Mazinaw Lake Swim Program
Bon Echo Park
Level 1
​
Challenge of the week- how long can you hold a front and back float?
A back float is where you lean back and make sure no body part is touching the ground. To help with that make sure to keep a star fish shape with your legs and arms straight, And make sure to keep your head back (looking at the sky and see what shapes you can see in the clouds!).
A front float is when you lean forwards and make sure no body part is touching the ground. Make sure to keep a star fish shape with your arms and legs straight. For this float you’ll need to keep your face in the water and blow bubbles.
Work on floats every day of the week to make sure you get the endurance up!
​
Monday, July 5th 2021
Practice front and back floats
Blowing bubbles
Going under water
To practice blowing bubbles, stick the bottom half of your face in the water. Make sure you take a deep breath and when you exhale, gently put their mouth in the water and blow out as hard as possible. We call this talking to the fish! Once you get the hang of that, you can grab on to the side of a pool and practice assisted floating and breathing. Once again, take a deep breath and put your whole face into the water- blowing hard to make as many bubbles as possible. Practicing blowing bubbles is a key skill because once we get into the higher levels you’ll need to know how to do this to progress to more complex skills like front crawl.
For doing floats or blowing bubbles you can use the "Tiny Tim" song. Other fun activities for going under water include the Bob Story, and talking to the fish. Designate a storyteller who will tell a very silly, random story, and everytime you hear the story teller say “bob” you have to go under the water. This is important to do because we want the kids to be comfortable in the water and feel okay going all the way under before we get further into swimming levels.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Tuesday, July 6th 2021
Practicing floats
Glides
Swimming 2 meters
Glides are very similar to floats however instead of floating you’ll be kicking your legs. Front glide is when you are on your stomach in the water. You will have your arms like a rocket ship over your ears. Once you have your arms you’ll “fall” forward into the water. You’ll have your face in the water and you’ll start your flutter kick.
Back glides are similar. You will stand straight up and put your arms on your side like a pencil. Once you're ready you’ll “fall” backwards and start your flutter kick. It’s important to keep looking straight up at the sky.
July 7th 2021
practice floats
blowing bubbles
jumping in the water
To practice blowing bubbles you’ll want them to stick the bottom half of their face in the water to start. Make sure they take a deep breath and when the exhale just put their mouth in the water and tell them to blow hard. Once they get the hang of that they can grab on to the side of a pool. Once they grab on they can float there. Once again they will take a deep breath and put their whole face into the water and blow hard to make as many bubbles as possible.
Jumping in the water is very self explanatory, however it is good to practice. Some are afraid to jump in the water which is why we practice so we feel safe. Some also will want help which is totally okay but once we get further we will want to encourage them to to it by them selves. Sometimes kids will want to see themselves do it so feel free to take a video. I know when I do something I'm scared of I need to see myself actually do it.
July 8th 2021
practice floats
going under water
glides
Going under the water is something we all need to practice. Its a matter of getting comfortable in the water. A great way to get them under is the paint game. How to play the game is you have a few people(just your family) and you ask everyone's favorite color. Once they say your pick a body part to "paint". Once everyone has painted their color you have to go all the way under to wash it off.
Glides are very similar to floats however instead of floating you’ll be kicking your legs. Front glide is when you are on your stomach in the water. You will have your arms like a rocket ship over your ears. Once you have your arms you’ll “fall” forward into the water. You’ll have your face in the water and you’ll start your flutter kick.
Back glides are similar. You will stand straight up and put your arms on your side like a pencil. Once you're ready you’ll “fall” backwards and start your flutter kick. It’s important to keep looking straight up at the sky.
​
July 9th 2021
-Practice floats
-Blowing bubbles
-Swimming 2 meters
To practice blowing bubbles, you’ll want them to stick the bottom half of their face in the water to start. Make sure they take a deep breath and when they exhale, gently place their mouth in the water and tell them to blow hard and talk to the fish. Once they get the hang of that they can grab on to the side of a pool. Once they grab on they can float there. Once again they will take a deep breath and put their whole face into the water and blow hard to make as many bubbles as possible.
Challenge of the week- Swim 5 meters without stopping
Swimming the 2 meters this week should have been very helpful to build some endurance up. This week we want to keep building and adding more to what we have done.
July 12th 2021
-Swimming
-Glides
-Going underwater
Glides are very similar to floats, however, instead of floating you’ll be kicking your legs in a up and down motion (flutter kick- refer to other levels for more in depth guides!). Front glide is when you are on your stomach in the water. You will have your arms like a rocket ship over your ears. Once you have your arms you’ll “fall” forward into the water. You’ll have your face in the water and you’ll start your flutter kick.
Back glides are similar. You will stand straight up and put your arms on your side like a pencil. Once you're ready you’ll “fall” backwards and start your flutter kick. It’s very important to keep looking straight up at the sky! Try and count the clouds or spot different shapes.