Every summer, my daughter Rosie and I have the same conversation about three days into June. She's staring at the inflatable pool in the backyard, arms crossed, already bored with just... swimming. "Dad, we need stuff." And somehow, "stuff" turns into a full Amazon cart and a credit card statement I pretend not to look at too closely.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Water blasters and squirt guns are almost always worth it — simple, durable, endlessly entertaining
- Avoid overly complicated inflatable games that take 20 minutes to set up and deflate by noon
- Ring toss and diving toys add structure and keep kids busy without needing a parent involved
- Check age recommendations seriously — some 'kids' toys are really built for older kids and frustrate younger ones fast
This year I decided to be more intentional about it. We tested a bunch of pool toys over the course of the summer — some were hits, some were duds, and one was a complete waste of fifteen dollars that I will not be naming without sufficient warning. Rosie gave her official verdict on all of them, which mostly involved either immediate shrieking joy or a slow, devastating "it's okay, I guess."
So here's the honest rundown: 10 kids pool toys we actually used this summer, ranked and reviewed by a dad who has now spent more time in a blow-up pool than he ever expected to. Let's get into it.
#1: Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Seaside Sidekicks Sand and Water Play Set
This one surprised me the most. I bought it thinking it was too young for Rosie (she's six), but she spent an entire afternoon just pouring, filling, and dumping water through the different funnels and cups. It's simple, sturdy, and made of thick plastic that didn't crack or warp in the heat. The minor con is that some pieces are small enough to lose in the grass — we're down two cups already.
Rosie's official review: "I like making the waterfall part go." High praise from a six-year-old.
🧔 Dad's take: Deceptively simple and genuinely keeps kids busy — this one earns its spot in the pool bag.
#2: Water Soaker Blaster Squirt Gun (36-inch pump action)
If you want to be the coolest person at any backyard pool day, show up with one of these. The long-barrel pump soaker holds a serious amount of water and shoots surprisingly far — I clocked it at about 30 feet, which was far enough to reach me sitting in my lawn chair minding my own business. It's easy enough for a six-year-old to pump and aim, and it held up through a full summer without cracking.
Rosie absolutely annihilated me with this thing on multiple occasions, and I regret nothing about buying it.
🧔 Dad's take: Worth every penny, even if you end up as the primary target.
#3: Intex Inflatable Ring Toss Pool Game
This is one of those toys that actually adds some structure to pool time, which as a dad I deeply appreciate. The inflatable center target floats, the rings are easy to toss, and it doubles as a game kids can play with or without adults — Rosie played this solo for a while, keeping score against herself, which was adorable and gave me fifteen minutes of peace. It does take a bit of puffing to inflate all the pieces, but nothing a small hand pump can't handle.
The velcro on one ring started peeling after about six weeks, so it's not built for the ages, but for a summer season it absolutely delivers.
🧔 Dad's take: Structured fun with low parental involvement required — that's the dream combo.
#4: Dive Sticks and Rings Set (12-piece underwater retrieval)
These colorful weighted sticks and rings sink to the bottom of the pool and kids dive to retrieve them — that's the whole game, and it's a great one. It builds real swimming confidence without feeling like a lesson, and Rosie went from reluctant face-dunker to full underwater swimmer over the course of one week with these things. They come in sets of 10-12 pieces in different colors, which lets you assign point values and make it a competition.
The only thing to watch: they're easy to accidentally step on and they migrate to weird corners of the pool. Do a piece-count before draining.
🧔 Dad's take: Sneakily educational and genuinely fun — these quietly made Rosie a better swimmer.
#5: Sloosh Splash Pad Sprinkler Mat (60-inch)
Okay, this one isn't strictly a pool toy, but we used it alongside the pool all summer and it deserves a spot on this list. You hook it up to a garden hose and it sprays water up through little jets — kids run through it, stomp on it, and basically lose their minds. Setup is genuinely fast (like two minutes), and it works great for younger kids or on days when you don't want to deal with the full pool inflation situation.
Rosie used this more than I expected, especially on "quick outside" days after school. One note: it can get slippery on certain surfaces, so put it on grass, not concrete.
🧔 Dad's take: A low-effort, high-reward outdoor water toy that earns its storage space all summer.
#6: Foam Pool Noodles (6-pack assorted colors)
I know. Pool noodles. It feels almost too obvious to include. But here's the thing — I've watched Rosie and her friends invent more games with a bag of pool noodles than with half the gadgets on this list. They sword fight, build rafts, use them as obstacles, sit on them, throw them. A six-pack costs almost nothing and lasts the whole season if you bring them in at night.
This is dad-budget gold. No assembly, no batteries, no instructions. Just foam and imagination.
🧔 Dad's take: The most versatile pool toy ever invented, and I will not hear otherwise.
#7: Intex Inflatable Watermelon Ball (16-inch)
This is a cute toy and Rosie was thrilled by the watermelon design (she is going through a watermelon phase, don't ask). It's a soft inflatable ball sized right for pool play — not too big, not too small. We had fun with it for a few days of catch and keep-away. The problem is it lost noticeable air within two weeks and I couldn't find the tiny valve to re-inflate it without a minor engineering project.
It's fine for casual use but don't expect it to last a full summer without some maintenance. More of a "grab it if it's on sale" situation.
🧔 Dad's take: Cute, fun for a couple weeks, then slowly becomes a deflated disappointment — much like my fantasy football team.
#8: Bunch O Balloons Self-Sealing Water Balloons (100-pack)
I resisted these for years because I had flashbacks to spending forty minutes filling one water balloon at a time as a kid. These self-sealing bunches fill about 100 balloons in under a minute using your garden hose, which is genuinely one of the most satisfying things I've experienced as a parent. The balloons are the right size, burst on contact, and the kids absolutely go feral for them in the best way possible.
The minor con: cleanup. There are little rubber necks everywhere afterward and you'll be finding them in the grass for weeks. Make a cleanup rule before you start.
🧔 Dad's take: Modern parenting win — water balloon fights are back and they take less time to prep than to throw.
#9: Inflatable Sprinkler Splash Pad with Slide (kids inflatable pool combo)
I had high hopes for this one. It looked great in the photos — a little inflatable slide feeding into a splash zone with built-in sprinklers around the edges. In practice, it took nearly 45 minutes to fully inflate, one of the sprinkler nozzles sprayed sideways instead of up from day one, and the slide portion wasn't slippery enough without constant water running over it, which required adjusting the hose every few minutes. Rosie used it twice and then went back to the regular pool.
It's the kind of product where the stock photo is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Save your money.
🧔 Dad's take: An expensive lesson in not trusting product photos — skip this and just get a slip-n-slide instead.
#10: Swimways Spring Float Paddler Inflatable Seat (for ages 9–24 months)
This one's for the parents of younger kids — we borrowed one for a cousin visit and it was genuinely impressive. The seat has a canopy for sun protection, leg holes that keep little ones secure without being restrictive, and a spring-coil design that gives it stability in the water. The baby seemed happy and calm in it, which if you've ever tried to hold a slippery, excited infant in a pool, you know is no small achievement.
Worth noting: this is for very young kids, not school-age. But if you've got a baby or toddler heading to the pool, this is the pick. Adult supervision always required, obviously.
🧔 Dad's take: If you have a baby and a pool, this float is the purchase that keeps everyone a little calmer and a lot happier.
There you have it — ten pool toys that actually got used this summer, one honest "skip it," and a whole lot of wet dad shoes to show for the research. If I had to give one piece of practical advice, it's this: resist the urge to buy everything at once. Start with dive sticks, a pump squirt gun, and a bag of pool noodles, and see what your kid actually gravitates toward before loading up on the bigger-ticket stuff. Kids are remarkably good at making fun out of almost nothing — and remarkably good at ignoring the thing you spent $40 on.
Rosie has already started a list for next summer. It involves "a real waterslide, Dad, like a big one." So. That'll be a fun budget conversation in about eight months. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what pool toys worked (or didn't) for your family — drop a comment below and let me know what I'm missing. We're always looking for an excuse to add to the pile.