Learn to Swim in Speedo with Sports Direct
Sports Direct and Speedo have teamed up to help parents and guardians everywhere teach their baby or small toddler the basics of swimming. Taking a first dip into water can be daunting for both parent and child, so we have created a helpful guide with many expert tips from Speedo on the dos and don’ts of how to teach your baby to swim. It should be stressed that this information is only a guide; every child is different and their individual safety requirements are of paramount importance when teaching them to swim.
General Early Swimming Tips
General Early Swimming Tips
- It is best to start the process of them learning to swim as early as possible as research has shown children are likely to develop a fear of water if they don’t experience swimming before the age of 3
- Before getting to your local pool, you can practise getting them used to the water in the bath, even just splishing and splashing around will help them develop key skills early
- We recommend 30 minutes of pool activities per week for babies, moving up to two separate 30-minute sessions for toddlers (one practice session with you and one swimming lesson at a leisure centre)
- Every child is different and learns in different ways and at different paces - they will all get there!
Baby Steps In Water
Water Toddling
Let's Get Exploring!
Baby Steps In Water
The first stage in learning to swim is getting your child acclimatised to being in the water so that they feel comfortable and safe. The first thing to think about when safely getting into the water for the first time is Speedo armbands or float jackets - essential for all early swimmers. With their arms in the air, place the armbands or float jacket over them and get them to move their arms around a little to get nice and comfy in their floatation device.
Next, place your child beside you on the edge of the shallow end of the pool and place your arm furthest from your child over their body with your hand palm down to the floor. You should now swivel on your bum and slowly lower yourself into the pool and stand up. Bend your legs while picking up your child and gradually move out into the pool together.
Now you’re in, let’s get moving a little. Bob your child up and down on the spot, then move on to swishing from side-to-side and spinning around in a circle together. Once they have got a little more used to their surroundings, bring out some floatable toys and encourage your youngster to reach out and grab them while gliding them around the water safely. Hopefully by now both parent and child are having fun in the pool and realising it’s not a scary place to be. We recommend going through these steps a few times on separate occasions while they’re a baby before moving onto the development of core swimming techniques.
Water Toddling
Now that your child has experienced being in the water a few times and grown into a toddler, it’s time to get them practising some core skills and truly learning to swim. At this point, it’s best if they stay well in the shallow end where their feet can touch the floor comfortably and remember to stay close by at all times.
The first key skill of water safety they need to learn is how to float and the easiest way to do this is the star float. Ask them to make a star shape on the water and they should be able to balance on their back, limbs outstretched, in a key position for floatation in the event of any issues in water. Get them to perform the star float a few times before adding a bit of difficulty by encouraging them to kick their legs and beat their arms to paddle about a bit, all while floating. This is a key step in showing them they are safe on their own in the water and can even kick and paddle themselves around.
To get them feeling happier and happier in the water, it’s a good idea to introduce some simple ball games into the mix. Start with a game of catch but ask them to push the ball back or even blow it back to you if possible. Moving around in the water after the ball will get them used to the kind of motions their arms and legs will be needing when they move onto learning swimming strokes later on.
Another game Speedo recommends at this point is good old Simon Says. Get them to practise holding their breath, turning around, putting their face in the water, doing doggy paddles, catching a ball and blowing bubbles all within the fun of a game of Simon Says. Introducing and developing key swimming skills in a game like this is rewarding for the child and proven to work.
Let's Get Exploring!
If they have grown to an appropriate size and had a good amount of experience in the pool paddling and playing in the shallow end, maybe it’s time to venture into the deep end. In order to do so, some more very important skills are going to have to be taught, not least how to tread water.
Teaching your child to tread water is essential, but relatively simple. They can stay upright in water in a variety of ways, namely the flutter kick, frog kick, egg beater and sculling high knees. Essentially, treading water is about consistently and constantly kicking to avoid going under the water. A good way to get them engaged in learning to tread water is to make it fun by having a game of catch or timing them to see if they can beat their record.
Another key skill at this point is breathing in water. Get both your goggles on and join them underwater, where you’ll be able to demonstrate an underwater breathing technique through breathing out through your nose and creating bubbles. This is important in showing them how to remain calm if they find themselves underwater and a good display of how their breathing works.
Now they’re a little more comfortable under the surface, it’s time to explore what’s down there. The best way to do this is a simple game of dive and retrieve. Using sinkable toys of the classic pool brick, ask them to dive down to the bottom of the deep end and return with the item, something which will become easier and easier the more time they do it as they understand how long they can stay underwater for.
To develop these three skills of treading water, breathing underwater and swimming underwater, create circuit games in the pool which require your child to perform all three skills in combination.