If you go to most stores in the summer, you will see a wide selection of water toys. There are water floats and wings, small boats, inflatable seats, and of course, pool noodles, to name just a few. While pool toys that are actually made for that purpose will make a great addition to the pool area and provide hours of family fun, not all pool toys are created equal.

When your children are near water, the main thing is supervision. This means that they are never out of sight and always in control of what they do in the water. This also extends to toys. If a toy breaks, remove it from the pool immediately or else it may pose a danger not only to children (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 tubing. While pool noodles with chunks from them will still work and won’t cut your child, the chunks can still get stuck in pool works and cause problems.

If that inflatable float or ride has a leak, that too needs to be taken out and repaired or discarded. No child wants to get stuck at the bottom of a pool with something that is losing air. For larger inflatables, kits are available to fix leaks and for smaller things it may be easier to replace them all together than to try to keep fixing small leaks.

You may have noticed that pool toys tend to be colored plastic, and that’s for a very good reason. Sure, those kitchen utensils can pour and submerge water and they are a lot of fun, but if they are made of metal, be careful when using them in the pool. First, the metal gets very hot in the sun, and second, the metal could react with the chemicals in the pool and turn the water an unpleasant color. Also, why use good kitchen utensils when plastic pool toys are just as fun and made for work?

While the latter may be a no-brainer, there is no room for rolling toys near a pool. Tricycles, bicycles, and scooters must be on the grass or sidewalk, not on the pool deck. Security First!