Six fun Easter themed games to use in swimming lessons

The Easter holidays are here so the Swim England Learn to Swim team has put together games to use in your swimming lessons.

We hope all your learners enjoy taking part in these games and we’d love to hear your feedback on how your lessons went.

▶️ Watch two of the games here ⬇️

🥚 Easter Egg Hunt, Stages 1-7

Put floats and toys out across the lesson station in the pool and ask swimmers to hunt and collect specific items.
Give swimmers a bucket or area on the poolside to place retrieved objects.

Equipment: Toys, floats, buckets.
Adaptability: Use sinkers for the swimmers that can touch the pool floor (Stage 4 +).

🐇 Bunny Bounce, Bunny Stop, all Stages

Swimmers will follow the traffic light direction of their teacher who will hold up different floats: one to represent bouncing forwards (green), turning in a circle (orange) and stopping (red).
Use a pool depth where swimmers are able to stand.

Equipment: Three floats to signify traffic lights; green, orange and red.
Adaptability: For those in deeper water, use a noodle.

🥄 Egg and Spoon Race, all Stages

Swimmers hold a small float and balance a ball on top and make their way as quick as they can to the other side of the station.

Equipment: A small float and a small ball each.
Adaptability: Ask swimmers to hold a float above the water and swim to the other side of the station whilst still balancing the ball on top of the float.

🥽 Diving Eggs, Stage 5 +

For advanced swimmers practising sitting dives. Swimmers need to dive down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve the Easter eggs. Please note, the minimum depth for teaching sitting dives to beginner divers is 1.8m.

Equipment: Sinkers (eggs).
Adaptability: Advanced Stages can attempt an Easter obstacle course where the children need to carry their eggs through the course.

🐰 Bunny Says, all Stages

The teacher is the bunny and will call out different instructions. Examples are ‘travel forward’, ‘travel backwards’, ‘jump on the spot’.
If the teacher calls out an instruction without saying ‘bunny says’ first, then the swimmers shouldn’t follow the instruction.

Equipment: None
Adaptability: Advanced Stages can perform this in deep water whilst treading water.

🐣 Catch the Egg, all Stages

Swimmers need to work in pairs to throw and catch an Easter egg between them. Each time they catch the egg, they need to take a step back to create a larger space between them.
Try not to drop the egg as the shell will crack on the water.

Equipment: Easter egg (something to represent this – balls, beanbag, spaceship toys)
Adaptability: Can be performed in the deep end with the higher Stages – practising treading water.