Toddler Summer Essentials
Now, if you don’t have a toddler this post for babies will lead you directly to baby-sized versions. If you follow my page on Facebook, a package arrived full of more GOODIES for our ever growing 1.5-year-old who currently is wearing 4t summer gear. So as not to break the bank, I found new deals that I think are AMAZING and just had to share. They are Amazon affiliate links so if you happen to purchase with my link; I may get a small commission for recommending them to you. I bought these all myself and not sponsored by any of the below companies.
Sunblock- Toddler summer essential number one!
I use SunBum, I love the smell, and it helps with my desert skin. I do however sheepishly admit I use the EWG.ORG to look at the ratings on ALL products I contemplate using on my son. It just so happens that last year we fell in love with ThinkBaby off the list, added it to our Amazon Subscriptions- and never looked back. That is until I read a review that all the products are the SAME from that company with just the scent changing from the ThinkKids ThinkSport ThinkBaby etc. So I switched over to ThinkSport since it was significantly cheaper for this next delivery. You can see all the reasons we love Think sunblock in last year’s summer post here.
Sun Hat- Essential number 2.
Follow me on Instagram, and you are going to find my son in so many pictures with this super big blue sun hat that cost almost $25. It is waterproof, excellent, and worth every penny- you can find it here. I wanted to get another hat for him, as ours is already getting covered in Zinc, (I mean sunscreen) and I want it to stay nice since it is a quality hat with nice looking fabric – but also grows with your kiddo and has two adjustable straps! We always get asked on the playground because of the straps and how it’s a personal umbrella in the splash pad! haha.
But it is too pricey to purchase multiples for us so enter this hat. Amazon Prime to your house UNDER $10, and you get TWO hats!
It is decent, you can tell it is not the same quality as the previous hat and does not have adjustable chin straps or the quick release buckle for no choke outs– but they are a great alternative. I am planning to keep these stashed around in the diaper bag, car, etc. to use when I forget or just give our other hat a break from all the sunscreen goop. If you do not need the chin strap, you won’t miss this feature like me. The hat is great, and it’s cute to see the little animals show up in the sun.
Swim Shirt- Toddler Summer Essential number 3
We love this swim shirt! It is our 2nd shirt from this company just a size up, and it still does not disappoint. We love getting asked where we found a LONG SLEEVED since none of the stores here have any long sleeve swim shirts! It saves on the smearing white mud step with a very excited toddler too.
We also ordered a CHEAP one piece long sleeve (ish) 4t swimsuit- and the zipper didn’t work. So I sprung for a much pricier swim suit this purchasing round, and chose:
It arrives tonight, so I will update if we love this brand. I enjoyed a one piece last year as it just felt easier to deal with in the pool. I hope paired with our two swim shirts, and this we have enough to keep us rotating at the pool every day. We have been using it DAILY for backyard water table, and daily swim class. I am 100% sure this is why he has not had his first sunburn! He is so hard on it, and this suit is handling it like a CHAMP. So much rubbing on the concrete and it doesn’t look worn at all! I may just spring for another one – it is my FAVORITE summer item I have bought. ( Finger paint being the least favorite- then chalk, then bubbles. But if he wears this suit while playing with those? I just hose him down hehe)
Swim Diaper- Essential number 4
I have only purchased iplay since discovering them last year. I did SO MUCH FREAKING RESEARCH on swim diapers it’s embarrassing. We did swim aerobics and got to use last years swim diaper a lot so hoping to do the same, I went ahead and bought the two pack in our current 4t size. The other two don’t fit even a little, but I am saving them for if we have another baby someday. This gives me hindsight that I may have been able to hack the whole cloth diapering thing. Just kidding. I hate laundry, and I love Pampers. I do however dislike disposable swim diapers and love these by Iplay and will never use anything else. The fit, the snaps, the effectiveness—LOVE iplay! They are in the picture in the empty pool above- apparently, at 4t the colors start to get less cool than all the options for babies we found last year!
Toys: Eh essential?
So we have always been that family that shows up at the pool without toys. This last visit I took toys to help my son from trying to take other kids toys and send the whole kiddie pool into a meltdown? Nope. He still wanted anything else other than what I brought.
I think as far as pool going- know bringing your kids favorite car is going to be what it is.
I plan to buy a bunch of pool toys for the whole pool to play with from here on out because maybe they will share “_____insert anything they brought here_____” with my kiddo and fewer meltdowns and dirty looks flashing my way from other moms.
Water bottles/cups
We are pretty much stuck to our first sippy cup forever in the Munchkin 360! We skipped all transitions and went from breastfeeding to sippy cup, with a few toddler bottles if cups were dirty. Our little guy could take it or leave it and honestly isn’t picky, but LOVES this water bottle. Could be because so many kids tote these around the playground or he just really enjoys pushing the button to open it. You will always see it in our stroller for morning walks or just headed to the park. It is sturdy and comes in SO many colors. What I love is it is super easy to clean!!
Back Yard Kiddie pool:
This pool is a fun little add on that in no way is essential, but I grabbed this when the price had dropped, and it is the best purchase I have made on Amazon to date, and I only shop there – so it’s pretty impressive.
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I spent less than $40 on this pool, and it was worth WAY more than that! We can all sit and play in it, and the little guy loves and plays with so many parts of it- ESPECIALLY the slide. I would have expected to pay more like $60 for it, and the reason I went with it over a regular pool was that at the time the pools comparing it with – this was only $16 more than just an everyday pool – this came with ring toss and balls? Oh and two different pools with a slide? Yeah by any means it is so far from a summer “necessity” but if you have $50 and looking for fun- this is it! I am feeling like a champion to have got this over a water table; the only downside is trying to move it when full of water to let the grass see the sun, it is heavy, and you pretty much need to empty it to do so.
So these are some of our summer essentials and favorites- Leave me some of your summer essentials or favorite products in the comments! Any awesome hacks I should know about?
Linda Manns Linneman says
July 27, 2017 at 8:38 amThese are such great suggestions and so important for our little ones. Such a cute child. Thank you so much for sharing
Julie says
September 15, 2017 at 8:32 amI need to get some of those swimshirts, so practical!