HowtoMaintainYourChild’sSwimmingSkillsDuringSummerVacation:PracticalTipsforParents[2026]

Why Summer Vacation Is a Risk for Swimming Lesson Progress

It’s finally summer vacation. Six weeks off, endless outdoor play, and for many families: no swimming lessons for a while. Wonderful, of course, but as a parent, you might feel a slight worry. All those months practicing backstroke, breaststroke, and treading water: will it stick if your child doesn’t swim regularly for weeks? Unfortunately, the answer is: not automatically. Research shows that children can lose up to 30 percent of their technical swimming skills during a 6 to 8 week break from lessons. Especially the fine motor skills in the water, such as correct leg kicks and breathing technique, fade quickly without regular practice. The good news? With a few simple habits and the right tools, you can effortlessly keep your child’s swimming skills up to par, even in the middle of vacation.

What Happens to Your Child’s Swimming Skills During a Long Break?

Swimming is a motor skill that, like cycling or skating, requires regular maintenance. For children still in the learning process, for example between the Red and Green levels of the Swimmigo system, a break of a few weeks can already have noticeable effects. The muscle memory patterns for an efficient leg kick or correct breathing are not yet fully ingrained. Without weekly repetition, these patterns fade. You often notice it only at the first lesson after vacation: your child seems back to square one, needs to get used to the water again, and loses confidence. This is frustrating for your child, for you as a parent, and for the swimming instructor who then has to invest extra weeks to regain the old level.

Which Skills Fade the Fastest?

Not all swimming skills are equally sensitive to a break. The breaststroke kick, seen by many instructors as the most technical movement, loses precision first. Also, the coordination between arm and leg movements in backstroke requires regular maintenance. Floating on the back and treading water remain relatively well retained because they rely largely on buoyancy and confidence. The Swimmigo system divides the 86 skills into seven clear levels, from Red to Gold. Per level, you can see exactly which exercises may temporarily lose priority and which absolutely need maintenance, even during vacation.

Summer Break as an Opportunity: Discover Swimmigo’s Vacation Mode

What many parents don’t know: the free Swimmigo app has a special vacation mode perfectly suited for those six weeks without regular swimming lessons. In this mode, you as a parent can check off exercises your child performs during informal pool visits. No instructor needed, no strict lesson pace: you decide when and how often to practice. The app shows you the exact skills and exercises per level, with a clear smiley system from 0 to 6 indicating how well your child masters the exercise. Facing a challenge? You immediately see which exercises still need attention at the next pool visit.

Three Practical Exercises for the Vacation Pool

You really don’t need to replicate a full swimming lesson to maintain your child’s progress. Three short exercises of five to ten minutes per week are enough to keep the basic technique up to standard. The secret is consistency, not intensity. Below are three exercises that work for almost every swimming level and that you can easily do in a recreational pool, campsite pool, or even in shallow water at the edge of a lake.

Exercise 1: Blowing Bubbles and Breathing Control

This is the most fundamental water familiarization exercise and at the same time the most important to maintain. Let your child inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose underwater until a steady stream of bubbles forms. Vary exhaling in short bursts and long, slow breaths. This breathing control is the basis for every swimming stroke and is the first to be lost without practice. Two minutes per swim session is enough.

Exercise 2: Back Floating With and Without a Kickboard

Back floating is the ultimate confidence-building exercise. Start with a flotation aid like a kickboard or pool noodle under the head and lower back. Let your child fully relax: ears in the water, belly up, arms wide. When that goes well, gradually remove the support step by step. The goal is not perfect technique but confidence and water feel. You can easily repeat this exercise three or four times per pool visit, about one minute each time.

Exercise 3: Playfully Practicing the Breaststroke Kick

The frog legs of the breaststroke are technically challenging to maintain well. Turn it into a game: have your child hang on the pool edge facing the side, hands on the edge. You stand in the water and count aloud "one, two, frog." On "frog," your child makes the characteristic spread-close leg movement. Repeat this 10 to 15 times per swim session. Rhythm and timing are more important than strength here; the swimming instructor will work on that again after vacation.

How to Use the Swimmigo App During Vacation

The Swimmigo app is designed as a complete replacement for paper logbooks and offers both instructors and parents real-time insight into swimming lesson progress. During vacation, you simply switch to vacation mode. Here you can go through the same 86 skills and 7 levels, but now you as a parent check off the exercises. It works very intuitively: upon arrival at the pool, open the app, see your child’s current level (for example Orange, level 3), and choose an exercise to do today. Afterward, rate how it went with a smiley score from 0 to 6. Everything is saved in the digital logbook function, so after vacation you can precisely show what your child has practiced.

Push Notifications as Reminders

Forgetfulness is the biggest enemy of summer exercises. The app optionally sends push notifications reminding you it’s time for a swim session again. You set how often you want to be reminded, for example every Wednesday and Saturday. Parents who use this feature practice on average twice as often as parents without notifications, according to internal Swimmigo data.

Insight Into What Your Child Already Knows: No Surprises After Vacation

One of the biggest frustrations for parents is only hearing at the report meeting or a level test what their child actually masters or not. With the Swimmigo app, you always have that information at hand. You see the current status per skill, the historical progress, and which exercises are logical next steps. After vacation, you can share this overview with the swimming instructor, who immediately sees where your child stands and can respond at the right level. No weeks of re-acclimating and testing, but moving forward right away.

How Much Should You Practice During Summer Vacation?

The ideal frequency is two to three times a week, each time 20 to 30 minutes in the water. Longer practice has no extra benefit: young children’s attention span in a recreational pool is limited. Quality over quantity, then. A short focused session practicing one or two specific skills is much more effective than an hour of aimless play with occasional guidance. The app helps you by focusing on a maximum of three exercises per session, based on your child’s current level.

What If Your Child Doesn’t Want to Practice in the Vacation Pool?

This is a common problem. In your child’s eyes, the vacation pool is purely for fun, not for "school-like" exercises. The solution is simple: package the exercises as games. "Who can float on their back like a starfish the longest?" or "Can you pick up a coin from the bottom underwater?" always work better than "Now we’re going to practice breaststroke kick." The app doesn’t even have to see your child: you observe the game and check off what you saw afterward. This way swimming stays fun and educational at the same time.

Open Water: Be Careful With Natural Swimming Spots

A legitimate concern for many parents: is practicing in a lake, river, or sea safe? The short answer is: only under strict conditions. Open water has no flat bottom, no clear view of your child underwater, and often unpredictable currents. Limit exercises in open water to floating and treading water in shallow water right at the edge, with you as a parent always within arm’s reach. For technical stroke exercises, you really need a pool with clear water and a flat bottom.

The Role of the Swim School During Vacation

More and more swim schools embrace digital tools to ensure continuity of swimming lessons. The Swimmigo app is specially designed for this bridging period. Before vacation, the instructor checks off all mastered exercises so you as a parent know exactly where your child stands. With vacation mode, you take over. After vacation, the instructor picks up where you left off. This saves the swim school time, you money, and your child frustration.

For Swim Schools: How to Use Swimmigo as a Vacation Solution?

As a swim school or independent instructor, you can use Swimmigo completely free. Create groups, add your students, and invite parents via the app. Before the summer break, indicate each student’s current level and which exercises have priority. Parents then automatically receive vacation mode with the correct settings. After vacation, you see exactly in the digital logbook what each student has practiced. This is not only efficient, it also gives parents confidence that the swim school actively thinks along about progress, even when there are no lessons.

Case Study: The De Vries Family on Vacation in France

Imagine: the De Vries family goes for three weeks to a campsite in the Dordogne with a pool on site. Daughter Sophie (6 years old, Orange level with 34 of 86 skills checked off) would normally have no swimming lessons for three weeks. Mother Lisa opens the Swimmigo app, switches on vacation mode, and sees that Sophie still struggles with the breaststroke kick and exhaling underwater. Every morning before breakfast, Lisa and Sophie do 15 minutes of exercises in the campsite pool. Lisa checks off each exercise in the app. When Sophie returns to her swimming lesson after three weeks, she has not only maintained her level but even mastered two new skills. The instructor sees the app data and can immediately let Sophie progress to the next skills. Time saved: at least four lessons.

Conclusion

Summer vacation doesn’t have to be a step back in your child’s swimming lesson progress. With a few simple exercises per week, access to a pool, and the free Swimmigo app with vacation mode, you as a parent stay fully informed about what your child already knows and what still needs attention. This way your child starts the next level after vacation full of confidence.

Want to Know More About Swimming Lesson Progress?

• Everything for Parents: Discover How Swimmigo Works
• View the 7 Levels and 86 Skills of the Swimmigo System
• Discover All Features of the Free App

Sources

• NRZ: All About Swimming Lessons and Safety, 2026
• Dutch Government: Swimming Safety and Swimming Lessons, 2026
• Alles over Sport: Swimming and Swimming Lessons, 2026