Colour Corners
Each corner of the area has a colour and a way of travelling; swimmers race to the called corner using the right skill.
- Stages
- Stage 2, Stage 3
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Skills
- Forward Travel, Backward Travel, Front Kick, Back Kick
- Equipment
- Float
- Age
- 5–11 years
- Group size
- 4–14 swimmers
- Time
- About 5 minutes
- In a lesson
- Introduction / Warm-up, Game / Consolidation
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Keep the area in standing depth; watch back travellers who can't see.
What it develops
- Travel about 10 metres on the front
- Travel about 10 metres on the back
- Swim about 10 metres on the front
- Swim about 10 metres on the back
How to run it
- Place a coloured float in each corner and assign a skill: red = front kick, blue = back kick, green = puppy paddle / front crawl, yellow = roll halfway.
- Call a colour; swimmers travel to it using that corner's skill.
- Teacher checks the skill, not just who gets there first.
- Change the skills to match the lesson focus.
Teaching cues
- Listen for the colour.
- Use the right skill.
- Find your space.
Make it easier
- Smaller area; floats allowed.
- Only two colours.
Make it harder
- Add strokes: backstroke, breaststroke legs.
- Call two colours in a row without stopping.
Common faults
- Walking to the corners.
- Swimmers colliding in the middle.
Corrections
- 'Feet up – walking doesn't count.'
- Send half the group at a time.
Assistant / L1 role
- Stand in one corner as a 'checker', sending swimmers back to try again if they used the wrong skill.