Ideas for Swim Lesson Games

Games are an important part of swim lessons. Because you are working with children, games will not only make the lessons more fun, but also encourage your students to embrace their new skills and help build their confidence.

  1. Noodle Train Game

    • This is a great game for toddlers and young students getting acquainted with the water. To form the train, give each child a noodle and have them wrap it around their front. Then line up the children and ask them to grab the back of the noodle in front of them. You now have a "train" that you can pull through shallow water while singing a familiar song such as "Row Row Row Your Boat".

    Retrieving Rings

    • Retrieving rings encourages children to go underwater. Set the rings up on stairs in the shallow end of the pool. Put one ring on each stair and one ring on the bottom. If your pool mimics a beach, place the rings at various depths until the last will force the child to go underwater. Once you have set out the rings, ask a child to retrieve the rings one at a time. Remember to offer help or comfort, if needed; going underwater for the first time can be scary. If you are teaching a group of children, you can make it competitive in later lessons by timing them with a stop watch.

    Sharks and Minnows

    • Sharks and Minnows is an excellent game for more advanced students who have just learned to dive and are comfortable in deep water. The game begins with one person ("the shark") on one side of the pool and everyone else ("the minnows") on the opposite side. The shark yells, "Dinner time!" as a cue for the minnows to dive in and swim to the other side. The goal is to make it to the other side without being tagged by the shark. Any minnows tagged by the shark remain out of the water as game play continues. Once all the minnows have been tagged, the game starts over, with the first tagged minnow becoming the new shark. Watch your students' form when diving and give them pointers.