Hello Everyone!
Today we are starting to post some little things that you can do with your baby to help them to keep the skills and confidence they have gained over their time with us.
This session is designed for babies aged 3 months to 2years. This would be ideal be for our lovely little ones who have lessons on Sundays at 12:15 and Mondays at !2 noon.
Todays lesson is about water confidence and there is no better time to start with this than almost from birth. We take babies from 3 months as the temperature of the pool is so important before this age.
To do this at home, you will need a bath! Fill up the bath but don't forget to check temperature and of course Never Leave Your Baby Unattended!
Today we are starting to post some little things that you can do with your baby to help them to keep the skills and confidence they have gained over their time with us.
This session is designed for babies aged 3 months to 2years. This would be ideal be for our lovely little ones who have lessons on Sundays at 12:15 and Mondays at !2 noon.
Todays lesson is about water confidence and there is no better time to start with this than almost from birth. We take babies from 3 months as the temperature of the pool is so important before this age.
To do this at home, you will need a bath! Fill up the bath but don't forget to check temperature and of course Never Leave Your Baby Unattended!
A baby will feel warm, secure and comfortable in a bath and from a safety perspective it is a controlled environment. If you would like to get into the bath too, that is great. This is a really great time to bond with your baby.
Getting baby's face wet
We find so many parents and adults do not like putting their faces in the water, but this is something we do not want our baby to grow up being afraid of. So lets get them used to the water first, some gentle splashing over their bodies and then using a toy watering can you can sprinkle water over the top of their heads and then progress to over their faces. If you don't have a toy watering can, you can always use your hands to sprinkle the water over your baby or even a flannel, gently washing babies face to start with. Babies will respond to a natural progression so don't feel you have to get your little one to enjoy being sprinkled with water from day one. You can do this over a period of weeks, let your baby guide you, they will soon let you know if they don't like it. If they are very explicit that this is not something they want to do, then don't worry, just take a step back and gradually progress forwards again over the next few sessions. It is always lovely to add a song while doing this and this is a cue to the baby that sprinkling water is going to happen. They soon associate the action with the song!
Lets blow some bubbles!
Blowing bubbles is one of the key things with learning to swim. Being able to blow out into the water is a great start for swimming as they get older. We do not expect a very young baby or even one of 18 months to be able to do it...but they can learn so much from watching you. If you do they will follow in time. So for our next exercise we want you mummies and daddies to blow bubbles in the water and to let your little one watch. Always make sure you are smiling and laughing. Your baby needs to know that this is fun! Always cue baby before an action too. So if your baby is called Mary, you would say "Mary, ready, 1, 2, 3" Then put your mouth into the water and blow some bubbles. Thisis the same cueing we use here at Solent Swim School, so when you return to lessons, your baby will remember that it is a sign that an action is going to happen.
Reaching for toys!
When a baby reaches out in the water for toys they are learning how to use their limbs freely in the water. So to make this fun and encourage movement it is always fun to have lots of toys and play a game with them. Here at Solent Swim School you will have noticed how we use the ducks at most lessons. This is because they are bright colours and encourage our babies to reach out. Think about later in life when they are learning to do free style... yes they will be reaching out. So lets now play 5 little ducks. If you don't have ducks, improvise with five toys and when you are singing 5 little ducks change the word ducks to toys!
This is just a sample of things that you can do with your little ones each bath time. Hopefully you will enjoy actively helping your baby to gain water confidence.
We will be back with some more exercises next time.
©Solent Swim School 2020
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