Pool Gear for 2.5 yr. olds?

Ok, not sure where to start this year with the pool gear. My kids are water bugs and BIL lives next to us with a pool. I don't want to waste a lot of money on useless things. I'm not sure what kind of floatation devices to invest in this year.

Any ideas?

Crystal

 

Good question- I saw a bunch of stuff at B-R-Us yesterday and was thinking what things worked and didn't.

 

Someone from my Mom's club suggested putting them in a floatation swim suit or a vest floatation device. I saved my floaties from last year, but I really doubt they will allow me to put them in. They fought hard against it in January while we were in Hawaii, so I am going to have to rethink this too!

 

My girls really loved the sit in floatie rings when they were that age. You can buy them with sun shades as well. I liked them because they could float around independently with no danger of falling over. They had a ball in them.

 

I don't know about floats, but something that saved me mega bucks is washable swim diapers (if yours aren't potty trained yet). I couldn't bring myself to shell out the money for disposable ones like lil' swimmers. You can find them all over the web, but here is one site to show you what I am talking about: http://www.swimoutlet.com/Swim_Diapers_s/354.htm. They are great! I have a boy and a girl, so I ordered 3 white ones. One for each and one in case someone needed to be changed. I used them all last year and they are still in great shape.

 

Last summer our boys were 2.5yrs. We found the perfect set up for them. A toddler swim vest plus arm ring floaties. The arm floats were only a $1 or 2 at Wall Mart. I think I paid $15 for each vest at Toys R Us. This combination made them totally buoyant in the water. They learned to quickly move their arms and feet to swim around. They also quickly felt comfortable jumping in the pool to us (head would go under and they would hold their breathe) and quickly popped to the top.

It really helped me enjoyed going to the pool last summer alone (when DH's is at work). We spent ALOT of time at our next door neighbor's in ground pool. Their youngest son is the same exact age as our boys (and their best friend). My neighbor and I could sit on the pool steps and not even have to go in the pool and the boys would "swim" around together. It was heavenly. Planning on the same set up this summer or until they learn to swim.