Baby Annabell Learns To Swim Launch Party With Rebecca Adlington

My girls were invited to an amazing event. They had the opportunity to attend a swimming lesson with Rebecca Adlington OBE, two time Olympic swimming gold medal winner! I feel so grateful for all the amazing opportunities my girls get! The event was to launch the new Baby Annabel Learns To Swim doll by Zapf Creations, Baby Annabell Learns to Swim doll and Rebecca was going to be giving her top tips for encouraging children to take the plunge.

My girls were so excited on the morning of the event! They were talking about it all week  so when the day finally arrived they enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend with them as I was away in Manchester that weekend at a Blogging conference, so sadly I missed it! Thankfully, Nick was happy to take the girls so they all had a great time.

The event was at the London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We have been to the Olympic Park before but not to the Aquatics Centre! From the photos, I was amazed at how big and beautiful it was inside!

The swimming lessons were provided by a very enthusiastic swim teacher called Donna and it was assisted by the lovely Rebecca. They had lots of fun with simple activities to get the little ones used to being in the water to fun swimming related exercises using floats as well as some fun games. using the floating products provided. They also had a lovely demonstration of the new Baby Anabell Learn To Swim doll, so they could see her in action in the water.

At the end of the lesson, they had the chance to take some photos with Rebecca! Seeing them, I couldn’t believe how incredibly lucky my little ones were! Even Nick was excited to meet Rebecca!

After the swimming lesson, they got changed and were then taken to a room for some light refreshments of tea and coffee for adults and a packed lunch for the children.

There was also an opportunity for more photos with Rebecca and to the excitement of the girls, all the children at the event each received a brand new Baby Annabell Learns to Swim doll. So my little ones got a doll each!

As you can imagine they were over the moon with their new dolls. They are massive fans of Baby Annabell. They have at least 3 dolls from the Baby Annabell range at home which they share and constantly play with, so this time they were so excited to have the chance to own one each!

Rebecca Adlington’s Tips

Rebecca Adlington says: “Learning to swim is an important milestone, helping to instil confidence from an early age as well as being a really fun bonding experience between a parent and child. If your little one is nervous it can be a challenging process – expect plenty of tears and tantrums, however, initial fears can be overcome by slowly building confidence and trust.”

Whether your child is an anxious swimmer or an excited water baby, Rebecca Adlington’s top tips will help turn your child into a little Olympian in no time:

• Children can be initially nervous of the water, baby steps and lots of praise will help them overcome a lack of confidence. Try taking them alone to just watch for the first time, then toes in next time and so on, along with lots of positive praise to help encourage them to take that first dip.
• Toys are a brilliant tool, they are such a good distraction for anyone who doesn’t normally like putting their face in the water or splashing. Toys such as the new Baby Annabell Learns to Swim doll are a great way to give children (and parents!) the courage to take those first steps towards swimming.
• Swimming is a huge bonding experience. The learning process is a lot to do with trust and really builds a closer relationship between and parent and child. For this reason, try not to use your phone during lessons to avoid distractions.
• The younger you start swimming lessons the better. I took Summer from 3 weeks old. It is all about building confidence and awareness of the water from a young age. Swimming also helps with a child’s muscular development and is fantastic for understanding their physical abilities.
• Make good use of the equipment that’s there. Whether it’s armbands, noodles, or vests, use whatever your child is more comfortable with. I tend to do five minutes with floatation equipment and five without, this helps when they’re really young and still building confidence.
• Mix up who takes the child swimming. Whether its Mum, Dad, Grandparents etc. It’s good to go with someone they trust whilst getting used to swimming with different people.

Baby Annabell Learns To Swim Doll

The Baby Annabell Learns To Swim doll splashes and moves her arms and legs when she comes into contact with water, and floats on her back. The baby comes with a towel and inflatable water wings with a cute sheep design.

Baby Annabell is the no.1 selling large doll brand in the UK. Promoting imaginative role play, Baby Annabell encourages the development of key nurturing and social skills from a young age. This new doll is set to be a must-have toy for Christmas!

It is aimed at kids age 3 years and over. It has an RRP £49.99 and is available from all good toy stores. Please below Amazon details:

My girls love playing with this doll in the water at bath times! It gets their imagination going! It is lovely to see how caring they are with this doll while she is in the water. It is great to encourage any child to swim for the first time!

We would like to say THANK YOU so much to Zapf Creation and Rebecca Adlington for giving my family such an amazing and inspirational afternoon. They will never forget it!

Do your kids know how to swim? Are they good with the water or perhaps, the other way around, they are scared of it? What do you think of this partnership between Baby Annabell and Rebecca Adlington? Do you think this doll will encourage kids to swim?

*Disclosure: my family were invited to this amazing event for the purpose of this blog post. However, all thoughts and opinions are our own. Contain affiliate link. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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