Tips for Practicing Swimming Outside of Swim Lessons

Tips for Practicing Swimming Outside of Swim Lessons

Although swimming lessons in a proper swim facility-by trained professionals-offers immense value, so does at home practice. Like with any skill, the more opportunities young children have to practice their swim skills, the better they’ll become. So, if your child has the opportunity to practice their swimming skills in a backyard pool or even basic fundamentals in a bathtub, they should be encouraged to do so!

When encouraging your child to swim from home, the easiest and likely most effective, route to take would be having them practice what they learned in swim class that week. Having said this, we want to provide all you parents with a list of basic skills to be reinforced at home. So, whether your child is swimming in a local rec pool, backyard pool or splashing around in the bathtub, here are swimming skills they can practice.

Back Floating

Being able to float on their back is a critical skill, should a child accidentally end up in the water. It is a great way to keep your head above the water while conserving energy.

Controlled Kicks

An important aspect of correct swimming form is learning to correctly kick your legs in the water.  Perfecting this movement helps the swimmer get maximum propulsion through the water with each kick, without expending excess energy.

A great way for your child to practice their leg kicks is in the pool on a shallow ledge. The ledge helps control the kicks depth and prevents the legs from bending too much.

Independent and Explorative Play

Making time for kids to just have fun in the water is also very important. For instance, letting them play in the shallow area with toys. In these moments, it’s important to recognize your child should ALWAYS be supervised when they are in the water. And the activities they are allowed to do should be restricted to things you are comfortable with and are within their reach. For instance, if your child is a beginner, then letting them dive for pool rings in the dep-end isn’t a suitable activity for their swim level.