Intermediate swimming for babies
Intermediate baby swimming classes
Having completed Level 3 (Dolphin), your baby will move onto our intermediate level classes, Seahorse and Otter. Starting with Seahorse, before moving up to Otter, our intermediate classes are for babies and toddlers who are becoming more confident in the water, focusing on developing motor skills, basic floating, and propulsion.
At Eaubaby, all of our baby swim lessons are kept at a suitable size to ensure that you and your baby receive appropriate coaching and guided attention in the water.
Swimming classes for infants
Our baby classes are always set at an appropriate level for the ability of the class, and your baby will only reach this level when they are ready. By the time you and your baby complete Seahorse and Otter classes, your baby will be able to show more independence in the water, including safe entry and exit, rolling over without assistance, and pushing off from the side.
Intermediate baby swim classes
Level 4: Seahorse
Independence is the key to progressing through the Seahorse level. Woggles continue to be used in our lessons, but at this level we would be encouraging children to start to master these on their own. This can take some time, and practising in your own time will make a huge difference.
Children’s confidence at this level should be growing especially when doing ‘Ready Splash’ from the side or off a large mat; we would be aiming for the children to be able to do this unassisted. We continue the ‘turning’ theme in this level, but now we are looking for children to be able to turn under the water themselves. We continue work with dive sticks/Zoggies increasing the difficulty when the child is ready by taking the dive stick lower.
Submersions on some of the exercises have increased to ‘3 in a row’ and again we would want the children to be managing well with this before progressing further. Independent crab-walking is an important skill to master before moving into Otter level. We also introduce ‘tigger bouncing’ and encourage the children to start to bounce on the trampoline, with Mum or Dad of course. Safe water entries and exits are introduced at this level.
Level 5: Otter
At this level the ability for the child to demonstrate how to push off the side is key and exercises within this level help achieve this. Turning back to the poolside after jumping in is an important safety skill and one that definitely needs to be mastered. Encouraging bubble blowing and the life-saving skills of children rolling over without assistance are also skills we work on. Children in this level should be very water confident and by now we are looking at using woggles in an open position (un-tied) and encouraging independent movement with the woggle on either their fronts or their backs even as a ‘motorbike’ to help them with their balance.
Book your baby's swimming lesson
Ready for your baby to take the plunge and begin their journey from Duckling to Swim School? Book their swimming lesson by visiting our bookings page.
