Forget the fancy water toys when you head out to the pool…take your paintbrushes instead!
I decided to take 2 of our paintbrushes
and a couple cups to keep Little Brother occupied (instead of chasing him down while he tries to follow Big Brother around, wanting desperately to go down the slide when there’s no one to catch him at the bottom).
and a couple cups to keep Little Brother occupied (instead of chasing him down while he tries to follow Big Brother around, wanting desperately to go down the slide when there’s no one to catch him at the bottom). 
I completely underestimated what a hit the paintbrushes would be with ALL the kids! They were taking them away from each other right and left! They all LOVED painting with the water on the concrete!
Cups for dumping and pouring were another big hit!
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| My niece…isn’t she beautiful?! |
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| One of my cutie-pie nephews! And yes, he does have swim trunks on…the angle of the picture just makes it look like he doesn’t! :) |
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| Bummed that we have to leave! |
We are blessed to have an amazing waterpark at our local YMCA (just 2 miles away) that we can go to anytime for free with our membership. It has been so wonderful to get out in the sun this summer while the boys have a blast!
What is your favorite “toy” to take to the pool?
We are leaving for vacation soon and this will be a great activity for the kids to do at the pool, the brushes won't take up too much room in our luggage. Thanks!
My kids are sharks at the pool. All Little E needs is his goggles and someone to chase.
Sometimes we bring the dive rings (we're trying to get our 4 year old used to getting under the water – he's REALLY close to swimming, but life has been so crazy the past few years we haven't been able to spend a lot of time at the pool. I think this year is the year, though!)
We take our sand toys to the pool, and my kids love it! They dump and fill with their buckets, shovels, castles, sifters, and more. I would recommend putting names on toys or only taking older ones you don't mind losing since it is a public place, and other kids (or your own) might claim toys or get rough with them. :)
Diving rings/sticks (listed above) are great, but if you don't have those, pocket change can keep little divers busy too!
Love it! I always "painted" the deck with my dad's paintbrushes at the community pool growing up. Great idea for taking my 1-yr-old daughter there this summer!
We had a great time today. I got a sunburn though! They did a great job sharing today. :)
If they liked that, you should try sidewalk paint. Something about it is much cooler than writing on the sidewalk with chalk for my daughter!
That's brilliant! I've never considered this and I know my 3 year old will love this. Thanks for the tip!