BabiesCanSwim Program
(3 months – 3 years)
We believe swimming is a life skill, like walking and riding a bike. With BabiesCanSwim, you and your baby can work together to practice and develop your baby’s water confidence and more critically, their water safety, while nurturing your unique bond.
Our specially trained teachers understand how infants and toddlers develop and what capabilities they have in the water at varying ages.
Our BabiesCanSwim program will:
- Engrain potentially life-saving skills
- Give your baby water confidence and water smarts
- Build muscle strength and motor skills early
- Give you and your baby a chance to socialize with other parents and babies
- Provide an awesome bonding experience and skin-to-skin contact with your baby
The BabiesCanSwim program’s four levels focus primarily on water familiarity, body position and survival:
Age
3 – 6
months
Babies 1
Prerequisites: None
B1 is designed for babies between 3 – 6 months of age. It focuses on getting you and your baby comfortable in the water, and parent and baby bonding.
Age
7 – 15
months
Babies 2
Prerequisites: None
Babies who are 7 months old move into our level B2. Here we learn the basics of back floating, focus on kicking and paddling motions for propulsion and start quick submersions.
Age
16 – 24
months
Babies 3
Prerequisites: None
Once your baby turns 16 months old, they are ready for our B3 level. As babies begin to explore and solidify their crawling and walking skills we focus on more intentional paddling and kicking, extending back floats, longer submersions and safety skills like falling in water, turning around and gripping the edge of the pool.
Age
25 – 36
months
Babies 4
Prerequisites: None
Once a baby turns 25 months it’s time to move up to the last babies’ level – B4! Here we focus on more independent skills like independent floating, kicking with a floatation aid, kicking underwater during submersions and perfecting the safety skill of falling the water, turning around, kicking back to the wall and grabbing the edge.
Age
34 – 36
months
Transition K0
Prerequisites: None
Our transition class isn’t a must-do, with many of our babies graduating straight from B4 into our independent KidsCanSwim program without parents in the pool. However for toddlers who are either too short for independent classes (less than 3ft tall), still have some fear/anxiety around water, or need help following instructions, out transition class helps prepare kids to move into independent Kids classes with the security of a parent in the water.
Safety Week
In addition to our real-life focus, every month includes Safety Week training, where we work on core survival skills. Every few months we also have a “Swim With Your Clothes On” day where babies learn what it’s like to swim with their clothes on.