For parents who love scuba diving, few things are more exciting than watching their child take their first breaths underwater, especially if the experience inspires a lifelong passion. The PADI Seal Team program is the ideal way to introduce kids as young as 8 years old to the fundamentals of scuba diving. Young divers follow a curriculum of AquaMissions for a fun, educational experience tailor-made for younger kids.

“Seal Team is a confined-water program, which means we teach it either in the pool or pool-like conditions in the ocean,” says Margo Peyton, founder of Kids Sea Camp and Family Dive Adventures, who worked with PADI to develop the Seal Team program. “The focus is on learning by playing games, which helps kids build confidence underwater.”

Benefits

A child’s first experience underwater can make a big impression, which can shape how they feel about diving for the rest of their life. That’s why PADI Seal Team is specially designed for young kids, by experienced youth diving instructors, to let them get their fins wet in a closely super- vised setting before they take the PADI Junior Open Water Diver course at age 10. PADI Seal Team can be taken over a week as part of a family dive vacation, such as the Kids Sea Camp experiences that Peyton offers. It’s also a fun activity to do at home with friends through a local dive shop.

What You’ll Learn

PADI Seal Team teaches many of the same skills and experiences that older divers learn in an Open Water Diver course. The difference is its kid-friendly approach to instruction, and smaller group sizes to make sure the kids are safely supervised throughout the course.

“The first five Seal Team AquaMissions cover all the basics, things like how to clear their mask, purge their regulator, underwater swimming and buoyancy control,” Peyton says. “Going through all the AquaMissions really helps remove any fear or anxiety so they’re ready once they’re old enough to become certified divers.”

Kids who catch the diving bug after completing the core Seal Team curriculum can participate in additional Aqua- Missions, such as wreck diving, night diving and underwater photography, to become a PADI Master Seal Team diver.