The Benefits of Early Years Children Swimming Lessons

A group of scientific researchers in  Australia have shown that participation in swimming lessons benefits the overall health and well-being of children.

The results of a study at Griffith University in Queensland has revealed that children who learn how to swim at a young age have physical, social, intellectual and language development advantages compared to non-swimmers. Children who had started swimming as babies and toddlers have gained so many physical and mental advantages from structured lessons when they were compared to kids who hadn’t. The advantages were far more than what had been anticipated by the research team.

Professor Jorgensen said this study was the largest of its kind in 30 years and stated: “swimming children were anywhere from six to 15 months ahead of the normal population when it came to cognitive skills, problem solving in mathematics, counting, language and following instructions.”

A 3 year old is doing a swimming lessons at Blue Wave Swim SchoolWhat We Learnt From the Australian Studies About The Benefit of Swimming:

Physical Development

Physical Development: Swimming promotes cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles, and enhances flexibility and coordination due to the water’s resistance, which is 600 times that of air. All types of physical activities help children burn energy and improve their sleep quality.

Intellectual and Language Development: Griffith University’s study and other researchers have shown that children who participate in early lessons score better on tests of mental abilities like language development, reading, and mathematical skills. Prof Jorgensen attributed this advantage to the structured of swimming lessons. In swimming lessons, children learn to follow instructions, count, and coordinate their movements. This combination is a great exercise for the brain to create new neurological pathways.

Social and Emotional Development: Swimming lessons involve interacting with swim teachers and other swimmers. A regular and formatted social interaction and leads to development of social skills in children. When children start swimming lessons early in life, they learn how to be more independent, less timid, and more comfortable in new situations when interacting with both adults and children of similar age.

Water Skills Development: One of the critical benefits of early swimming lessons is learning the essential water safety skills. Skills like getting in the water safely and how to safely stay in water by assessing what to do in different depth of the pool. These skills significantly reduce the risk of drowning. Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death in children who are under 4 years old.

Are Swimming Lessons Worth It?

Learning to swim helps children become confident and capable in the water, equipping them with survival techniques such as floating and treading water​It is definitely very good news for us and I personally think it is more proof that swimming is a fantastic sport and children could benefit immensely from participation in a structured programme.


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