides.
Jumping from the Side
Jumping and diving can be lots of fun for kids that are confident in shallow water. By teaching a child to jump from the ledge of the pool, we are giving them the capability to be in control. They will further develop respect for the water and adhere to the buoyancy of deeper water.
Ensure that you have moved to a deeper section of the pool and get your child to sit or stand on the edge. Encourage them to jump out towards you and invite them with open arms. It is important that you do not move after they have jumped as this can be detrimental to their trust. As they grow to love this activity and become more confident, you can start to incorporate floating toys, so they jump out, grab a toy and swim back to the ledge.
As with all pool and aquatic environments, please stress to your child that they only practice this skill when a guardian is present in the water with them and they are invited to do so.
Independent paddles and kicks
Lots of manipulation for kicking legs and paddle arms is mandatory to achieve good muscle memory for independent swimming. Start by assisting your child and gently manipulating, if they are not yet swimming independently.
Simply have them push off the side of the pool to you by themselves. Make sure they are reaching for you and pulling themselves up onto your shirt, without your assistance.
Practice their kicking legs in the cuddle kick position and sit them on one of your knees. Then, manipulate the arms in a paddle motion, ensuring you are reaching the arms out long and pull them under the water back to their hip. Always keep their arms under the water whilst practising.
Turn them to face the wall, have them push off your hands and paddle back. Don’t forget to give plenty of encouragement, correction and praise.
Swimming in varying depth for objects
This is generally a good incentive activity for how to teach your kids to swim at home. Kids generally love the idea of going to the bottom of the pool to get toys or going on an underwater treasure hunt. There are many benefits to be achieved from this skill, such as better breath control, increased independence, good rotation and recovery. Start on a shallow ledge where the water depth is quite low.
Ensure your child has good breath control and are comfortable under the water. You also need to remember that your child will be changing positions in the water, going from a floating position on top of the water into a more vertical position to retrieve the toys and recovering back into a standing vertical position.
Assisting your Child by Guiding Them
Assist your child in these processes by gently guiding them. As they become more confident, increase the depth gradually and guide your child to the toy by placing your hand between their shoulder blades. You should always guide them down at an angle rather than pushing them straight down vertically. Again, as confidence and breath control increase, you can show them how to use their arms to pull themselves independently to the bottom. Simply place the arms in front and pulling the arms down to the side, will assist in the change of body position. You can also give verbal suggestions like “do a handstand under the water” or “push your head to the bottom and stick your feet up to the sky/roof”.
Climbing out of the Pool
As soon as children learn how to pull themselves up into the standing position, they also start to learn how to climb. These motor skills are generally adapted from land to water and this is where we step in and assist the little ones in learning how to climb out of the pool. This skill may seem somewhat simple but it is just as important as all the other skills listed above.
Initially, when teaching little ones to climb out, you must encourage them to pull up using their elbows to get their tummy out of the water and their knees to complete the manoeuvre. You may need to give some assistance when first learning this skill. The great thing about this activity is that you can incorporate it with many of the activities above. For example, jump in, turn around, kick and paddle back to the wall and climb out.
Results of Climbing out of the Pool
This results in your child practising the skill repetitively, which ultimately results in your child becoming stronger and more familiar with this very important skill. As adults, we need to remember that every pool has its own style, various types of entries and different walls with various heights and water levels. Don’t forget to take these differences into account when you do visit a different pool and always use the verbal cue of “elbow, elbow, tummy, knee” when your child is climbing out of the pool.
We sincerely hope that we can help you help your child in becoming more confident in and around the water from the various activities above. This will be achievable provided that your child has supervised and regular exposure to an aquatic environment with your assistance. Please remember that no matter how confident you may think your child is, you should always be no further than an arm’s length away from your child. These steps and guidelines above are also best achieved when practiced with a fun and loving approach.
For more information on our parent swimming library, click here.