7 best swimming aids for kids and toddlers that will help them feel more confident in the water

This is going to be a real game changer for parents on holiday. It’s a shorty style swim suit that looks cute, thanks to the florals, but is also seriously practical. Around the waist are cylinders of foam – they can be removed, so it’s easy to wash – which should help kids stay afloat. The suit is made out of UPF 50+ fabric, which reduces poolside holiday admin a notch and it also zips up at the back, which means kids can’t take it off themselves and this suit is staying on for the long haul.

Once our tester got used to having an extra tyre around their tum, this didn’t get in the way of pool fun. The fabric is soft and comfy, even for longer stints and we liked that when our kids jumped in the pool, the floats didn’t knock them in the chin. All in all, a very handy little suit. If florals aren’t your kids’ style, then it also comes in a shark design.

Gone are the days of those pinchy, scratchy armbands of the Eighties. Speedo’s armbands don’t have any scratchy edges, which meant our preschool tester wasn’t pulling them off constantly. They are designed to comply with both European and Australian standards, so they’ve been thoroughly tested. Plus, they pack down to a tiny size, so are perfect for packing on holiday. They’re also easy to inflate using the four valves so you won’t be spending ages puffing. If the cap pops off, they don’t deflate either which is great for added peace of mind. And we love the bright yellow colour which makes it easy to spot your little swimmer on the beach.

The Konfidence brand has been in the swimming-aid biz for around 20 years, and this is its original jacket. Despite coming in a range of designs and colourways, the brand’s trademark of a bright yellow back panel remains – it feels somewhat akin to putting your kids in hi-vis jackets. The soft swim floats can be removed from the inside, meaning you can adjust how buoyant it is depending on your child’s confidence and weight. And if your worried about getting the perfect fit, then the instructions are printed on the inside of the jacket, so there’s no room for error.

The jacket itself is made from soft neoprene, so it dried quickly and kept our child a bit warmer when they were in the water, and there is lycra binding on the edges to prevent chaffing too. The chunky zip is easy to operate, even when fingers are cold and slippery while the chin guard stopped any ouchy pinching when it was being done up.

This was great for the, ahem, lazier testers. Designed for toddlers up to three years old – users need to be independently and confidently able to sit up in the seat – we think this would be fab for family holidays in the pool. Our tester was more than happy to sit in this float for periods of time, enjoying getting towed around the swimming pool. Though it is worth noting that a child would not be able to get out of this float without adult assistance – which might be a good or bad thing, depending on how you’re using it.

This suit is designed to give learner swimmers a literal boost. Offering buoyancy thanks to flat inserts that are worn on the chest and back, kids should be bolstered without it affecting their kicking and arm strokes. While on our family swims, we found it mega handy to give our preschool tester a little bit of help as they got used to the concept of propelling themselves forward. We also liked the neon colours on the suit – we could pick them out of a crowded pool with no problem. The zip-down front made changing out of it with a shivering three year old very easy too. And we liked that it packed relatively flat – although it is quite wide.

Once you have a more confident swimmer on your hands, it’s good to have some toys to keep them busy. And just as in every day play, the best toys for swimming are the ones that teach them skills without them even realising. These dive balls sink to the bottom of the pool and gave our six-year-old minnow loads of play. They sneakily taught them about swimming under water, holding their breath and breathing, as well as their own buoyancy. The pack comes with two dive balls, and the tails on them help them be seen and retrieved more easily from the bottom of the pool.

This float suit took us back to our childhood. It comes with removable soft foam floats, which fit around the middle of the suit to give your little swimmer buoyancy on all sides. Aside from this, the fabric is very soft and thin, so great for warmer climes and it also has more of a swimming-suit design than a shorty wetsuit, with straps rather than sleeves. What’s also fab is that the fabric is UVPF 40+, so it provides that extra bit of sun protection on the areas it covers.