6 Kid-Friendly Things That Make Summer Less Stressful and Sweaty, According to Parents

People who love playing outside in the summer will need a cool and shady place to rest on those scorching days. However, the last thing you want to do is spend an hour setting up a clunky, complicated tent or umbrella. Enter the beach tent! Meredith Vilarello of Freeport, Maine, is a fan of this Easy Beach Tent from Amazon, which she praises for how easy it is to set up. 

Whether you’re renting a cabin for the weekend or heading out for swim lessons, a beach bag can be a major pain, but a few simple hacks can help lighten the load.

Give your big terry cloth beach towels a break and opt for thin, Turkish-style cotton towels instead. “They are great as a beach blanket, sun cover, or swim cover-up and take up so much less space than regular towels,” says Flora Reyes-Jimenez of San Antonio, Texas. They’re also easier to keep sand-free — a major bonus for summertime playdates at the beach or the park.

Vilarello stashes sunblock sticks in every bag for easy application no matter where she and her family travel, and also recommends keeping a pack of wipes in your bag “to get sand off little fingers pre-snacking.” She also loves wet bags to stash wet suits post-swim; they’ll keep everything else in the bag dry and are easy to toss in the washer when you get home from your adventures.

It’s pretty universally unpleasant to travel in a stifling hot car, and cool air from the AC doesn’t always flow through to the backseat. Edith Zeisloft of Texas has four words for summer survival: “Battery. Operated. Clip. Fans.” They can easily be clipped on to the stroller or the car seat on the steamiest days to provide a cool breeze on demand. “They were lifesavers for crabby backwards-facing babies who can’t feel the AC,” she says.

Other parents recommend the Noogle car vent, which is a long tube that attaches to your car vent and helps the air travel to the back more efficiently, making it ideal for cooling down kids and pets.

When the sprinkler doesn’t cut it — or you don’t live in a space where you can set up a kiddie pool or similar — get creative with water play. Naomi Kaskela of Dallas, Texas, recommends interactive water tables to help kids cool down while unleashing their imaginations.  

Lindsey McGuirk of Lakewood, Colorado makes plastic underbed storage containers do double-duty come summertime. She fills them with a bit of water to make a splash pool, a water race track, or an ocean for bath toys. “Plus, we live in a townhome, so it’s super easy to just empty the water and store splash toys in it when we’re done,” she says. Just be sure to always keep an eye on kids when they’re playing with or near water, even if it seems shallow.

Summer is a busy season of travel and adventures of all kinds. If your kids are always ready to roll, swap the stroller for a multitasking wagon, like an innovative update from the classic Radio Flyer. 

“This wagon is SO GOOD,” enthuses Jana Lithgow of Columbus, Ohio. “It holds a ton of stuff. There are five point harnesses to keep kids in place, multiple cup holders that hold full size water bottles, and it can be pushed like a stroller or pulled like a wagon.” Jana and her family use the wagon more than they use their stroller, and she says it’s convenient to take to the park, the zoo, and everywhere else. “It can be folded pretty small to fit into a car and you can zip the sides down to use it as child seating, which is also awesome.”

If your kids are more into chilling than running around, a portable picnic blanket may be just the thing for on-the-go relaxation. “I have an almost 5-month old who loves staring up at trees while we sit in a park and my best purchase is this waterproof picnic blanket so she can lie down and be free wherever we go,” says Erin Louis Robertson of Chicago, Illinois. 

Rachel Sliman of Brooklyn, New York, maximizes fun and minimizes storage space with this PeaPod Travel Bed, which can be used for a variety of purposes. “I loved this pop-up travel tent, either for at the beach or park, or as the travel bed while away from home,” she says. “It packs up so small and is so easy to set up.” Family camping trip, here you come!