American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim Program

The American Red Cross Learn-to-Swim Program offers swim lessons for infants, children, teenagers, and adults. The program includes swim lessons that focus on water safety, swimming skills, and how to help others in a water emergency. Classes are taught by Water Safety Instructor® certified professionals (WSI™), and Red Cross swim lessons are available throughout the country through Red Cross training providers in a safe environment.

• Ages: 0–18 years old

Classes are available for those ages six months and older. Swim lessons are taught by Water Safety Instructor® certified professionals, commonly referred to as a WSI™. The program is part of the American Red Cross, which has provided swimming safety education for a century, and it is connected to the Red Cross Centennial Campaign, launched in 2014 to mark a century of swimming safety education. The program’s aim is to create an ecosystem of water safety in each community that starts with teaching children and adults to become water competent, which is described as knowing water safety, having swimming skills, and knowing how to help others in a water emergency.

Red Cross training providers offer instruction in a safe environment and at the learner’s own pace. The Red Cross Centennial Campaign increases impact in communities with high drowning rates or numbers of drownings and helps training providers reach families who would not otherwise have the opportunity to access this training. A free Red Cross Swim app, sponsored by The ZAC Foundation, supports the program by helping children and adults learn to be safer in and around water and allows parents or caregivers to track kids’ progress as they learn to swim.

Last updated May 14, 2026.