Top 5 Swimming Tips for Kids to Improve Their Skills

Swimming is one of the most beneficial exercises anyone can do for their health. It also happens to be one of the most enjoyable sports for kids. Not only is it a great way for children to stay active and healthy, but it also teaches important life skills. Children who swim learn coordination, endurance, and most importantly of all, water safety. Whether your child is just starting out or looking to improve their swimming skills, there are many ways for parents to help them enhance their abilities in the water. Below, we’ll cover five swimming tips for kids to help them become stronger, more confident swimmers.

Why Swimming is Great for Kids

Before we dive and deeper into the the top five, it’s worth noting why swimming is such a valuable sport for children:

• Full-body workout: Swimming engages almost every major muscle group. This type of exercise helps kids to build strength, increase endurance, and enhance flexibility.
• Water safety: Learning to swim is a crucial life skill and especially important for children. The better a child becomes at swimming, the safer they will be in and around water.
• Low-impact: Unlike many other sports, that have potential for repetitive stress or high impact injuries, swimming is fairly gentle on the joints and bones. Because of this, swimming is an excellent option for kids of all ages and skill levels.
• Boosts confidence: Kids who learn new water skills can find themselves the recipients of a newfound sense of self-confidence accomplishment. This boost of self-esteem can go a long way in helping a child become more confident in everything they do.
• Fun and social: Swimming provides children plenty of opportunities for fun, whether it be through structured lessons, swim teams, or just splashing around in the pool with friends.

Now that we know why swimming is so beneficial, let’s dive into the top tips to help kids improve their swimming skills.

1. Master the Basics of Swimming Technique

A strong swimmer has a good foundation of basic techniques behind them. These techniques can and should be taught very early. Ensuring that your child understands and practices proper swimming form will set them up for success. These foundational elements will help them progress more easily to more advanced skills. These foundational elements include breathing, kicking, body position, and different swimming strokes, each with own specific mechanics.

A. Breathing Technique

Proper breathing is an essential component of swimming, and mastering it early in a child’s life can make a big difference in their comfort and performance in the water.

• Bilateral Breathing: Encourage them to practice breathing on both sides during freestyle. This method helps the child to maintain balance and swim straighter in the water. Bilateral breathing also prevents fatigue and overuse of muscles on one side of the body.
• Exhaling Underwater: This is a tricky one, but proper exhalation during a swim can help fight the feelings of panic or discomfort that some children feel when they first begin to hold their breath underwater. Parents can teach their children to exhale while their face is in the water so that when they turn to breathe, they can take a quick, clean breath.

B. Body Position

Another key element of swimming involves putting your body in the right position, such body positioning is the key to moving efficiently through the water. When your kid swims, their body should be in a horizontal, streamlined position, with their head, hips, and legs aligned.

• Flat on the Water: Parents should encourage their young swimmer to keep their body as flat as possible to reduce drag. This positioning allows for smoother, faster swimming. Their head should remain in a neutral position, facing straight down at the bottom of the pool.
• Hips High: Kids often let their hips drop when they swim. This also creates drag and slows them down. A good way to help them avoid this is to encourage practice kicking with a kickboard. By doing this, the child can focus on keeping their hips at the surface of the water.

C. Efficient Kicking

Kicks have powerful kicks which can propel them through the water quite efficiently. Strong, efficient kicking helps children propel themselves through the water with great speed. Different kicks are used for different types of swimming. For example, freestyle and backstroke use the flutter kick, while breaststroke and butterfly have their own distinct kicks.

• Kicking from the Hips: Teach your kid to kick from their hips rather than their knees. Kicking from the knees creates more drag and uses up more energy.
• Straight but Relaxed Legs: Kids should learn to keep their legs straight but relaxed while kicking. A stiff, rigid kick can cause them to tire more quickly, while a relaxed, fluid kick helps them swim faster and with less effort.

2. Build Endurance Gradually

Kids are definitely full of boundless energy, but that doesn’t always equate to stamina. Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular workout, but building stamina in the water takes time and effort. Nevertheless, developing endurance is essential for successful swimmers. This is especially true if your child is interested in competitive swimming. Better stamina will also help them to swim longer distances without getting tired, which is helpful if you live by water or frequent the shore often.

A. Start with Short Distances

Newer swimming are still developing their endurance, so it’s best to start with shorter distances in the beginning. It’s better for a child to learn to to swim a short distance using proper form than to struggle through long laps with poor technique; it’s also much safer.

• Break it into Laps: Instead of having your child swim several laps in one go, break the swim down into portions. For instance, you. could have them swim two or three laps, rest, and then repeat the process. You can gradually increase the number of laps over time, building stamina the whole way through.

B. Incorporate Interval Training

Interval training might sound a bit advanced for young swimmers, but it’s simpler than you might think. The process involves alternating between periods of intense activity and rest. This is a great method for building endurance while keeping your child engaged throughout.

• Timed Sets: To engage your child in interval training, have them swim for a specific amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds), rest for a short period, and then repeat. You can increase the swim time and decrease the rest period as they build up more endurance.
• Vary Stroke Intensity: Mixing up the intensity of their swimming stroke helps challenge the cardiovascular system and build stamina. This can be accomplished by having the child alternate between fast sprints and slow, relaxed swimming.

C. Practice Long, Slow Swims

While interval training is great for building endurance in a more indirect way, kids can also build stamina by practicing long, continuous swims at a moderate pace.

• Set Distance Goals: Encourage your child to set distance goals for their swims. You can suggest they swim something like 200 meters without stopping. Over time, and once they get used to a certain distance, suggest that they can swim longer distances. This will increase their endurance steadily over time.

3. Work on Flip Turns and Efficient Starts

Some kids want to swim just for fun, while others are far more interested in competitive swimming. By learning how to execute quick, efficient flip turns, children can start to see big differences in their performance. These same skills help professional swimmers maintain their speed and reduce the time spent transitioning between laps.

A. Flip Turns for Freestyle and Backstroke

One of the most efficient ways for a swimmer to change direction is a flip turn. This move allows for young swimmers to quickly change direction at the end of a lap without losing momentum.

• Tuck and Roll: As your child makes their way across the pool and approaches the wall at full speed, teach them to tuck their chin to their chest, and do a quick somersault as they push off the wall. It’s a little challenging and scary at first, but they should try doing this without stopping or slowing down.
• Straight Push-Off: Once they have completed that somersault, encourage the child to push off the wall in a straight, streamlined position, with their arms extended above their head and legs together.

B. Dive Starts

How you begin a race often has a big impact on how successfully you end it. We’re not going to say that the start of a race is critical in competitive swimming, but it plays a very big part in how far and fast one can go. The point being, a strong dive can give your child a significant edge in the competition, of not an advantageous head-start.

• Practice Explosive Starts: Your child should practice explosive starts by jumping off the blocks or the edge of the pool as far as they can. The proper technique involves pushing off with their legs, diving into the water with their arms extended, and gliding into a streamlined position before starting their stroke.
• Work on Reaction Time: Reaction time is key at the start of a swimming race. Young swimmers should practice starts with a signal, such as a whistle or hand clap. This sounding can help the child react quickly to the start of a race.

4. Improve Stroke Technique for All Strokes

While freestyle and backstroke are typically the first strokes kids learn, it’s important that young swimmers master all four of the competitive strokes to become the most well-rounded swimmer they can be. These strokes include: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Improving these technique requires time and practice, but there are ways to focus on each to make sure your child is successfully picking up the basics. Focus on each stroke’s unique mechanics to improve your child’s overall performance.

A. Freestyle

Freestyle is the fastest and most common stroke in the bunch. To help your child improve their freestyle technique, focus on the following:

• High Elbow: Encourage your swimmer to keep a high elbow during the recovery phase of their stroke. This allows them to generate more power during the swim.
• Efficient Breathing: Teach your child to turn their head slightly to the side to breathe. Keeping one ear in the water helps them remove unnecessary distraction and maintain good form.

B. Backstroke

It might sound obvious, but the backstroke is the only stroke where swimmers are on their back. Because of this, body position and timing is crucial for backstroke swimmers.

• Straight Arm Recovery: During the recovery phase, young swimmers should keep their arms straight as they lift them out of the water.
• Steady Kick: A continuous, flutter kick helps to keep your child’s body balanced and keeps it moving smoothly through the water.

C. Breaststroke

Though the breaststroke is significantly slower than other strokes, it still requires precise timing between the arm stroke and kick.

• Glide: Young swimmers should take full advantage of the glide phase in breaststroke. After each pull and kick, they should extend their body and glide through the water.
• Simultaneous Movement: In breaststroke, the arms and legs must move simultaneously in order to create speed and maintain form. This is especially difficult to master, so be sure your child practices this coordinated movement at length.

D. Butterfly

Butterfly is the most physically demanding stroke, so it’s not really preferred for young children. Nevertheless, mastering this stroke can prove to be incredibly rewarding for young swimmers who are interested in competing down the line.

• Body Wave Motion: The butterfly stroke relies on a fluid, wave-like motion of the body. If your child is struggling, suggest that they focus on this rhythm of the stroke rather than simply using their arms alone to pull themselves forward.
• Two Kicks Per Stroke: Encourage your child to do two kicks for every arm pull—one as their arms enter the water and one as they exit, this will help them to speed up their rate of swim and maintain focus.

5. Stay Safe and Have Fun

Sure, it’s nice to see your young athlete improving their swimming skills bit by bit, but it’s not everyting. The most important piece of the puzzle is fun, and this should always come first. The more enjoyable swimming is, the more likely children will be to naturally improve and develop more extensive skills and stamina. Learn to celebrate their wins and remain positive. At the same time, follow water safety rules and never let your child swim without supervision.

Swimming is a fantastic sport that can provide lifelong benefits to children and adults alike, but it requires some measure of dedication. Still, by focusing on the five key tips mentioned above, your young swimmer will ultimately become confident and skilled in the water. This will then prepare them for any competitions or water-borne dangers that might come their way!