Practise different ways of kicking. Ask your child to try:
- kicking quickly in a criss-cross movement, a bit like a pair of scissors
- using a breaststroke kick (bending their knees, pushing down on the water, spreading their legs wide then bringing them together). You could explain that this is how a frog’s legs kick.
Give your child a large float or ring to hold on to as they practise different ways of kicking. Encourage them to stretch their arms out in front of them, as if they were swimming properly. See if they can splash the water with their feet and, later, make a little ripple on the surface of the water (don’t let them bend their knees too much).
Keeping afloat
Once your child can kick confidently, encourage them to let go of the float or ring and try to keep afloat by using small ‘sculling’ actions with their hands. These are short, quick, circular actions, pushing down on the water.
Ask them how long they can keep their head above water by using their arms and legs together.
See if they can float in other ways. They could:
- spread their arms and legs wide and lie on their back (tell them to keep their head back when they do this)
- take a big breath, curl up into a ball and see how long they can ‘bob’ in the water.