This Grandma looks for summer pool and beach toys every year, trying to find a true winner.
The first place I look is the Oppenheimer Toy Awards, www.toyportfolio.com toys that are tested by children by age group, divided into award categories of Platinum (the best of the best of new products), Gold (next best new products); Blue Chip (classic toys around more than five years; Snap (for children of special needs). Except for Snap, the award toys are arranged by age: infants, toddlers, preschoolers, early school age (5-8), tweens/teens.
If you are looking for a toy gift for any child, you can find new and innovative toys that are great. Remember, if there is a registry, always buy from the registry as that is always a winning toy. However, when I put pool toys into the search, only one toy showed up, a 2019 gold award: Green Toys Ocean Bound Plastic Tide Pool Set, by Green Toys, always with a link to Amazon to buy. If a child does not have a set like this, this is probably the best of its kind. However, since the website has been overhauled, the search is hard to use. Before the changeover of search, there is a post of still fabulous Oppenheimer Toy Award pool and beach toy choices for children of all ages, “Award Winning Outdoor Toys For 2018 Spring and Summer Fun.”
Second “go to” for me is Amazon.
Toy floats for babies are about all that works in the pool and is allowed in most pools. Amazon’s choice is Swim School SWIMSCHOOL.
Preschoolers should already be swimming, and most private facility pools do not allow floats. They may even provide noodles, as ours does, but the preschoolers and children find them boring.
Accidentally, this Grandma hit the jackpot of a pool and beach toy, and probably bath toy too, for this summer.
I was looking for something new. My five year old grandson wanted water balloons which his parents frown upon and I am sure our facility pool would also disallow. Searching on Amazon, this Grandma found Happy Water Bombs, described as:
“REUSABLE & ECO-FRIENDLY water balloon is made of durable premium silicone material which will last for years of summer fun for kids outdoor. Happy water bombs are latex-free, soft, smooth, and no hurt when hit, it is an amazing environmentally friendly way to have water balloon fights.”
“EASY TO USE & NO CLEAN-UP REQUIRED: reusable water balls are equipped with the latest upgraded magnetic technology, submerge them in a bucket and release them, the magnets snap into place automatically and they are ready to use! No more filling and tying millions of water balloons just for 20 mins fun, and no tiny pieces of balloon to pick up afterward!”
“TONS OF FUN: these refillable water balls are such a hit between your children and their friends, super fun, have bright colors, even 3-year-olds refill the ballon on their own, these outdoor toys will let kids spend hours outside with friends and family so as to greatly reduce screen time.”
“SAFE & PERFECT KID GIFT: Our silicone splash water ball passed US TOY Safety Standards ASTM F963 certified and got CHILDREN’S PRODUCT CERTIFICATE. If your kids have a fascination with water fights, these magnetic water balloons would be your ideal choice! No mess to clean up, kids can enjoy these water toys in the backyard, pool, beach, bathtub, etc.”
“SAVE YOUR MONEY: compare to the traditional one-time-use water balloons that you need to pay for each use, these reusable water balloons for kids can be used over and over, pay once and last for years! Refillable water balloons come with a little mesh carrying bag so you can easily pack them all together after using.”
My grandson actually shared as there were twelve to go around. Five children between the ages of four to eight played for two hours straight, throwing them as balls, diving for them in the pool, making up games as they went along. The descriptions and reviews were on the mark. They are great.
Did you miss that they played with them for two hours straight in the pool!
Buy them on Amazon.
Worth every penny. We grandmothers were in awe.
Joy,
Mema