Water Gear Back Float - for Kids Safety and Pool Swimming - Will Promote Swimming Skills and Confidence in The Pool - Comfortable and Secure - for Boys and Girls

These back floats work great for children in the process of learning how to swim. We purchased this after our toddler took swimming lessons at the local Y -- the swim instructor used this exact float with each of the children. Buying this so inexpensively has allowed us to continue practicing swimming skills on our own. The main advantage of this style of float is that it supports the child without making it too easy. This encourages the child to use their arms and legs to keep themselves afloat. (If they stopped swimming, it would still keep them above water, but just barely and in a way that is rather uncomfortable.) You wouldn't want to let them swim around with this unsupervised, as it is only supported with a simple strap and it's not hard to imagine it coming off or slipping up to a place where the child's head would be under water. But unsupervised water play is not the purpose of this device; it is an active learning aid. The float also allows you to remove layers and so increase the difficulty as your child learns to swim. This is a very versatile float! I was very impressed by how quickly my son learned to use this. He can move around the pool and his arms and legs are unencumbered as they are with water wings or a swim vest. He feels like he is actually swimming with this aid, and to be honest it looks a lot more like swimming than with other aids. We have removed the first layer and look forward to working down to none!

My son was horribly afraid of water at the beginning of summer (then 2.5). I alway used Puddle Jumpers with my daughter, so I assumed he would do alright with them too. Every time I put him in the water in the Puddle Jumper, he would scream. I literally had to carry him around the pool with me. I bought it after seeing the swim instructor use it on my daughter (4). One day we were at the pool and she wanted to swim independently, so I thought I would see what would happen if I put this on my son, and to my surprise, he LOVED it. He actually started scooping and kicking around the pool. I'm not sure what it is about this float - maybe the fact that he can see his feet with this and he could not with the puddle jumper - but he now LOVES the pool. He has done a complete 180. In fact, he has become so good swimming around with this thing, we have taken it off a few times and he can swim short distances. I never would have thought a child would feel more secure in this than in the larger Puddle Jumper, but I think he does. It saved our summer!

This is used by life guards at our local pool for swim lessons so we got one to use ourselves with our four year old while swimming. It's better than a swimming assistance devices that go around the arms because with this one arms are free so it allows for a natural range of motion while swimming. It also allows kids to float in a more horizontal position than other popular swimming assistance devices that put kids in the vertical drowning position.

We've been using these since my son has been 6 months old to learn to swim. They were recommended at our local YMCA and by others who trained young swimmers. To start we bought two sets (we needed two straps)- putting one float on his belly and two floats on his back. At 21 months now the floats are still working great and my son is swimming with both arms/legs engaged using only one float on his back. We slowly decrease the number of floats by cutting a third of the float off (with a bread knife). So for example we go from 2 floats on the back to 1 and 2/3 then to 1 and 1/3 and now to only 1. We keep the 2/3 and 1/3 pieces to swap in and out for the next time we need them (so we only had to cut two of the floats). By slowly removing the floats our son wasn't overwhelmed when he reached a new swim level - he just had to work a bit harder to keep his nose/mouth above the water. We love these because unlike other floats these are pretty similar to regular swimming and leaves our son's arms fully free to engage in swimming. We use these nearly daily in the summer and approximately weekly in the winter.

Water Gear Back Float, Progressive Split Float (Orange) (1) This Back Float works great. My grandson weights 44 lbs and this float keeps his head above the water so he can kick and paddle in the correct position for swimming. He really likes this float as he can "swim" around the pool without being held up or wearing a puddle jumper flotation device. An adult is always in the pool near him as this isn't a life saver but an device to help the child learn to swim. This has allowed him to build confidence to try swimming on his own. It currently has all four foam rectangles and is very buoyant. As he progresses in swimming, I will remove the foam pieces one at the time so he only has the support needed for his skill level. I would highly recommend this product to anyone whose child doesn't swim but who enjoys moving around independently. This float has a snap buckle which is very easy to adjust and fasten/unfasten. It is a little bulky on his back with all four rectangles but is keeps his head above the water while he kicks and paddles.

This worked great for my 4.5 year old, who has been taking lessons at the YMCA for a year or so, on and off. They use a similar product, but that one was not adjustable (in its buoyancy level) like this is, which is great. Given my son's ability (close to doing a good doggie paddle with minimal back support), I took one of the pads off right off the bat, and that kept him well afloat -- and facing forward -- when he swam in a pool during a recent vacation. (He weighs 40 lbs I think). I agree with others that I wouldn't give this to a 2 or even 3 year old, unless they were very advanced swimmers....it is NOT a "flotation" device like water wings. It's MUCH better than swimmies. It leaves the kids arms free to swim as normal, and keeps them properly oriented in the water to learn to swim correctly. And what a great price for what it offers!

My child uses this type of back float in her toddler swim class, so we bought one to use on vacation and for swimming over the summer. The product is good quality: sturdy foam pads, strap is easily adjustable, and as we learned in class, it is designed to be worn "low and tight", which prevents the belt from slipping up on their torso. My daughter seems to be comfortable in it, and she swims like a little fish while wearing it. Would definitely recommend, especially for toddlers who are getting used to the water and need an adult with them but not necessarily constantly holding on to them. This float encourages independence and confidence in the water and with multiple layers of the foam, one or more layers can be removed as kids become more proficient swimmers and need less support.

I purchased the Water Gear Back Float for my grandson after reading the many reviews and learning it is used by professionals while teaching children to swim. In the past I have been told by swimming instructors that we should not use floatation devices (the arm floatys) while teaching the little guy to swim. He started taking swimming lessons at the age of 7 months, but only got as far as turning himself over to float which would save his life should he fall in the pool. I decided to look on Amazon to see if there was anything that could help keep him afloat while learning to swim without an instructor which is costly and scheduled appointments aren't always easy for us to make with our jobs. The many reviews convinced me to give this a try and it was not a mistake. I put it on him the other day and he was a bit afraid to not hang on to me. I pushed a pool noodle under his arms to insure his face stayed above the water and I let go of his hands. This built his confidence and I soon took the noodle away and he was on his own with just the Water Gear helping him. He remembered from his past lessons to kick his feet and paddle and the Water Gear kept him up as he propelled himself towards me,he was so excited. He said "look, I fwimming". He has had a blast in the pool. I would have never tried this without the reviews I read first. I would have been afraid it would push his face under but it doesn't. It does put him in the proper position for swimming, it teaches him to keep his head up and mouth shut. We've not taken any of the pads out yet, but this swimming aid was one of the best purchases I have ever made.