The foundations of Baby & Toddler Swimming
Our Ethos
The Calmababy Swimming Program, developed through 25 years of experience in baby and toddler swimming, contributes to children’s overall healthy development during their most critical early years.
Swimming foundations are safety, flotation, rotation, propulsion and submersion. We imbed these foundations through a play-based model of teaching swimming. Because we know that learning to swim involves much more than just the acquisition of skills, our approach balances the child’s emotional needs alongside their physical, social and neurological development gently and respectfully.
This powerful, trauma-free approach to swimming enhances trust, strengthens bonding and cultivates a lifelong love of water.
Our Teachers
All our teachers are parents themselves. They love what they do and are passionate about the early years, promoting water safety and helping give children the best start. They hold industry-certified swimming qualifications and train in child development, sensory integration, reflexes, play and movement.
Baby Swimming
Baby’s first water experience and the feeling of buoyancy happen in close contact with the parent’s body. During the first swim term, from 8 weeks onward, we introduce a series of relaxed holds and practises that support the baby’s milestones. Then, as both parent and child become more comfortable and familiar with the new environment, the process of introducing expansive and more dynamic movements begins.
You’ll learn about gentle, child-led submersion, floating, and swimming on a woggle. We will teach you how to swim with your baby balanced on your tummy and holding on to your back.
When your baby finds their drive for independence through mobility, we encourage them to take more freedom in the water. They begin jumping off the parent’s body; submersions can be lengthened and progressed to include independent swims back to the surface and underwater rotations. Everything we do in our swimming program supports their developmental milestones.
Toddler Swimming
Our toddler swimming program for 1 to 2-year-olds focuses on water safety, establishing excellent foundational swimming skills, having fun, supporting independence and repetition – lots of repetition!
Classes may sometimes feel repetitive for the parent during this time. However, toddlers thrive on recurrence and need it to learn, retain and reproduce skills in the pool and in life. Repeating skills, again and again, lays down secure neural pathways in the brain.
Children learn and process at around half the speed of adults. So, we need to go slow, allowing children the time to learn at their own pace, not ours! Patience, understanding and the ability to tune in and listen to them are vital for acquiring and retaining skills at all ages.
2-4yrs Swimming
From two to four years old, our swimming program continues to embed safe practices in and around water. We are building confidence and independence above and below the water, mastering and progressing all the foundations of swimming mentioned earlier.
We consistently work on propulsion, rotation, and flotation through carefully designed, fun, progressive teaching practices. Children learn to control their breath, submerge for longer, maintain balance, propel themselves through the water, and float like a starfish by mastering their buoyancy.
In Summary
We concentrate our swim program on whole-child development, not the technicalities of swimming strokes. Before a child can swim any strokes, a considerable amount of development must occur in their brain and body – and that’s what we do. We focus our attention there!
We help to integrate reflexes and support the child’s balance, alignment and postural strength. Assist sensory integration and the development of movement patterns: gross and fine motor skills, spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination.
And we do this in a loving, fun way! Our classes are incredible. Come and join us.
Best wishes
Alison Duff
Founder/Director
