Foundational Skills
Are you ready to start teaching your little one to swim? Not so fast. Before learning to swim they’ll need to master some water basics. But don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place. Here are the basic skills that promote water safety and comfort in the water. And that comes before any swimming skills.
These water basics lay the foundation to learning to swim. They are the precursor skills your child will need before they will be able to learn to swim. Similar to how a child needs to be able to recognize letters before learning to read, these water basics are essential prerequisites to learning to swim.
Safe Way In
Kids of all ages, including babies, should establish a routine when getting in the pool. Developing safe habits around entering the water can discourage children from entering the water unexpectedly. Kids of all ages should recognize that an adult needs to enter the water first, and they need to wait be invited before entering the water. When the child is developmentally ready, they should be taught to ask permission before entering. Additionally, they should learn to enter the water backwards, which keeps the wall within grabbing distance should they need it. This technique is similar to teaching a baby to climb off the couch or down the stairs.
Climbing Out
Being able to exit the pool without steps or a ladder is an essential safety skill in case the ladder or stairs are out of reach. The precursor skills for this are first practice holding onto the edge of the pool, and then learning the wall walk. The wall walk is similar to the way a baby cruises before learning to walk, using the wall of the pool for support to reach the stairs or ladder. Once your little one is strong enough, teach them to climb out by encouraging them to use their elbows to pull themselves out of the water enough to get their bellies onto the ground. You can use helpful cues like “elbow, elbow, belly, knees”.
Back Floating
Back floating is a great resting position in the water. It enables breathing and, once mastered, allows swimmers of any ability to rest anywhere in the water – no wall needed. Like almost anything in swimming, back floating starts with the body’s steering wheel, the head. In a proper back floating position, the head is all the way under water, with only the face out. The ears should be submerged. I like to use the cue, “chin up” for back floating, to remind little swimmers that the body follows the head.
Submerging
Submerging underwater is one of the more difficult skills to learn in water comfort, but it is also one of the most important safety skills. If a young child were to access water unexpectedly and fall in, they would almost certainly go under. Being comfortable with submersions is crucial to being able to recover in such situations. Start small when teaching this, using familiar activities, such as wetting their face as if washing it or pour water over their head and face as if rinsing their hair.
Blowing Bubbles
Learning to blow bubbles is the precursor to breath control and rhythmic breathing. Since swimming happens in water, breaths are limited to only when the face is out of the water. This technique, known as rhythmic breathing, involves timing inhalations to when the face is out of the water and exhalations into the water. Rhythmic breathing begins with learning to exhale into the water – without accidentally inhaling. Teach bubbles by using cues like “blow out the candle” or “blow your nose”.
Some families, whose sole focus is on self-rescue skills in babies and toddlers, choose to wait to introduce bubbles until their children are older to avoid confusion with blowing bubbles and breath-holding during submerging.
Turn Around and Turn Over
After learning to grab the wall and to back float, its important for children to develop the ability to get into these positions independently. Floating is of no use if they can only do so when put into the correct position. And if a young child ever falls into the pool, being able to turn around to grab the wall could save their life. Have them “turn their steering wheel” aka their head, to change positions in the water.
What’s next?
Once your little one is comfortably and consistently doing these skills, they
are ready to progress to the next steps. Check out Beginner Swim Skills
to learn about what it takes to become a swimmer.