At arms length

Lesson 3 – 15 minutes

Sit the participants in a group.
- Ask the participants the following questions to generate a discussion: Who goes to the beach with you? (Parents, friends, brothers, sisters etc).
- Why is it important to always be at the beach with an adult? (So they can look after you, so they can play with you).
- What should the adult do when they are at the beach with you? (They should always stay within arms reach of you in the water, to keep you safe)

In this activity give the participants beach safety scenarios and ask them to decide whether it was the ‘right thing to do’ or the ‘wrong thing to do’.
Participants will decide whether it was right or wrong and show you their answer by raising their arms.
- One arm up = right thing to do.
- Two arms up = wrong thing to do.

After each scenario discuss the correct answer.

Ask the participants to demonstrate a ‘right thing to do’ answer (they raise one arm).
Ask them to demonstrate the ‘wrong thing to do’ answer (they raise two arms).

Give the participants the following scenarios:

Jimmy arrives at the beach with his parents on a really hot day and he can’t wait to get in the water. Before his parents have set up he runs down to the water and jumps in for a swim. (Answer: Wrong thing to do).
Sally is swimming with her parents when she decides to move along the beach a bit. Sally asks her parents to follow her and stay within arms reach. (Answer: Right thing to do).
Mr. Smith is playing in the water with his son Matt. Mr. Smith decides to go and read his book so he leaves Matt swimming by himself and heads up the beach to read. (Answer: Wrong thing to do).
Grant is building a sandcastle on the beach when a friend from school joins him. Grant and his friend get all sandy building their sandcastle so Grants friend suggests they go swimming to wash off. They both run into the water. (Answer: Wrong thing to do).
Alison is heading down to the water with her mum, when she gets to the waters edge she decides the surf is too big for her and she doesn’t want to go in. Alison tells her mum and they both stay out of the water. (Answer: Right thing to do)

Ask all the participants to show you the ‘assistance required’ signal (one hand held high above your
head, with hand moving slowly side to side)

Ask for two volunteers who would like to be part of a demonstration
- Have the volunteers stand at the front of the group.
- Pick one volunteer to be the ‘lifesaver’ and one to be the ‘patient’.
Take the patrol cap and discuss what it is with the group (it is used to identify a lifesaver on the beach, especially when in the water).
Hand the patrol cap to the ‘lifesaver’ volunteer and have them put it on.
Take the rescue tube and discuss it’s purpose (it is used to perform rescues in the water; it floats and can be clipped around the patient to bring them back to shore).
Demonstrate how the rescue tube is clipped around a patient by clipping it around the second volunteer
Hand the rescue tube to the ‘lifesaver’ volunteer.
Set the ‘lifesaver’ to one side and the ‘patient’ to the other.
Ask the ‘patient’ to pretend they are drowning in the water and to signal for assistance.
The ‘lifesaver’ volunteer will pretend to swim the tube over to the ‘patient’ volunteer and clip them in and tow them back to safety. (You may have to help the ‘lifesaver’ clip up the tube)