Our Summer Staples for Kids

Temperatures hit record highs over Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte which made it feel like summer is HERE and we’re diving headfirst into sweaty days, warm nights and tons of pool, lake and beach time. I love summer with a passion and cannot wait to spend as much time as possible outside with the boys.

Ever since we first became parents, Ryan and I began accumulating a small collection of items that have become our summertime staples with our kids. We’re talking everything from the practical (our family’s favorite sunscreen, life jackets our kids actually tolerate, hats that block the sun and stay on and water shoes that don’t give the boys blisters) to the fun (sprinkler splash pads, catch-and-release aquariums, floating mats, inflatable boats and water tables)!

 

If you have little ones and have stumbled across some fun summery finds that your kids love or some practical summer staples you love that help keep your kids safe and cool, please feel free to chime in below and share your favorites in the comments section. I always learn about awesome things from you guys and would love to read about some of your summer favorites, too!

Summer Staples for Kids

• Catch-and Release Aquarium

For anyone with a creature-loving kid in their life, I cannot recommend this catch-and-release aquarium enough! My mom bought this one for the boys to use when we visit my family in Florida and we can no longer make a trip to the beach without it! They love filling it up with water and whatever sea creatures they find that day. It easily holds little crabs, fish, tadpoles, mollusks, sand fleas and more!

• Beach Tent

Beach days are long and lovely but non-stop exposure to the sun is the first way to ensure our family doesn’t last on the beach for long. Too much sun is draining and access reprieve from the hot sun rays is crucial for our family for a myriad of reasons. This handy beach tent is easy to assemble and the boys love it and think of it almost as a little fort for them to play in at the beach. We use it for lunch breaks, snack breaks and sun breaks during all of our beach vacations.

• Bitty Brah Hats

I’ve been blogging about the hats from this small business for YEARS because they really are the best. Bitty Brah hats are some of the only hats my boys will tolerate and, as a mom, I love that they have a drawstring that keeps them in place and are made of a material that allows them to float if they happen to find their way into water. The quality is fantastic — they seriously HOLD UP — and they’re also washable so you can easily wash away salt water, sweat and dirt. The sizing of the toddler hat has also worked for our boys for years so one hat lasts a long time. (Chase still hasn’t outgrown it and I think he started wearing it at 2 years old.) I cannot recommend them enough and have my girlfriends and sister hooked on them for their kids, too! My code JULIE15 will get you 15% off your order.

• Hyperlite Life Jackets (for Big Kids)

We were die-hard fans of Puddle Jumpers for the boys until our ISR swim instructor heavily deterred us from using them. (To very quickly summarize: Puddle jumpers can give children a false sense of security in the water and keep them vertical in the water versus allowing them to learn to swim horizontally.) We’re big-time lake people all summer long and I knew we needed quality life jackets for our boys so we opted for the Hyper-Lite life jackets our ISR instructor recommended and they’ve been fantastic. We ordered ours on Amazon but finding them in stock can be tricky. I found them online through Costco and know Costco frequently sells them in-store during the summer months, so if you’re Costco members, keep an eye out!

• Stearns Life Jacket (for Babies/Little Ones)

We went through a TON of life jackets with Chase when he was a baby because he was NOT HAVING IT with most infant life jackets on the market. We finally found one he tolerated much better than others and thankfully it eliminated the life jacket battle with Rhett and Ryder because they both had no problem with this Stearns life jacket! Phew! It’s the life jacket our kids wear from infancy through early toddler years (30 lbs.).

• Waterproof Wet Bag

I pack the boys’ dry clothes in this bag before pool/lake/beach days and then use the same bag to store their wet bathing suits and rash guards once they’re done in the water. The bags are nice and big so all of the boys’ swimsuits can fit into one bag and I love that they do a great job of separating our wet apparel from the dry things in our bag so we don’t arrive home with a sopping wet mess of a bag.

• Super Bright Rash Guard

I know subtle neutrals are the “in” thing these days but I am a color-loving girl and my kids definitely prefer to sport all the colors of the rainbow. When it comes to swimwear in particular, I’m in the camp that the brighter the swimwear the better for one main reason: SAFETY. It’s a million times easier to spot a child in a neon-colored rash guard. When you’re keeping an eye on multiple kids around the water, watching the child in a hot yellow rash guard is way less stressful than trying to find a kid in a white rash guard. Our ISR instructor also praised this selection so anytime she signs off on something I feel like it’s worth a mention for the purposes of increased water safety. We like this rash guard (in the lime color) from Amazon but note that it runs long/big!

• Above-the-Knee Amazon Swim Trunks

These Amazon swim trunks were a fantastic find for our boys last year! So many bathing suits for boys can look like mini capris and I cannot stand a long, loose, baggy fit on my boys’ swim trunks. The fit of this swimsuit is perfect and it hits right above the knee and has a slimmer silhouette I adore. There are a TON of patterns and colors available and the price point for a swimsuit is decent, too!

• XL Waterproof Bag

As a mom of three boys sometimes it feels like I need a wagon to haul all of our pool and beach necessities! Let’s just say your average size beach tote is a joke for me in this phase of life and I rely on XL beach bags to make it easier to carts our towels, toys, snacks, water bottles, dry clothes and sunscreen to and from the pool all summer long. A go-to bag for me all summer long is this XL tote from L.L.Bean because it is huge! The bigger the bag the better!

• Native Water Shoes

I call the boys’ Natives the “official shoes of summer” in our house because our boys LIVE in them all summer long. As a mom of kids who love to explore outside and seem to be drawn to water, puddles, splashpads and ponds, Natives allow me to take a chill pill and let my kids get their feet as wet as they want all summer long. They’re a breeze to clean (you just rinse them off and can even scrub them with a gentle dish soap if they need a little extra help) and they’ve held up well as hand-me-downs for all of our kids. Also, I feel like it’s worth noting that there are a bunch of dupes out there and they just didn’t work for our kids — lots of blisters, splitting soles, etc. — so I am a very loyal Native customer!

• Supergoop! PLAYEveryday Lotion SPF 50 Sunscreen + Sunscreen Spray

Bless this giant 18-ounce bottle of sunscreen because our entire family uses it all summer long! The pump top makes it easy to pump out the amount of sunscreen you need and I love the way Supergoop sunscreen feels on the body. It’s not thick or sticky and does not leave a white cast on the skin at all. We go through a TON of sunscreen in the summer months because we practically live outside so this sunscreen is a must-have for us! I also love the Supergoop SPF 50 sunscreen spray for on-the-go re-application.

• Floating Mat

Ryan and the boys surprised me with a giant floating mat to use on the lake for Mother’s Day a few years ago and it’s the gift that keeps on giving! We adore this thing and it functions as a giant lily pad our entire family (and a few friends!) can fit on and float on the water. The kids use it as a big play mat, the adults love it for chill time in the water and it’s a staple for our family when we go out on the water in the summertime. Ryan ordered our Floating Oasis mat through Sam’s Club and we LOVE it. The qualit is great and it floats like a dream even with all of us on it!

• Kid-Size Beach Towels

I am a BIG fan of kid-size beach towels for every single member of our family during the summer months because they are waaay easier to fit into a single large tote bag than traditional-size towels. They’re still big enough for big kids and adults to use to dry off after swimming and our entire family uses them all summer long! We love the Pottery Barn Kids baby beach towels because they’re still plenty large and very absorbent! You can also find great kid beach towels at Marshalls and TJMaxx.

• Sprinkler Splash Pad

My mother-in-law deserves all the credit for this summer find! If I remember correctly, our sprinkler splash pad was a birthday gift for Ryder when he turned one and we use it in our yard constantly when it’s hot outside. It’s a breeze to set up (Chase can do it himself!) and the boys love keeping it on low so the sprinklers aren’t too intense and use it as a little lily pad for various imagination games. Rhett is already all about it this year, too!

• Water Table

Kids and water are a match made in heaven! Our boys have all absolutely loved our water table with a fiery passion (especially as young toddlers) and even though it’s super beat up and functions more as a terrarium in our backyard at this point, it’s a summer staple I cannot recommend enough for little ones.

• Intex Explorer Inflatable Boat with Oars

The Intex Explorer Inflatable Boat was Ryder’s big birthday present last year and proved to be a huge hit with our kids! We intentionally purchased the three-person size so all three boys can use it and it can also accommodate an adult. The quality is fantastic (the reviews are what initially sold me) and it’s great for fun in the pool, lake or ocean. Our kids primarily use it in the lake and Chase and Ryder use it to play everything from marine animal rescue to pirates… and also pretend fishing in our driveway! Ha!

• Portable Fan

When it feels like the surface of the sun outside but the boys are dying to get out of the house, portable fans save us! We have a couple portable fans and we use them for stroller walks, cooling down on family outings (parks, the zoo, a local farm, etc.), cooling off during various sporting events for the kids and more. They’re so handy and a breeze from a portable fan goes a long way when it comes to cooling down every member of our family! This mini handheld fan is my personal favorite because it doesn’t take up much room in my pool bag and we also love these hook-on fans we can easily fasten onto the stroller.

• THE BEST KID GOGGLES

If you’ve ever purchased goggles for children, you know most pairs leave a LOT to be desired. We’ve been through many goggles through the years and I’ve had gripes to share about each and every pair. When we first tried them, the Aqua Sphere goggles blew us away because they check so many boxes. They’re EASY to adjust (this was a HUGE one for me), fog-resistant (look at the clarity in the above pics!), leak free and scratch resistant. One perk I didn’t anticipate? As a mom I love that the lenses of the goggles are big so I can easily see the boys’ eyes and tell if their goggles are on straight or if they have them twisted somehow. 10/10 recommend these goggles for little ones!

Question of the Day

What are some of your favorite items for little ones during the summer?