In regions like West Somerset, where coastal living is woven into the fabric of daily life, the ability to swim is more than a skill. It's a life-enhancing capability. With Christmas upon us, we've been thinking about our favourite water aides, toys and gifts that help build water confidence. It's also a great time of the year to buy swim related stuff because most of it is on out-of-season special offer! Here are a handful of our favourites...
EasyBreath Mask
For anybody who has trouble putting their head underwater, this is the ultimate mask for building water confidence. Available for adults and children from around £25, these futuristic masks have an integrated snorkel.
The design is really clever, because it allows you to breath through your mouth or your nose with an air circulation pathway which actively stops the mask from fogging up!
Available from Decathlon.co.uk
Swimwear
Feeling comfortable in your swimwear helps you feel more comfortable in your swimming.
While a quality swimming costume might cost a little more, it will last longer, feel better and won't deteriorate with use in chlorine treated pools. Leisure and technical swimwear for all shapes and sizes can be found from Speedo, Swimcore, Zoggs and Decathlon.
Dive Torpedos
These are our personal favourites! Edealing Dive Torpedos fly through the water much better than other dive sticks. As our children have learnt to hold their breath, we've been playing underwater catch. Accurately throwing (or flicking) these torpedoes to each other is an art to be mastered. It's also a really good way to learn how to catch, given they fall much slower than a ball in the air.
Available from around £7 on Amazon or Swimcore.
Plungeball
We haven't actually tested one of these great looking balls yet, but we want to! They're just under 25cm across and you fill them with water. Because they're neutrally buoyant, you can throw and bounce them underwater!
Available for about £8 on Amazon.
Waboba Skimming Ball
These squishy balls fit nicely in the palm of most hands. Somehow the material makes them great for skipping accross the water! Great for younger ones to get used to being splashed and learning how to catch. Great for older ones by disguising water confidence will ball games!
Around £8 on Amazon.
Zoggs Dive Rings
Zoggs are well known for their quality sink toys, including these colourful dive rings. They're well made, can withstand significant abuse over a long time, and stand up nicely on the bottom of the pool for maximum grabability. Is that a word?
A pack of 3 can be bought on Zoggs for about £20.
Float Vests and Suits
Buoyancy aids have come on a long way since the classic Armband! Float vests and suits don't restrict movement like arm bands and arm rings do. The materials used are much more comfortable, and the designs are fun!
Zoggs do some great vests for around £30.
Speedo integrate floatation into swim suits for a little over £30.
Swimming Gift Cards
Swimming e-gift cards make a fantastic Christmas present, especially paired with any of the items above!
E-gift cards at Knights Templar Swimming Pool can be for any monetary value you like. The recipient can use the gift amount to pay for private pool bookings, it's incredibly easy. The pool will be available every day apart from Christmas Day.
From £5 to £250 from Knights Templar Pool.
We hope you found some inspiration among these gift ideas. Do you think we missed anything? Let us know in the comments!
From everybody at Knights Templar Swimming Pool, thank you very much for your ongoing support. It's thanks to private bookings that we can sustain our fantastic resource for the children a›t Knights Templar School and for everybody among our coastal community. Have a fantastic Christmas!
Comments