Teaching your children how to swim at an early age is beneficial for both you and them. While you should always be watching the swimming pool when there are kids around, you can worry a little less knowing they can swim. Not only is it a good idea to know how to swim for safety reasons, but it lets the kids have fun in the pool and get some exercise while doing it! You can pay for swim lessons at your local swimming class, or you can teach them in your own swimming pool. Here are a few tips and tricks to teach kids swimming and water safety.  

1. Multiple short lessons  
It’s important to know that kids won't learn to swim in just one day. To instill muscle memory and readily teach them how to swim, try to set aside time a few times a week. Doing short lessons more often will also lower the chances of kids losing interest and not paying attention. Plus, this gives you an excuse to jump in your swimming pool every day!  

2. Blowing Bubbles  
This is the most fun activity for kids learning to swim. For kids who are afraid to put their head underwater, tell them to bring their mouth down to the top of the water and blow bubbles. This will start to show them how to hold their breath underwater while doing it at their own pace. Next, tell them to do the same thing, but blow the air out of their nose. Make sure they take a deep breath in before putting their face in the water, so they don’t get water in their nose. Once they get that down, tell them to do bobs! This is where they blow the water out of their nose and put their whole head under the water. You can make this part even more fun with goggles and sinking toys! Getting kids to be comfortable with the water and putting their faces down in the water is crucial in teaching them how to swim.  

3. Get Kicking  
Grab a kickboard or let them hold your arms and teach them the flutter kick! Short, quick kicks will keep their bottom half horizontal to the water and in the swimming position. Make sure they are kicking correctly so that the transition to kicking and paddling is easy. If you have a puddle jumper this will work as well for the kicking part of the lesson.  

4. Scoop the Ice Cream  
Have your kids stand on the stairs or wherever they can reach the floor and show them the motions of paddling with their arms. A great way to describe this is scooping ice cream! Tell them to make their hands into ice cream scoopers and make sure to keep their fingers closed. Then tell them to scoop the “ice cream” from the top of the water. Starting from as far as they can reach, scoop the water all the way back until their hand is by their side. Once they get the motion down, put a noodle or 2 under their stomach to float, and start scooping across the pool! Puddle jumpers are not ideal for this motion because it restricts their arms, and they cannot learn the full stroke. You can also hold them around their waist to keep them above water while they're paddling.  

5. Put them together  
Once they have the kicking and paddling motion down, put them together! You can keep the noodle on them or hold them up and tell them “Kick and scoop.” At first, it might be hard for them, but that’s why you practice! Once they get more comfortable kicking and paddling, have them put their face in the water while swimming. This is where the breathing techniques will come in handy.  

6. Rotary Breathing 
For older kids, you can try to show them another breathing technique called rotary breathing. This is where you turn your head to the side while swimming and breath out of the time of your mouth. An effective way to teach this is by having them float on their stomach with their face in the water and practice the motion. Exhale in the water looking at your toes, then turn your head to the side and breath in. This will take some practice, but once they learn this, they will be professional in no time!  

7. Make it Fun  
Lastly, and most importantly, make it fun! Give them time at the end of the lesson to get some jumps in or play a game. Keeping the lesson fun will help keep their attention and the reward at the end will too. Switch it up and ask them what they want to practice as well.  

Swimming is the ultimate summer sport, so why not teach your kids! Now your whole family can enjoy the swimming pool all summer together. If you are looking for a swimming pool for your family, check out our above-ground pools!