T-Shirt Swim
Swimmers float and swim wearing a T-shirt to discover how clothing changes swimming – real-life water safety.
- Stages
- Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Skills
- Forward Travel, Back Float, Water Safety
- Equipment
- Clothing
- Age
- 7–99 years
- Group size
- 1–8 swimmers
- Time
- About 8 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Only clean clothing allowed in the pool – check your pool's policy.
- Close supervision – swimming clothed is tiring.
What it develops
- Use simple water safety skills
- Know how to stay safe and help others safely
- Use floating and signalling for self-rescue
- Apply self-rescue and water safety knowledge
How to run it
- Swimmers put on a clean, old T-shirt over their costume (check pool policy).
- Float on the back for 10 seconds.
- Swim a short distance on the front, then on the back.
- Talk about what felt different and why floating on the back is the best choice if you fall in clothed.
Teaching cues
- Float first.
- Slow, steady movements.
- Back is easier than front.
Make it easier
- Only float, holding a noodle.
- Short swim beside the wall.
Make it harder
- Longer swim.
- Take the T-shirt off safely in the water while floating.
Common faults
- Fast, tiring strokes.
- Panicking when the shirt billows up.
Corrections
- Show that slow movements work better.
- Tuck the shirt into the costume for the first try.
Assistant / L1 role
- Help swimmers put on and remove T-shirts at the side, then stay in the water with anyone who finds the swim tiring.