Instructors often use imaginative play and interactive activities to teach these strokes, such as a “treasure hunt,” where children freestyle to collect diving toys and keep the lessons lively.

For freestyle, children may imagine they are superheroes gliding through the water to save the day, and using their arms to "reach and pull" through the waves. They learn to kick their legs like a boat engine, propelling them forward.

As for the backstroke, children often learn by pretending to scoop stars from the sky, while floating comfortably on their backs. This teaches them arm movements and helps them get comfortable with the idea of lying in the water and looking up at the sky.

• As for the chest strike, they imagine that they are frogs jumping into the water and having fun, by performing leg strikes that resemble the movements of frog leg strikes, and arm movements that resemble small circles.

• As for the butterfly or dolphin stroke, children imagine themselves as dolphins emerging from their caves to play on the surface of the water. They perform dolphin sounds and move their arms in vertical circles to try to touch the sky.