Core Skills Analysis
Physical Education and Health
The child swam and practised different strokes, developing movement skills and experience in the water. Changing between strokes involved coordinating arm and leg movements and adjusting body position to move through the water. The activity also gave the child practice with swimming as a physical activity and with controlling movements in a pool. These experiences supported confidence and coordination through active participation.
Science
While swimming, the child experienced how the body moved through water using different strokes. Comparing strokes provided a simple opportunity to notice that changing movements affected how swimming felt and how the body travelled through the water. The activity offered hands-on experience of water as an environment for movement and of the body working against the water. This supported early observation and exploration of movement.
Tips
Tips After swimming, invite the child to draw or describe the different strokes and identify how the arms and legs moved in each one. Play a gentle movement-matching game on land, copying a stroke and noticing which body parts are active. At the next swim, choose one stroke to practise and encourage the child to observe how changing arm or leg movements affects the experience. Together, look at an age-appropriate swimming book and connect its pictures to the strokes the child has tried.
Book Recommendations
- Swimmy by Leo Lionni: A classic picture book about a small fish and life in the water, suitable for extending water-themed conversations.
- National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the Ocean by Catherine D. Hughes: An illustrated nonfiction book introducing young readers to ocean animals and habitats.
Learning Standards
- Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education — AC9HP2M01: Practise fundamental movement skills and apply them in different movement situations. Swimming and trying different strokes involved practising movement skills in water; the specific strokes and level of skill were not stated.
- Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education — AC9HP2M02: Explore how the body moves in different physical activities and situations. The child experienced movement while swimming with different strokes.
Try This Next
- Draw a swimmer and label the arm and leg movements used in a chosen stroke.
- Make a picture quiz: match swimming-stroke illustrations to their names.
- Create a simple swimming journal with a drawing and one sentence about a stroke practised.