Little Otter loves music and loves using it to help their students learn to swim. In fact, the inclusion of music in their teaching strategy is one of the components of Little Otter’s swim instruction that makes taking lessons at either the Matthews or Huntersville school so much fun and so effective for kids.
You can also use music in helping your kids brush up on swimming at home. There are several songs that are especially good for this.
Here are four of them:
Humpty Dumpty
With this song, you can teach babies to feel the sensation of free falling into the water and then returning to the surface.
To teach with this song, sit the child on the edge of the pool or a foam mat (if available). Hold their hands and sing:
“Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.”
Count 1, 2, 3. On three, pull your child into the water. If they are uncomfortable going under water, do not let them slip below the surface. But if they are OK with submerging completely, then you can let them go all the way under.
You’ll notice a boost in their confidence levels after doing Humpty Dumpty a few times.
Ring Around The Rosy
This song helps your young ones to become comfortable with getting their faces wet and submerging.
To play this song game, hold hands with your child in an area of the pool where both of you can reach the pool floor. If your little one does not yet walk, hold them facing you under their arms. As you sing the following song, turn around in a circle slowly.
“Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!”
When you say “we all fall down”, submerge under water together.
If they are still wary of going underwater, you can practice submerging only one part of the face – maybe the chin or cheek. If they are comfortable with submerging completely, you can let them submerge all the way.
Do this a few times and they will soon be diving underwater to pick up sinking toys and objects!
Speckled Frog
This song game is a fun one for little ones to get comfortable with jumping in the pool. It’s fun for them because they’re imitating a little-speckled frog!
Sing “One little-speckled frog, sat on a speckled log, eating the most delicious bugs! Yum! Yum!”
Splash water up towards the child.
“One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool! Now there are no green and speckled frogs.”
When you say “One jumped into the pool” your little swimmer can jump in towards you in the water.
Best Practice
Remember that jumping games and songs should always be done at a safe depth.
Gauge this by the height of your child. Move to a deeper or shallower part of the pool as you feel necessary.
As a starting point, check to see if waist deep water (for the parent) works well for your activity. This is considered to be the safest depth gauge for infants and young children.
Little Otter Swim School’s team members are passionate about teaching kids to swim and be safe as they enjoy the water. Learn more about what makes Little Otter different.
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