Floating is an amazing sensation. It is one that we can visualize and observe but to truly experience it you got to jump in; to water that is. I love to move and dance in water because I can feel my body so differently and can move with an added sense of buoyancy. I experience breath differently to because I am more conscious of how I breathe underwater. I slow my breath down and deliberately breath through my nose or mouth.
Water can be a great tool to explore new and unusual ways of moving. It can assist you in performing movements that would be quite difficult or impossilbe to do on land. It also helps in developing body awareness and spatial awareness.
Explore:
- twist, twirling, rolling
- floating, sinking
- kicking, splashing, bubbles
- pushing and pulling
- diving, jumping, bobbing
One of the most important teaching tools in water is patience, trust and safety. It sometimes can take children a very long time to be comfortable in water. Let them explore at their own pace. Learning and discovery is not on any artificial timeline. As children develop confidence, they build self esteem and a sense of awareness of what their bodies can do.
After swim time is over, see if the children can take the movements they explored in the water and translate them to land. How can they float, sink, bob, dive and splash? How can they jump, twirl and roll? Does it feel different? How?
Have fun dancing to the pool, in the pool , on and land and with the children in your life!
Sincerely,
Stacey
This is so super cool! :)
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