Hudson McKnight and his fellow 4-year-olds are learning some valuable lessons, though they might not know it.
At Alexandra's Molyneux Aquatic Centre, he and four others are being doused with buckets, coaxed underwater to blow bubbles, urged to jump off ledges or lie back with arms and legs splayed (sometimes at all angles) and navigate the pool's perimeter using their "monkey grips".
Write all this down and it seems like a handful; watch it unfold at first hand, however, and it appears merely fun.
That's the trick, says Ginny Hill, Central Swim School's co-ordinator.
"It's about making it a fun environment and not pushing the child until they are ready.
"It's important to get them comfortable in the water but to also know the dangers."
Drowning is the third-leading cause of unintentional death in this country, behind traffic accidents and falls. To the end of last month, 65 people had drowned in New Zealand this year.
Though this is lower than the five-year average (2005-2009) of 86, Water Safety New Zealand general manager Matt Claridge believes we can do better.
"Despite this year's toll being down ... it is disappointing to see inappropriate behaviour being the cause of the majority of these deaths."
A 2008 Neilsen study commissioned by Water Safety New Zealand revealed one in five year 6 pupils (roughly 10-year-olds) can cover 200m, a distance regarded as necessary to be able to survive; only half can manage 25m; and a quarter cannot complete 25m or even tread water.
The implications of a child not learning to swim continue through the teenage years and into adulthood. Thus the earlier a person learns to swim, the better, Mr Claridge says.
"It is no surprise that New Zealanders drown at an alarming rate.
"Unfortunately, not enough of our kids are being equipped with the skills to survive in the water."
Gary Easthope, who has been involved in swimming coaching for 24 years, the past three as the Central Otago District Council's aquatic centres manager, says he has witnessed a decline in our children's swimming ability.
"I've seen a change all right.
"The fact you've got kids entering high school who don't have basic water skills is really scary.
"It is not a big part of the school curriculum," Mr Easthope says.
"Water Safety New Zealand's efforts on keeping a focus on the fact these kids need to learn to swim is massive for us.
"If they weren't highlighting this all the time, I think it would stop all together."
The Central Otago District Council has been running a swimming programme for five years.
Its Central Swim School initiative aims to provide "high-quality, professional aquatic education programmes", including basic water confidence, water safety and learn-to-swim lessons to all ages and abilities.
The school is also involved in a pilot Swim Skills programme, jointly funded by the CODC and the Central Lakes Trust, which offers free lessons and water safety education to primary school children in Alexandra, Cromwell and Roxburgh.
"Younger primary pupils learn basic swimming skills and older ones learn about river safety," Mr Easthope explains.
"The pilot programme offers free lessons for kids at school, for those who perhaps can't afford the group lesson in a swim school.
It is an essential filler - it means there are no excuses why your kid can't learn to swim at school.
The river safety section of the programme aims to give pupils the skills to keep themselves safe in and around rivers and includes a survival-swimming component.
"It is specific to this area," Mr Easthope says.
"A lot of the programmes that came through from Swimming New Zealand and Water Safety New Zealand were beach-orientated.
"Here, kids need to know about currents and undertows, strainers [underwater obstructions] and cold-water shock," he said.
"It is fair to say there is a greater danger when there is a hot summer. There has to be; kids are going to go play down there [by rivers or lakes].
"I don't want to stop kids jumping off rocks into rivers - I think it is part and parcel of living up here - but we want them doing it safely.
"We know we saved one life last summer. A parent came into a school and told of how a kid got into trouble in a river and the kid flipped on to their back as they'd been taught and kept their cool ... that was massive for us."
In a new partnership with New Zealand seafood company Sealord, Water Safety New Zealand has established a national project to improve the swimming ability of children.
Its key goal is to equip primary school leavers with the skills to swim (freestyle) 200m.
As well as a "passport" in which children - and parents - can chart progress along nine stages of learning to swim 200m, a website (www.swimforlife.org.nz) provides tips on swimming and water safety.
However, Mr Easthope urges caution when considering the 200m benchmark, claiming it should only be regarded as one point on a continuum of swimming skills.
"I am very cautious about the 200m mark because I think kids can still struggle their way to that, get the certificate, and the parents switch off. They tick the box: 'My kid can swim; he is free to go wherever he wants'. That is the danger of solely relying on it. It is a goal that can be built on."
Though Mr Claridge agrees in part with that sentiment ("Hopefully, they don't stop there; hopefully, they keep going"), he says the key point is to motivate children to learn water skills.
"I look at it from the other end, that it is hard to get kids in the water, full-stop, so we've got to get them in there. We have to draw a line at some point.
"To be able to swim 200m means a child has been in a relatively long-term, sustained programme where they have developed a broad cross-section of skills.
"It's not just about swimming freestyle. There is a whole lot more to it than that," Mr Claridge says.
Which brings us back to Ms Hill's class of 4-year-olds.
Certainly, these children, despite their enthusiasm, are more than a few strokes away from completing eight lengths of a 25m pool.
The key, Ms Hill says, is making sure the children are at home in the H2O.
"I remember when I was about 3 or 4 - our swimming lessons then were completely different to what we do now.
"The only memory I have of it is getting my head put under and getting water up my nose. To this day, I struggle jumping into a pool without holding my nose.
"You get to know what the child is capable of. They will slowly make that transition," she says in reference to key early progressions, including: being able to fully submerge the head, blow bubbles and move confidently through the water; floating unassisted, i.e. "doing the starfish" (front and back); gliding in a straight line; streamline kicking in a straight line; rolling and rotating; arm strokes; and breathing techniques.
"In the earlier lessons, from six months, we start to develop their awareness of the pool depth and the safe way to enter and exit a pool.
"We do things like the `monkey grip', so kids can crawl along the side of the pool until they find a safe place to get out.
"Other things include being able to float, so that if they did fall in somewhere, they could turn themselves on to their back and float. It differs with each child.
"By the time they are 7 or 8, most are in the lane pool. But I had a 5-year-old who swam half a length in the lane pool the other day," Ms Hill says.
"I think it depends on the individual child.
"You do get lots of kids who are confident around water, but the key is to be confident and competent at the same time.
"It can be really frustrating but the harder it is to teach a child something, the bigger the reward when they finally get it."
Fact file
• To the end of November, 2010, 65 people had drowned in New Zealand. 99 people drowned in NZ in 2009. Last year rivers accounted for 20 deaths, beaches 19, offshore activities 17 and inland still waters 16.
• In a breakdown of the 53 "recreational" drownings in 2009, powered boating was involved in 12 deaths, swimming 11, diving/snorkelling 9, non-powered boating 8 and land-based fishing 7.
• A 2008 Nielsen report into the swimming skills of year 6 and year 8 pupils found teachers believed a quarter of their year 6 students were not able to complete a distance of 25m, or manage to keep afloat and tread water.
• 41% of teachers said at least half of their year-8 pupils were capable of performing these tasks.
• Compared with the results obtained from a similar 2001 survey, teachers believed students' swimming skills were getting worse.
• Parental attitude was regarded as a key factor by teachers - both from a positive and a negative perspective. Parents condoning their child's reluctance to swim was seen as an important issue that needed to be addressed.
