For many years, we’ve donated a portion of termly fees to Heart Children Ireland and the Irish Kidney Association. This year, we wanted to go even further — so we’re holding our annual Duck Race (actually, lots of them!) to raise money for another incredible Irish charity: Childhood Cancer Ireland.
The child who raises the most sponsorship will win a whole term of Turtle Tots classes — completely free! Our Duck Race 2025 winner will be announced in November 2025, and the winner notified by both phone and email.
During the week 18 to 24 of October 2025, we’ll be making classes extra fun with our very own Duck Races.
Every swimmer is invited to collect sponsorship for their duck. We hope friends and family will support your child and help raise funds for this worthy cause.
✨The winner of each class will take their duck home!
✨ Everyone else can also take their duck home in return for a small donation.
If your child takes their duck home, we’d love to see their duck’s adventures around your town!
When you’ve completed your sponsorship form, there are three ways to donate before 24th October:
After the deadline, we’ll announce the top fundraiser and present the funds to the charity.
Every little helps — please don’t feel pressure to raise huge amounts. If each of our little Turtle Totters raised just €20, together we could donate over €50,000!
Childhood Cancer Ireland is a parent and survivor-led charity, founded by families who know first-hand the devastating impact of a childhood cancer diagnosis.
They raise funds to provide practical and emotional support for children and families, while also advocating for better treatments, services, and outcomes across Ireland.
👉 Hear inspiring stories here: Gold Ribbon Stories
👉Watch Oisín’s dad share his journey here: Oisin’s dad’s video
We know everyone is busy, so we deeply appreciate anyone who chooses to get involved. We promise the Duck Races will be full of laughter, memories, and purpose — while raising vital funds for children, babies, and young people across Ireland and beyond.
A heartfelt thank you from all of us at Turtle Tots Ireland.
Jumping is a key element of developing a child’s motor skills, and it’s a huge milestone for toddlers when they jump into the pool for the first time. It’s a skill first introduced in our Octopus level, and an important one because it really is a leap of faith, for you and for them!
From the very first time they jump in from the side or the mat, you can see the pure joy on their little faces. It’s a fun activity we encourage and love to introduce in the safe and supervised space of our lessons.
Once babies and toddlers can stand, they’ll start learning to first step out, and then later jump, into the pool for you to collect. We’ll teach them to wait and listen until they hear your cue – this is really important – and then to look before they leap. Safety always comes first.
To begin with, babies will stand on a thick foam mat supported by their teacher – this prevents any accidental falls from doing any harm. Walking to the edge and holding their parent’s hands, their first big step over the edge is totally on their terms – and from their perspective, it looks a long way down! The excitement, the thrill, and most importantly the splashes and the giggles afterwards fast become every kid’s favourite part of their lesson.
In the following weeks they’ll build up the confidence to jump without you holding their hand; toes to the edge, knees bent, and jumping away from the wall and under the water before being scooped up in to the safe arms of their parent.
Simple phrases like “1-2-3, Jump!” or “Ready, Set, Go!” help both of you to communicate safely when it comes to jumping in. At first, kids will want to leap in as soon as they are standing up, it’s just too much fun! But, it’s easy to see how this behaviour might cause an injury, or even worse, a drowning risk. We’ll teach kids to listen and wait until you say their favourite words before they leap. Learning to jump in the right way keeps them safe, and teaches an essential life skill at an age when kids need it most. We’ll keep it fun and light-hearted, whilst giving you some peace of mind.
Whether they do a full jump or just dip a toe, celebrate it! Positively builds confidence and self-esteem. High-fives, claps, or a little splishy splashy song all go a long way 🎶 Jumping in is an important submersion skill and building block for more advanced skills later, but it does take courage and trust. What seems like one small step to you can mean a giant leap to them, and when it does happen, you’ll both be jumping for joy.
Has it been a few weeks of your first swimming lessons, and your little one just isn’t settling in yet? It’s disheartening when those first lessons weren’t the experience you’d hoped for, but the good news is you’re only at the start of your journey! With the right advice and perseverance it will get better, so don’t give up yet. This is an important parenting opportunity.
In the preverbal stage when babies are very little, it’s difficult to exactly know where it’s going wrong for them, and so when it comes to addressing what’s happening, we need to take a holistic approach.
Once a baby born full-term is 3 months of age, it’s not likely that they’re too young physically for our swimming lessons. When we talk about an age to start swimming, it’s due to the physical demand of being in water for 30 minutes – newborn’s just aren’t aren’t able for a 30-minute session in 30c water, its too tiring for them. Beyond 3 months or age, if your little one is getting progressively more upset as their lesson gets underway, then we need to look at the possible causes, which could be simple or little more complex.
The first considerations are;
If it’s none of these physical factors, then being that it’s only very early days it’s not likely that they’ve developed an aversion to swimming – after all, they’ve not had much chance to experience it. It’s likely to instead be overstimulation.
Turtle (3-8 months) takes its pace very slow, and this is fully intended. We want to allow babies time to adjust to the aquatic environment, the first sessions are a lot for babies to take in and process. Babies can very easily get overstimulated, some more than others too. A hotel pool environment is very noisy compared to a quiet home especially if they are the first child, and sound is loud and travelling differently than they’re used to. The lighting is bright, and light can be scary the way it reflects off water. There’s a lot of other people and babies at class, which can be overwhelming. And we haven’t even gotten into the water yet!
Getting into the pool when a baby is already overstimulated is likely to tip them over the edge. Overstimulation looks like fearful whimpers at the start of a class that build in to a full-blown cry after around 5 minutes. It’s a totally normal occurrence for babies and children getting started with swimming lessons, but when it happens it can be very distressing for you and for them. In part, that’s because there’s not much we can do in that moment to recover the situation. Toys or distractions haven’t worked, you’re suddenly the ‘wrong’ parent, and they will roar until the scary things go away (as in, you get out of the pool).
The good news is that overstimulation is easily dealt with and moved on from once you know what to look for. So, try again next week with the idea of overstimulation in mind, and see if by addressing it you can move past it.
It’s important that you lead with calmness. If you feel stressed or anxious (which is only fair when the first few lessons haven’t gone well!) then your body language is probably saying it loud and clear. Babies are experts on picking up how their parents are feeling and will react to it, this is called co-regulation. So, take a moment to centre your breath, keep a smile on your face, and hold on to a belief that everything is going to be ok – because it is! Another tip is to relax your hands and body – nervous parents will have a stiff body and a tight grip which babies will feel and react to. This is one of those times where you really do need to fake it until you make it 😊.
If that’s as far as you get on your next attempt, and baby stays calm throughout the process, it’s a huge step forward! The following week, you might find you only have to sit poolside for 5 minutes, or a minute or two is needed settle before your class, but before you know it, you’ll be flying. When you do join in, avoid any overexcited classmates, splashy little arms or legs, or loud parents, at least for the first few weeks.
Lastly, don’t be worrying about the other parents and what they’re thinking, that only makes everything worse! Remind yourself that they’re all parents too, and they know you’re doing your best. You’re doing a great job just by showing up! Our lessons are a safe space and without judgment, and absolutely everyone has bad days. Yours just happen to be at the start, but you’ll be so proud of yourself when you see it through.
Has your toddler hit the brakes when it comes to participating in lessons? If you have a toddler who suddenly wants nothing to do with swimming and it’s been going on for more than a few weeks, it can be tough. You’re probably getting frustrated or anxious, but believe me, you’re not alone. Nearly every toddler has a water wobble at some point. Over the years we’ve seen so many different swimmers, and truly they all are so special and unique! Toddlers are so much fun, but it can be a challenging time when ‘no’ is their new favourite word and your investment in lessons feels like money down the drain.
Here at TT we have a lot of tricks up our sleeve to get kids back on track. Not every idea will work for every child, and so you might need to try a few suggestions before one works. Here are my best tips you might find helpful to help your toddler participating in lessons again.
Always remember that your toddler is a little person, with their own mind, character and feelings. Listen to them, and validate how they feel ❤️. By building their trust in you, in turn they’re more inclined to believe it’s not a trick the next time you ask something new of them. Once they’ve made peace with what’s bothering them, they’ll become unstoppable little sharks in the water! Every scenario is different too. We love to help with advice, and always have time after class for a quiet conversation when you need it.
