I’m sure others will disagree but my 4 year old learned using these floaties that buckle around her middle. You can remove them one at a time as they get stronger. She went from 4 pads to zero within 2 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between water familiarization and swimming. The activities described are great fun and provide important building blocks. For actual swimming, though, get professional instruction. Many people know how to “swim,” but their technique is poor and inefficient.

Also, “drownproofing” and water safety/self rescue are extremely important.

Eh, I don't see why this is relevant. The kids are 4 and 5. The OP probably just wants them to start to learn how to do the basics. In a few years, if they want to be competitive swimmers, they can take lessons and/or join a team. You don't need to have professional instruction to learn how to run, and yet we all do it. Once you get into competitive track and field, you start to learn techniques and specific skills. Swimming is the same way. Let the kids have fun and learn at their own pace. You should be supervising even once they learn to swim, so it's not a drowning risk either way.

Former swim teacher here:

The suggestion re: YMCA skills is good. But to simplify:

- Face in water comfort - blowing bubbles, putting head under water.
- Floating: Tell them to push your belly to the sky.
- Kicking: make the water boil/bubble with your toes
- Arm Movements: start with doggy paddle type strokes
- Teach them how to tread water

Perhaps counter intuitively, my 4.5 has done better learning to swim in the regular pool (4 feet depth where she can't stand) than our "intermediate pool" which is 2-3 feet in depth for little kids. In the shallower pool she would just stand up anytime she needed to come up for a breath and then keep going. One thing that helped was having her stand at the pool steps and then "launch" herself toward us and she would get a little momentum propelling herself and could float/start to paddle/breast stroke/breathe and we've just moved back further and further from the stairs to encourage her to take more breaths and put it all together. Good luck! I find my child is basically not listening to what I say but rather teaching herself by watching others

It is possible that your kids are too old for it, but when our 3yo was doing swim lessons pre COVID, these are some of the things that he practiced:
- monkey walk (google monkey walk swim lessons)
- back float (with gradually less and less support)
- kicking, while holding on the side of the pool
- "swimming" with a kick board or a pool noodle
- practicing getting in and out of the pool

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between water familiarization and swimming. The activities described are great fun and provide important building blocks. For actual swimming, though, get professional instruction. Many people know how to “swim,” but their technique is poor and inefficient.

Also, “drownproofing” and water safety/self rescue are extremely important.

In a pre-COvId world, I would agree with you. But now, not wanting to add another person into our loop, I have no choice but to teach my kid myself. I don’t care about technique at this point. I just want to get him to be able to swim to the side of the pool and hand-over-hand until he can walk out.

There is a big difference between water familiarization and swimming. The activities described are great fun and provide important building blocks. For actual swimming, though, get professional instruction. Many people know how to “swim,” but their technique is poor and inefficient.

Also, “drownproofing” and water safety/self rescue are extremely important.

Google "YMCA swim stages" to get a breakdown of skill order. I'm sure there are also YouTube videos. The general progression is swim starters (getting comfortable in the water), swim basics (body position, kicking, arms), and swim strokes. At 4 and 5, you will be focusing on swim basics. Your kids should practice all of the pieces separately, such as going under all the way, controlled breathing (bubbles), bobbing, kicking on edge or with a kick board, floating (front and back), different arm movement, rocket gliding. Focus on "playing" with them in the water a LOT, rather than "teaching them to swim". They have to build up muscles in their arms and legs before they will actually be able to swim freely.

Get some pool noodles for sure - they can be used to support the body in different ways. Under the arms and they can tread water where it is deeper, under the neck to support a backfloat. Under the hips and they can do breaststroke arms. Holding in front with arms straight and they practice gliding, kicking, and alternating freestyle arms. Kickboards are useful, but the noodle will work too. Get some diving toys. Get swim goggles! Having their eyes protected and being able to look under water makes kids more comfortable with putting their full face in. Do not get any type of floaties or swim vests. The artificial buoyancy means the kids don't learn how to position their bodies. If you kids have skinny legs and tiny feet, I've found that fins can help with teaching how to flutter kick and build up leg strength. They have to be able to move water in order to propel themselves forward.

Have fun!

We taught our son how to swim, and my parents taught me. It's not really rocket science. I think it just clicks at one point after they have been in a water for a period, are old enough, and see others doing it.

I think our DS was 6 when he learned to swim -- a little later than some. He loved the water and went frequently but wasn't comfortable swimming yet without water wings. We periodically helped him by holding him up and giving him practice, but finally, he just had to take the leap and try. We went on a trip soon after he turned 6 to visit cousins who had a small pool in their backyard. He was in it every day and just figured it out.

Not OP but following this. I've googled it but there are so many resources, ideas, and websites. Wondering if anyone has tried anything specific and had success with it.

I was looking into this too (but for a much younger child) and there are several good courses offered online. Just google “teach your child to swim”.

My parents taught us to swim but I have no idea how!

We have been taking DD to our neighborhood pool since it opened about a month or so ago. And last week, she just started to swim. I think they key was that she could stand at the shallow end of the pool and could get comfortable in the water and watch other kids. She is 3.5. She'got a long way to go to actually being able to swim properly, but she was able to figure out the mechanics of swimming. We used kick boards and also swim bars before.

Since our plans for swim lessons got scrapped this summer I was wondering if anyone has taught their kids how to swim on their own? If so are there any resources you found helpful to teach them? We are going to a house with a pool for all of August and would like to use the time to attempt to teach the kids how to swim. Our kids are 4 and 5. Thanks!