Children learn best while having fun, so why not create some games in the pool to encourage your child to swim?
Playing allows a child to learn about his environment and develop new creative ideas. Through exploration, a child is able to practice the skills necessary for critical thinking. This is how they will eventually learn to solve problems independently and develop confidence when they succeed.
When a child is enjoying an activity, it becomes a natural motivation to learn. Learning with friends not only add to the fun factor, it also helps the development of strong social skills. A child will learn to interact and share while learning a new skill.
Play is essential for early learning.
Play should be encouraged by parents, especially in young children. It is not a distraction from learning, but a tool for learning! Learning how to swim does not have to be technical and boring. By making the pool more fun for children, your little ones will be lured into the water to satisfy their curiousity.
Gather a group of parents and their children to have a blast in the pool (without upsetting the lifeguard)! Here are some pool game ideas:
Wade and Explore
- Drop 10 to 20 floating toys into the pool.
- Say the name of a toy and ask your child to wade over and fetch it.
- With a group of children, get them take turns to a grab a toy and shout the name of it.
- Older children can be divided into 2 groups and swim towards the toys.
- The team that collects the most number of toys in the shortest time wins!
- Some sinking toys to encourage your child to dive underwater to get it
- You can also make it a rule to only swim towards the toys
Fill it Up!
- Place several containers on various ends of the pool.
- Give your child a container and get him to scoop the water from a specific starting point
- Get him to wade over to any container and fill it up, before returning to the starting point to collect more water
- Offer rewards for filling up each container, like an extra 5 minutes in the pool for the nearest container, and an extra 15 minutes for the furthest one
- Children in groups can compete in teams.
Lifeguard Says
- This game teaches kids to follow the rules of the pool by listening to the life guard.
- Play this game the same way as “Simon Says”
- For example, “lifeguard says blow as many bubbles as you can!” or “lifeguard says kick as quickly as you can in the water!”
- This can also be used with older kids to get them to follow instructions
- Older children can follow rules such as “Lifeguard says swim as fast as you can to the other end of the pool!”
