Equipment in Parent and Child Classes

My last post was about the songs I sing in a Parent and Child class. This post will be all about some of the equipment I use and how I use it. I have mentioned before that squirt toys are great for children to get comfortable in the water. They are also great for this class. I will have the parents or child throw the toy and then the child scoops after it. The children will squeeze the toys or sometimes even swim with them in hand. I also play the Treasure Hunt game with this class too. They each get one toy at a time and return it to the toy bucket.

Another piece of equipment that is great for parent and child are balls. Balls can be used in many different ways. The children can lie on their backs in their parent’s arms, and then the parent will put the ball at their feet. The children then will kick the ball. This is a great way to get small children to kick their feet. I have seen even small infants will kick their feet in order to hit the ball. If the child struggles to understand the concept of kicking, the parent can hold each of their child’s feet and move them up and down in a kicking motion. This will help the child learn what kicking is.

Along with kicking balls, the children can swim to them. They can switch from their back to their front and use the same piece of equipment. The balls can be used the same way as the squirt toys. The children can scoop their arms to the ball that is theirs, grab it with two hands, and then throw it. If the child is of infant age, sometimes letting him or her hold the ball on his or her front and concentrating on just kicking is also a good strategy. A lot of times smaller children can only focus their attention on one part of their body at a time. That means that they will either be kicking their feet or scooping their arms. As a parent, you can always still encourage both, because one day it will click and they will be kicking and scooping at the same time!

From google