If you go into most stores in the summertime you will see a wide selection of water toys. There are floats and water wings, little boats, sit on inflatables and of course pool noodles to name just a few. While pool toys that are actually made for the purpose will be a great addition to the pool area and give the family hours of fun, not all pool toys are created equal.
When your kids are around water the number one thing is supervision. This means never going out of their sight and always monitoring what they are doing in the water. This also extends to the toys as well. If a toy get broken, take it out of the pool immediately or else it can pose a hazard not only to the kids (cuts and the like) but also to the pool itself. Sharp objects can cut or damage a pool liner, poke a hole in an inflatable pool or get stuck in the skimmer or piping. While pool noodles with chunks out of them will still work, and won’t cut your child, the pieces can still get stuck in the works of the pool and cause trouble.
If that floatie or ride on inflatable gets a leak, that too needs to be taken out and either fixed or thrown out. No child wants to get stuck in the deep end of a pool on something that is losing air. For bigger inflatables, there are kits available to fix leaks and for the smaller things it may be easier to replace it all together than to try to keep fixing little leaks.
You may have noticed that pool toys tend to be colourful plastic, and that is for a very good reason. Sure those kitchen gadgets can pour and seive water and are a lot of fun, but if they’re metal be careful when using them in the pool. First off metal gets very hot in the sun, and second, the metal could react with the pool chemicals and turn the water a nasty colour. Besides, why use the good kitchen ware when the plastic pool toys are just as much fun and made for the job?
While this last thing may be a no brainer, there is no room for wheeled toys near a pool. Tricycles and bikes and scooters belong on the grass or the sidewalk, not the pool deck. Safety first!