How to Teach a Child to Swim to the Steps

Swimming offers a lifetime of recreation and fitness activities. Teaching your own child to swim can be a rewarding yet frustrating experience since each child swims at their own pace. Enroll your child in swimming lessons or try teaching the following swimming tips on your own.

Instructions

    • 1

      Encourage a child to enjoy the water when teaching swimming. Eliminating fear is the first of many steps in teaching swimming.

    • 2

      Practice blowing bubbles on the pool deck or on the steps of the pool. Remind small children to blow out in the water and breathe in when your face is out of the water. Repeat this exercise until your child grasps the idea that she cannot breathe in with her face in the water. Ask the child to place his face in the water to breathe out and lift his face to the air to breathe in. Make a big deal about the bubbles formed when your child breathes out in the water.

    • 3

      Practice holding your breath with your child. Ask your child to hold her breath and put her face in the water. Ask him to open his eyes while his face is in the water. Remind your child to breathe out only if he needs to take a breath while his face is in the water.

    • 4

      Work on kicking when teaching swimming. Encourage straight leg kicks with loose feet. Practice kicking with the child holding to the wall or use a kick board in the shallow end of the pool. Use games such as Red Light, Green Light to put some fun into kicking practice. Call out "Green light" to indicate the child needs to kick and "Red light" to stop.

    • 5

      Teach proper arm movements using games such as Dig and Pull, or Picking Apples. Ask the child to raise her arm, dig into the water and then pull the water toward her body. Practice these steps until she shows a solid understanding of swimming arm movements.

    • 6

      Ask the child to pull all the swimming skills together and swim to the steps of the pool. Begin near the steps so he only has to reach for the step. Move back and try the lesson again.