Swimming New Zealand homepage

The start of something extraordinary

Quality Swim School EA Networks prepare under 5’s

As a quality swim school, EA Networks took advantage of the Kiwi Learn & Play workshop (previously known as Active Movement)  –  this workshop focussed on aquatic education for the under 5’s and was offered to the Ashburton community.

Tracey Hickman (Education Operations Manager) met with Mum’s, Dads and beautiful babies from Ashburton and helped them in ways they can best prepare their baby for water.

100% supervision was reinforced throughout the session along with activities to develop confidence at home in the bath, shower or paddling pool.

The theory session was very child focussed with Tracey interacting with the toddlers whilst presenting key water safety messages, tips, tricks and activities to the parents.

A waterproof bath time booklet was given to each of the parents, reinforcing many of the activities and giving the parents information on the child development focus of that activity.

Discussions were had about how to enter and exit the water safely, holding baby in the water and giving them time to experience and explore their surroundings.

For many of the babies and toddlers this was their very first time in a swimming pool, which was the second part of the session.  Tracey explained to the parent’s the “whys” and learning progressions behind each of the activities and the importance of progressing at their child’s pace.

The parents were delighted at how engaged the babies and toddlers were throughout the session with many enrolling into EA Networks term 4 preschool programme.

If your Quality Swim School wishes to run a Kiwi Learn & Play workshop for your community please contact your nearest Education Advisor.