EPHRATA - Kids jumped in the pool and blew bubbles and floated and learned a little bit about swimming and water safety at the World's Largest Swimming Lesson in Ephrata Friday.

About 15 kids lined up on the side of the Splash Zone pool and took a swimming lesson with the help of the pool's lifeguards. "I had a 2-year-old registered, all the way up to a 12-year-old," Carrie Sawyer, of the Ephrata Parks and Recreation Department, said.

This is the fifth year of the World's Largest Swimming Lesson, a worldwide effort to promote swimming lessons and water safety. Sawyer said she hopes it makes parents aware of the necessity for swimming and water safety lessons. "Being that we live around canals and lakes, it's very important to their safety."

Kids can learn to swim at the Splash Zone all summer, Sawyer said, and the program has been expanded for 2014. Enrollment is still open for the first session of swimming lessons, and registration for the second session opens July 2, she said.

The pool has an infant-parent aquatic program where parents and babies (2 months of age and older) are in the pool together, Sawyer said. But in previous summers, swimming lessons didn't start until children reached school age, she said. That gap was plugged with a preschool program.

Parents can register their children for lessons online at the parks and recreation link on the city's website, or get information about lessons at Ephrata City Hall or at the Splash Zone.

If parents aren't sure of the swimming skill level of their children, they can come to the pool for an assessment, Sawyer said. Splash Zone lifeguards will take kids out in the pool to determine their swimming ability, she said.