Babies in the water, learning to be older
The child stimulation in the water it is a technique used to work on the child's psychomotor apparatus, so that it makes contact with the aquatic environment, losing the fear of water but with respect, and so that it interacts with other children and their parents. This activity is very suitable for the period of age between four months and six years.
Later, the little one would already be prepared to learn swimming and move in the aquatic environment like fish in the water. The skills and concepts of stimulation in water for babies and children up to three years They are based on their discoveries and tests in the water. However, from this age until six, it begins to strengthen concepts and to finish developing the already initiated.
The children already control different postures such as lying, sitting, squatting and standing. This last is the great novelty and it is here where the balance is developed, helping for this of his arms that already independent of the rest. This fact in the aquatic environment, helps us fundamentally for the teaching of horizontality, the handling of the tables, the splashing in the water and the accompaniment of the arms with the kicking in the pool.
In addition, it is at this moment when the predominance of one side of the body over the other begins to be noticed in all its actions and when laterality is the great challenge. For this reason, in the aquatic environment we try to integrate both sides of the body to carry out the complete development of these.
I interact with other children
In this era, independence increases and attachment to parents diminishes. For these two reasons, autonomy in the water is now greater and collective games with other children begin, so that in the classes they already interact with each other. Now the dialogue with their parents is verbal and the role of the father and mother is important to establish a climate of security and trust father-son. They should encourage them in their games and encourage their experiences of exploration and water travel.
The distance between father and son is greater and the relationship between classmates increases every day. Thus, they imitate, observe and stimulate each other, which favors the children to grow every day more and their social relations are fostered. A great advance of this age is that they are controlling their impulses, they understand the norms, the actions and the consequences of these, so that they are becoming less dangerous with respect to water and are more aware of the dangers that it entails. At this age the children ask everything and it is our obligation to explain the actions that take place in the water with their limitations, dangers and fun.
Physical development your baby needs
A muscular level appears in this age group, an important neuromotor maturation in the child, creating new props for propulsion in the water that, together with pedaling, are more effective in their autonomy. To this is added respiratory control where children continually take their heads to renew the air and, sometimes, their greatest fun is swimming under water, diving in freediving endlessly like real dolphins; they do pirouettes, turns, splashes, perform aquatic and underwater games, ... More than ever they are fully happy in this environment and feel like fish in the water.
The child is the main protagonist of his psychomotor, social, gestural development ... combining all of them and evolving towards the precision of his movements and actions, speed, strength, dexterity, increased coordination and, as a consequence, they are also more skillful They begin to assimilate spatial notions: up-down, front-back, from the position of the body in space, all developing with the game as a fundamental part in its development. But as everything in the development of the little ones, it is also a personal matter
Depending on each child, the experience of experiences in the aquatic environment depends on what has been experienced previously and on the different explorations children make about them, prudent, daring, sensitive, insecure, autonomous, etc.
Experiences and sensations of your baby in the water
The pool is fun in itself, but the water as lived may not be so wonderful and can generate fears and anxieties that are predetermined by the earliest childhood. Each child has his time and space and we must adapt to it, little by little, with games and positive reinforcements. Without a doubt, water is a report of new sensations that the child must experience and discover, making jumps, turns, changes of position and movements of his whole body, arms and legs. They feel the resistance of the water and its depth, losing the support of their feet to play with balance, they place themselves face up learning to float, play with weightlessness and enjoy it.
In general, water provides many beneficial sensations for the senses: water modifies vision, alters perception, develops smell, etc. In this sense, another fundamental benefit of water is the reinforcement and strengthening of the respiratory and motor system, helping in the full formation of your body, both psychically and physically.
Experience and observation tells us that the more we force a child to approach the water, the stronger will be their opposition to it, so we must never forget that positive reinforcement, patience and support and contribution of security in their actions , it reduces their fears and increases the experiences that bring them joy and pleasure. Adults observe how their children grow, how they enjoy and recreate their games, support the pleasure and desire to perform new actions. Likewise, the little ones will develop in balance and harmony with their social environment and with themselves.
Exercises in the water for your baby
Older children get into the water without auxiliary material and now the most important thing is that they play with their parents to jump, turn on themselves, look at the sky lying down, perform pirouettes, dive, ...
Exercise 1. Making bubbles with water
In this age group, the children have to start controlling their breathing. For this, the proposal is to ask them to take air and start making bubbles in the water as if blowing. It is done several times and thus they, in addition to having fun, learn to be aware of their own breathing.
Exercise 2. We strengthen your little body
The child is placed on his back facing the ceiling and the churrito is placed under his neck to help him float. Then he begins to kick as if swimming on his back, strengthening his body and keeping the horizontal.
Exercise 3. I am the lion of the circus
Place the child on the curb of the pool with his feet together and ask him to throw himself into the water, trying to pass through a hoop that is placed in front of him, to develop the precision and dexterity in his performances.
Exercise 4. Juggling equilibria
With great care to avoid falls or blows, help the child to walk on a mat floating in the water. For him it is fun and greatly encourages his balance, his skill and his concentration.
Exercise 5. Splashing with other children
Union make force. Encourage teamwork in the child, proposing activities and challenges in which the collaboration and help between one and the other provides the success of the activity.
Exercise 6. We play in shifts
Imagination to the power. Propose any game in which the parents are involved and that entails some rules, some times and some skills so that the child learns to respect the norm, follow sequences and wait his turn. For example: we throw ourselves in turns, first of stick, then to the lame leg, then with the arms up, etc.
Laura Cruz. Physiotherapist of the Valle Center36. Infant stimulation in the water
