Mini Water Adventurers

Mini Water Adventurers Guided swimming session ideas! A page full of fun games & activities to take poolside with you!

Every July, the same video does the rounds. A toddler falls into a pool, flips onto their back, floats. The caption tell...
24/07/2026

Every July, the same video does the rounds. A toddler falls into a pool, flips onto their back, floats. The caption tells us it's proof this method works.

I've been in the comments on those videos before. I was the one saying how awful it looked, how could anyone put a child through that. I still believe every word of that — I would never do it.

But reading through the comments again this week, something shifted for me. Because both sides of this argument — however loudly they disagree — are actually arguing about the same tiny piece of the problem.

I've written down what I think we're all missing, ahead of World Drowning Prevention Day tomorrow. It's not what you'd expect from me, and it's not another "float, don't panic" post.

[https://www.miniwateradventurers.com/.../we-re-arguing...](https://www.miniwateradventurers.com/.../we-re-arguing...)

If this is the start of a longer conversation for you too, the free membership will keep you posted as I build this out over the coming months — and SWIM Squad has the deeper frameworks behind it.

This week matters more than most.25th July is World Drowning Prevention Day. It also marks the start of National Marine ...
22/07/2026

This week matters more than most.

25th July is World Drowning Prevention Day. It also marks the start of National Marine Week — sixteen days celebrating the incredible journeys our sea creatures make, from migrating turtles to travelling whales.

Two very different awareness days. One shared truth: real water safety isn't built through fear, it's built through familiarity.

That's why I am giving away a Sea Life Scavenger Hunt this week — free, no strings, in the Free Membership area.

Here's why a scavenger hunt earns its place in a SMART Swimmer's lesson (and isn't just "a bit of fun"):

Self-aware — Swimmers have to check in with their own breath, comfort and confidence as they search, not just follow an instruction.

Mastery of movement — Finding each creature means choosing how to move to reach it: glide, kick, submerge, reach.

Anticipation — They're scanning the water around them, working out where to look next. This is the exact skill that underpins real-world water awareness.

Respect for water — Every creature they find lives in a different part of the pool. They learn the water has depth, edges and different zones, not just "the shallow bit."

Trust — Trust in their own ability to explore and problem-solve, without an adult directing every move.

A scavenger hunt looks like play. It's actually a Swimmer building the anticipation and environmental awareness that sits at the heart of genuine water competence — which is what World Drowning Prevention Day is really asking all of us to think about today.

Grab your free Sea Life Scavenger Hunt sheet here
https://lnkd.in/eVg5ceVx

—

Loved the scavenger hunt and want a whole week of sea-themed lessons ready to go? The scavenger hunt is just one piece of our full Under the Sea Theme Pack — built so you're not starting from scratch every session this Marine Week.

One theme, nine activities, a full week sorted — grab the full Under the Sea Theme Pack in the comments below







World Emoji Day is coming up Every child arrives at their swimming lesson with emotions. Excited. Nervous. Unsure. Pr...
11/07/2026

World Emoji Day is coming up

Every child arrives at their swimming lesson with emotions.

Excited.
Nervous.
Unsure.
Proud.

As teachers, we have the opportunity to help children recognise those feelings, understand that they’re normal and learn how to move through them in a positive way.

Emotional awareness is just as important as physical skills. It helps children build confidence, resilience and independence, which is why it’s such an important part of creating SMART Swimmers, especially S for Self-awareness.

Sometimes the biggest achievement in a lesson isn’t a new swimming skill. It’s a child saying, “I was nervous… but I did it anyway.”

This month I want to go somewhere a little deeper than usual.But before I do — I want to start here.Think about the swim...
09/07/2026

This month I want to go somewhere a little deeper than usual.

But before I do — I want to start here.

Think about the swimmers you've taught this week. Not the ones who nailed a new skill, or finally got their badge, or impressed a parent on the viewing gallery.

The other ones.

The child who walked to the pool edge on their own for the first time. The one who put their face in — just for a second — when last week they wouldn't go near the water. The swimmer who arrived rigid with anxiety and left asking when they're coming back.

What's one moment from this week that made you genuinely proud — for reasons that had nothing to do with a certificate?

Drop it in the comments. I'd love to read it.

These are the moments I built Mini Water Adventurers around. The ones that don't get recorded on a progress sheet, but stay with a teacher for years.

They matter more than we're ever told to say out loud.

Material Spotlight: Silicone Snack Box & Butterflies One of my favourite lesson resources isn’t actually a swimming reso...
07/07/2026

Material Spotlight: Silicone Snack Box & Butterflies

One of my favourite lesson resources isn’t actually a swimming resource at all… it’s a silicone snack box!

I use it as a Reveal & Respond prop to create mystery, excitement and curiosity throughout the lesson. The children never quite know what’s waiting inside, and that little moment of anticipation instantly boosts engagement.

This is just one example (I’ll be sharing plenty more, so keep checking back!

).

Inside this box are… butterflies! Except they’re not really butterflies at all. They’re actually wine glass markers. Who would have thought they’d work so brilliantly in the water?

The swimmers catch the butterflies, then stick them onto play mats, craft foam shapes, the pool wall or the pool steps. They can even blow gently on their wings and watch them flutter through the water. It adds another layer of exploration, breath control and play to a simple activity.

This is exactly why I love searching for unusual materials and looking beyond the swimming catalogue. Some of the most effective lesson props are everyday items used in completely different ways.

Sometimes it’s the smallest ideas that create the biggest smiles.

What unusual item have you discovered that works brilliantly in your lessons?

You are just starting out in your teaching profession...What would you tell your younger self to help guide them?What do...
30/06/2026

You are just starting out in your teaching profession...

What would you tell your younger self to help guide them?

What do you know now, after years of experience, that you wish someone had told you on day one?

Was it something about teaching? Working with children? Communicating with parents? Managing your own confidence? Running a swim school? Or simply surviving those first few months?

Share one piece of advice that could make the journey a little easier for a new teacher.

If Water Wisdom is the destination, the SWIM Blueprint is how we get there inside every lesson.It's the framework that s...
11/06/2026

If Water Wisdom is the destination, the SWIM Blueprint is how we get there inside every lesson.

It's the framework that shapes how I plan and conduct child-centred aquatic sessions. Four layers, each building on the last:

S — Sensorial
Every lesson begins with the sensory environment. Water is an overwhelming space. Sound, temperature, touch, light, smell — all of it affects how a child regulates, engages, and learns. Before a child can absorb anything, they need to feel safe. The sensorial layer is the lighting of the lesson. Without it, even the best teaching gets lost.

W — Water / EPIC
Exploration. Play. Independence. Curiosity. This is where children interact with the water itself — not through instruction, but through discovery. Children need unstructured, curious time in water. This is where Water Wisdom begins.

I — Interaction / POWER
Children communicate through behaviour long before they use words. The POWER of our interaction — how we read, respond, and connect — determines whether a child feels seen and safe. Communication is the script of every lesson. When it's intentional, everything else can fall into place.

M — Movement / SPLASH
Movement is the choreography. It maps the brain-body connection, builds physical mastery, and turns learning into something embodied — not just performed. This is where motor patterns, balance, rotation, breath, and recovery all develop through flow and freedom, not drill.

Together, SWIM creates a lesson that is child-led, developmentally sound, and genuinely safe.

Not because we've practised the same skill twenty times. But because the child has truly lived it.

💬 Does your lesson planning start with the child's sensory and emotional experience — or with the skill you're teaching?

Play is not the reward at the end of the lesson.Play is not the warm up before the real work begins.Play is not what you...
10/06/2026

Play is not the reward at the end of the lesson.

Play is not the warm up before the real work begins.

Play is not what you do when you've run out of ideas.

Play is the pathway to skill. It is the structure through which children repeat without resistance, regulate without prompting, and discover movement without being corrected into it.

Children resist drills. They repeat play naturally. Every time.

And here's what that means practically — a child who plays the same game five times in a lesson has practised the same movement pattern five times. Without knowing they were doing it. Without the anxiety that comes with being watched and assessed. Without the shutdown that happens when a child feels they're getting it wrong.

That's not soft teaching. That's smart architecture.

If you've ever felt like you had to choose between engagement and learning — between keeping children happy and actually building swimmers — Sunday is going to change that.

The Architecture of Early Years Swim Lessons

Sunday 14th June · 2pm · Live online · £47

Link in the comments.

When teachers describe their hardest swimmers, they usually sound like..."They won't let go.""They keep splashing.""They...
09/06/2026

When teachers describe their hardest swimmers, they usually sound like...

"They won't let go."
"They keep splashing."
"They won't listen."

And I understand that — because those behaviours are real and they're happening in front of you and you have six other children in the water.

But behaviour is information. Not obstruction.

The child who won't let go is telling you something about their nervous system, not their attitude.

The splasher is often a sensory seeker — the input is regulating them, not defying you.

The refuser has a reason. It's just not a reason they can put into words yet.

When you start reading behaviour rather than managing it, the whole lesson changes. You stop trying to get children to comply with a structure that wasn't built for them. You start building a structure that was.

That shift — from managing behaviour to reading it — is one of the things we're going into on Sunday.

The Architecture of Early Years Swim Lessons

Sunday 14th June · 2pm · Live online · £47

Link in the comments.

💧 I don't call myself a swimming teacher any more.I know how that sounds. Thirty years in aquatic education. Poolside be...
01/06/2026

💧 I don't call myself a swimming teacher any more.

I know how that sounds. Thirty years in aquatic education. Poolside before most people in this profession had qualified. And I've stopped using the title the industry gave me.

Not because I've walked away from the water.

Because I've finally understood what I was doing there in the first place.

For most of my career — like most of us — I measured success by what children could do. Could they jump in? Put their face under? Travel 10 metres?

But there's a question underneath all of that. One the industry has been quietly avoiding for decades.

What are we actually producing?

Not what skills can they perform in a warm, supervised pool. But what kind of person is leaving the water at the end of their childhood? What relationship have they built with it? What will they do at the edge of a river at sixteen, when no one is watching?

Drowning Prevention Week is 13th June. This year I'm not leading with statistics. I'm leading with that question.

Because until we answer it honestly, we keep arriving at this week with the same grief and the same numbers and no real idea why nothing is changing.

Full blog coming this week.

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