Picking a pool in Calgary for regular toddler swimming
- Carmen Fourie
- Jan 14
- 11 min read
Introduction
Introducing your toddler to swimming is a wonderful way to promote physical development, build water confidence, and enjoy quality bonding time. In Calgary, numerous pools offer toddler-friendly amenities and programs, making it essential to choose the right one for regular visits. In this guide, we'll explore key factors to consider when selecting a pool that best suits your toddler's needs, ensuring a safe and enjoyable swimming experience for your little one
Now that Elba is nearly 2, I want to take her swimming regularly and consistently. This blog details the pools I tried and my recommendation.
Table of content:
Swimming history & some background
It seems a popular thing for parent to sign up for parent and tot swimming classes from quite early on. I didn't do this - for a few reasons. My main reason was that I believe it can be a bit overstimulating for a baby and a bit difficult for a baby to keep up with a group class's pace (plus most of the pools are much colder than I would be okay with for my little baby). I also didn't think I was going to find much value in the "coaching" at a young age. What I did instead was 3 months of Baby Bath Swimming lessons online starting when Elba was 6 weeks old. I enjoyed learning, with a coach, ways that I could support my little baby to be comfortable in water while being in the comfort of our home and our tub.
We still do some of the practices during bath time, but as Elba got older, I wanted her to experience swimming in a larger pool.
Again, swimming lessons at this age don't appeal to me. I think the most important thing is regularly going for our children to explore in the water and be comfortable in the water. As well as particular exercises and skills that we, as parents, can help our kids with. These, I think, are accessible to learn online and then we as parents can do them with our kids at their pace and at a time and place that works best for us. I believe we gain more from going regularly at a time that fits our schedule and for me to do the due diligence to know what to do and what not to do to give my toddler the best opportunity to be confident in the water and swimming.
When Elba is older and particular technique of swimming become more important than I would think that swim lessons become more valuable.
For now, what I was looking for was a pool to be able to go swimming with Elba on a regular basis (1 to 2 times a week).
Trying different pools in Calgary
I find having a mom friend go with makes going swimming regularly better - it means there is some additional accountability to go on days where I am not super excited about going out (you know Calgary -15C and lower kind of weather). It is also nice to have company and chats while our kiddos play. Anyways, I do have a mom friend who I go swimming with and thanks to her initiative (she was the main driver of all this) we ended up trying out several pools in Calgary before settling on what works best for us. And thanks to that little experiment I get to share with you my recommendation for where to take your toddler swimming.
Please note We live in the Northwest of Calgary and therefore only tried pools that are within a 20-minute drive from our house.
Another note: The prices included in this blog are accurate at the time of writing this, but they are likely to change. Please check the updated prices before you go.
In the order we went to them - here are the pools and my experience & recommendation:
This is a city of Calgary pool.
Location: 2915 24 Avenue, Northwest, Calgary
Price:
$8.95 for an adult for a single visit.
Free - Children under 5
The 10-x pass doesn't make a huge difference to the swimming rate. But it is still cheaper.
Parking: Easy and free
Toddler pool: Yes - they have wading pool
Chlorine: Yes
Toys & slides: They had the best toys for toddlers of all the pools we tried. Two big bins full of different things and a toddler slide that goes into the regular lane pool.
Our experience & verdict
We loved this pool. It is a fairly close drive. There is ample parking and the walk from our car to the pool isn't very far. The staff were very friendly and accommodating when we went.
The lane pool does have specific times that it allows access for parents and toddlers (check the schedule and or call ahead to confirm). This is important for this pool, because the wading pool is very shallow. It is great for toddlers playing in because it is lovely and warm and has a fountain in the middle that was very enjoyed, but for practicing swimming we needed to use the lane pool.
Why we didn't choose this pool:
This would have been our choice of pool. We were excited to make this our regular swimming pool, BUT then the next week when we got there for swimming, they informed us that the wading pool was closed and that we cannot go in the lane pool. By us, I mean my friend. I was still on the way there. They let her know that the wading pool can be closed unexpectedly, and the website won't be updated, and that we need to call ahead to confirm that it is open. Calling ahead Bytheway means calling 311, because there is no direct way to call the pool and then the call operator calls the pool to find out if it is open.
Of the 3 times we attempted to go to this pool - the wading pool was closed 2 of those 3 times and they said we would not be allowed in the lane pool. We really want consistency and reliability for our toddlers, because it is quite a thing to get two toddlers out the house to go swimming and Elba was saying "swimming Thursday". I feel with toddlers' reliability and knowing what is coming is a better experience for them. Given that this pool may not be reliable in terms of being open - we decided to explore different pools.
This is a great pool, but not reliable.
This pool is a charity organization.
Location: 33 Street, Northwest, Calgary
Price:
$9.50 for an adult for a single visit.
Free - Children under 2
$2.50 for children over 2
The 10-x pass does make it slightly less.
Parking: Easy and free
Toddler pool: No
Chlorine: No. This pool is salt. Yay!
Toys & slides: No slides that I saw, but they did have several floating toys.
Our experience & verdict
I love that this pool is salt and not chlorine. Chlorine is a concern for me, and I would give a lot of preference to a saltwater pool. Another great thing about this pool is it is significantly warmer than the other ones. While this may not be fun for people swimming lengths and training, it is awesome for a mom and toddler because we aren't moving around as much and staying warm in that way.
Why we didn't choose this pool:
One big reason is that this pool is closing down permanently in a few months. That being said, we would have chosen this pool even for a few more months because it is salt and warm, but the deterrent was the schedule.
Vecova pool happened to be open for us as a backup when Foothills pool was closed because it was school holidays and therefore their public swim time was longer. As part of the regular schedule the public swim times do not work well for our schedule. It may also have been because it was a school holiday, but when we went it was quite busy. I have attempted to go to this pool twice - the first time it was unexpectedly closed for maintenance and the second time it was nice, but very busy.
This is a city of Calgary pool.
Location: 1919 29th Street Southwest, Calgary
Price:
$8.95 for an adult for a single visit.
Free - Children under 5
The 10-x pass does make it slightly less.
Parking: Easy and free
Toddler pool: Yes.
Chlorine: Yes.
Toys & slides: They do have a slide going into the lane pool when it is open for public swimming and there were two bins with toys, but the toys at this pool were rather average compared to Foothills.
Our experience & verdict
The toddler pool at this pool is quite nice because it is deeper than Foothills. Therefore, we wouldn't necessarily need to use the lane pool (which isn't always open to the public) because the toddler pool is deep enough to practice swimming and floating. The staff were very friendly and helpful, and the pool was not crowded.
An additional cool feature at this pool is their child's play area! As part of the daily admission fee, you have access to a nice play area with a play kitchen, dress up box, things to climb on and more. We had a great time here.
Downside of this pool:
Weirdly, the pool was quite cold. The toddler pool seemed to be the same temperature as the lane pool. Given that we are not moving around enough to stay warm by movement, we did get cold quite quickly. There is a hot tub at this pool to quickly heat up (but very quickly, because it is too hot IMO for a toddler).
This pool is a good option for a consistent and regular pool for parents and toddlers.
This pool is a private organization.
Location: 11950 Country Village, Northeast, Calgary
Price:
$17.14 for an adult for a single visit.
Free - Children under 2
$7 - Child older than 2
Membership is yearly or every 2 weeks.
A household membership for 4 people is $1700 per year.
The membership for me would be $875 and for Elba when she turns two would be $440.
For comparison purposes this would be $73 per month for me and $37 for Elba excluding tax. Or it would be $80 for 4 weeks for me and $40 for Elba for 4 weeks (charged every 2 weeks)
$75 signup fee (I think it is usually waived in January).
Parking: Easy and free. Note Vivo is large and therefore the walk from the car to the pool is quite far (the elevator wasn't working when we went). I mention this because it takes a while if you have two toddlers walking with you.
Toddler pool: Yes, and a slow-moving pool.
Chlorine: Yes.
Toys & slides: They do have slide in the toddler pool and a few toys.
Our experience & verdict
This pool was a nice experience, but we must note the obvious is that it costs a lot more than the previous pools I mentioned. But with the additional cost does come reliability in terms of being open and able to take our toddlers to the toddler pool and also the slow-moving pool.
The toddler pool is very swallow. As in too swallow for a toddler to swim in. It is more like shallow water to run around in. This isn't that important though because there is also the slow-moving pool to go into. Our toddlers enjoyed the water spraying from the sprayers at this pool and the beach type entrance.
The access to the pool also gives access to a large indoor playground which was lovely for running around.
The downside of this pool:
The main deterrent of this pool was the cost of it. It is also quite cold, but similar in temperature to all the pools mentioned except Vecova and Foothills. There is a hot tub at this pool.
This pool is a private organization.
Location: 11300 Rocky Ridge Road, Northwest, Calgary
Price:
$19.75 for an adult for a single visit.
Free - Children under 2
$7 - Child older than 2
Membership is monthly. Membership gives access to all YMCAs.
The membership for me would be $88 per month and for Elba when she turns two would be $6.65 (added to a primary membership).
While the membership fee for an adult is similar to Vivo, the child fee is significantly less ($79.8 compared to $440 per year)
$75 signup fee (I think it is usually waived in January).
Parking: Easy and free. Similar to Vivo, YMCA is large and therefore it is a distance from car to pool, but the elevator was working when we went there which made it easier.
Toddler pool: Yes, and a slow-moving pool.
Chlorine: Yes.
Toys & slides: The slide was closed (they said for water restrictions) and there were no toys.
Our experience & verdict
We enjoyed the experience here. The toddler pool has different depths and is walkable for toddlers, but deep enough to float or swim if they want to. There is also a slow-moving pool right next to the toddler pool which is great for swimming practice and floating.
An important factor for us was that this pool is consistently open for us to use with toddlers (the toddler pool and the slow-moving pool).
The downside of this pool:
It isn't very warm (there is a hot tub in addition to the pool). It isn't clear why the slides and water features are closed (they said water restrictions, but there are currently no City imposed water restrictions). It costs more than the city pools but is less than Vivo.
This is a great option as a regular swimming pools for parents and toddlers.
Fee assistance to take note of
Some families qualify for Fair Entry Programs and Services. If a family does qualify it will give them a discounted rate at most of the pools on this list. There are some limitations as I understand it.
Another one is Corporate Benefits. It is worth checking if your family has Coporate Benefits at any of the private pools. This will give a discounted rate and sometimes it also waives the signup fee.
Pools not included in this blog
I did not include outdoor pools, because we cannot use outdoor pools for 6 months of the year (at least). I will write a Spring and Summer post for outdoor pools and splash parks.
I also did not include pools that are more than 20 minutes' drive for us therefore I did not include the pools in the South (other than Killarney) or far East. If you have gone to any of those pools, please comment your experience below to help other parents.
Breastfeeding at pools in Calgary
You are allowed to legally breastfeed in Calgary wherever you are allowed to legally be. Therefore, you can breastfeed at any pool in Calgary where you are granted access.
"Noone is allowed to ask you to cover up when breastfeeding or to move elsewhere to breastfeed."
I hope that provides you some reassurance for breastfeeding at a pool in Calgary. Now that being said I do have a breastfeeding mamma friend who was "shamed" (her words I wasn't there) at a pool in Calgary for breastfeeding by the lifeguards on duty. It was not at any of the pools I listed here. I also assume that given that she informed them that it is her right to breastfeed that this was potentially an isolated event and therefore I don't want to name the pool.
For additional reassurance I breastfed openly at all the pools listed in this post and not once did I feel uncomfortable. In fact, at one of them a mom came up to me and said, "good for you" and we briefly connected over breastfeeding toddlers in public.
Other information to know
It is a requirement from Alberta that toddlers under age 3 wear a swim diaper and plastic cover. While I understand this requirement, I do find it a bit annoying since we did Elimination Communication and therefore Elba doesn't wear a diaper.
Some of the pools on this list are less strict about enforcing this, but it is a requirement and therefore I am mentioning it.
Vecova has a loan swim diaper and some to purchase if you forget yours.
Making Swimming a Fun and Consistent Adventure for Toddlers
Finding the perfect pool for regular toddler swimming in Calgary took some trial and error, but it was well worth the effort. Each pool had its own strengths, but ultimately, I found one that checked all the boxes for convenience, comfort, and a toddler-friendly environment.
I hope this blog helps you discover the best option for your family, too. If you’ve tried a pool you love or have tips for swimming with toddlers, I’d love to hear about it in the comments! Let’s make swimming a fun and consistent part of our little ones’ lives. 🌊👶🏼
For real time insights and shares you can follow me @sustainabilityC
Carmen
Comentários