The present study focuses on investigating the differential effects of analogy and explicit instructions on children’s motor learning and performance in a swimming based forward somersault. It also focuses on investigating the retention of instruction following differential instructional types. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three independent groups: explicit instruction; implicit analogy instruction or control group (demonstrations). During the two week learning phase all participants were taught a forward somersault in water following the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) guidelines, using the instructions for their respective conditions. Participants’ were assessed by two separate assessors, giving an average performance score at three stages: before the learning phase (pre-instruction); immediately after learning (post-instruction) and 3 weeks after (giving a retention score). Observations were also conducted by the assessors. Field notes were taken, recording instructions participants could verbally recall at various time points. Performance scores revealed no significant difference for the interaction effect, and the main effect of group. However, significant findings were found for the main effect of time. Following the observation, slight differences were found in the number of instructions verbally recalled in each groups, with participants recalling two more instructions in the implicit analogy group compared to the explicit group. The findings from this investigation suggest that the instructional method used when teaching a fundamental swimming skill has no effect on children. The results also propose neither instructional method is better than the other when retaining instruction for children. Conclusions could be made that differential instructional methods only have significant different effects on adults, or that further research needs to be conducted with an improved experimental design for conclusive results on children.