Keep kids cool and occupied this summer with the best water toys

The Early Learning Centre Sand and Water Table brings the fun of the beach to your garden. This adaptable table includes two sections, letting your child use one side for sand and the other for water, or both for either sand or water (sand sold separately). The set comes with ten fun accessories: a spade, scoop, rake, funnels, wheels, moulds, and more so they can have endless fun making sandcastles, digging holes, and creating patterns.

The waterproof lid not only keeps the sand dry but also serves as a play table with a built-in road, making it a versatile addition to any play space. "Nice bright colours and the cover has car tracks on top, useful for when the sand and water table is packed up" said one reviewer. Users appreciated the lid, stating it’s “extremely useful to have a good lid so that it can be kept outside.” Assembly is simple, with one reviewer noting it “was done in under five minutes, it simply slots together. Once filled with sand and water the table is very sturdy and stays in place perfectly.”

This colourful bath toy promises endless fun as your tot scoops, pours and spins to their heart's delight. But while they might think they're just having fun, the Infantino Penguin is supporting their fine motor skills, promoting hand-eye coordination, and developing their cognitive thinking skills. While it's designed for the bath, we think this could be just as fun suctioned to the side of a patio door to let little ones play outside.

Mother&Baby's Senior Digital Writer, Anne said "this was an absolute hit with my 15-month-old. It comes with a perfectly sized water scooper that fits nicely in his little hands. He loves watching the water trickle down from the penguin's beak to its body as it overflows. This bath toy really encourages him to practice his hand-eye coordination as he tries to scoop and pour the water."

The Bestway Sprinkler Splash Pad is the perfect summer accessory for your garden, offering endless hours of entertainment for kids and toddlers. Designed to provide a fun and engaging outdoor activity, this splash pad features an integrated water sprayer along its edge - just plug your hose into the hole and it'll create a gentle fountain effect.

Little ones will love splashing around, enjoying the refreshing water spray on hot days while the marine-life design of cool oceanic creatures will spark plenty of imaginative play. Easy to set up, with no complicated assembly involved — simply take it out of the box, attach a hose, and let children start playing right away.

It combines the joy of outdoor play with the practical benefit of cooling off, making it an ideal choice for families. Parents liked that it offers fun water play in a safe way for smaller tots, "this is a lot gentler play than anything else we have that allows a child to move around freely on a very shallow pad playing with water", said one mum and another pointed out that "the size is just right for a max of 2 toddlers to have fun together."

If your little one is splashing around in the paddling pool, this toy is sure to make them smile! This interactive toy lets them practise their hand-eye coordination by putting the rings on the tentacles, while also creating a sensory light show as the colours of the octopus change. As our tester, Anne noted, "My son was fascinated by the changing colours from blue to green and orange." This was particularly fun in the bathroom with dimmed lights, which Anne described as "magical" but could be equally fun in the garden paddling pool, making it a brilliant multi-use water toy.

Kids over 18 months can splash around with these animal water squirts, B toys by Battat. This fun and colourful duo will offer plenty of fun for little ones and hopefully as there are two, siblings can play together! They're easy to fill up from the paddling pool or swimming pool, and as one mum noted, it "really does provide hours of fun if your kids like diving under water like mine do."

Catch your toddler's attention with this inflatable Tummy Time Water mat. OK so it’s just water-themed, but that still counts right? We sure think it does when it’s this cute. Little ones will be more inclined to do tummy time when it's this entertaining and parents found it kept their babies engaged, with one saying "he’s pushing himself up more to be able to see the water and sea creatures floating around he also tries to grab them and eat them which is quite comical to watch."

This water canal system aka the Aquaplay LockBox is a right splash! Let your kids discover how to manoeuvre, turn and pump the system so that boats can float their way around. This fun water toy is recommended for 36 months and over. Reviewers found it kept their little ones entertained for a good amount of time, with one noting "I'm really pleased with this toy. I bought it to keep my one-year-old entertained during the lockdown, and it's now his favourite toy. Every time we go into the garden he plays with it. The whole thing is really well made and all the features work as they should. If you want to keep your children busy, buy them this."

When it's super warm outside, toddlers will love cooling down in this fun Chad Valley Water Activity Centre. This dinosaur themed pool and play centre features a water sprayer that can be connected to a garden hose to cool your tot down in the summer, while the inflatable toys and games will keep them entertained. A fun, soft water slide will provide endless fun sliding. At 8.5ft, it's long enough for a couple of kids to enjoy and has a 2-in-1 inflation and deflation valve to make it easy to set up and take down.

Parents thought it was a fun and entertaining option for tots, with one saying it's "perfect for toddlers, lots to play with exciting fun colours" and another though it was "perfect as there were lots of little bits for them to play with especially the slide!" They agreed it was better for little ones as the water isn't deep like a traditional paddling pool.

If your little one is more unicorn obsessed than dinosaurs, then there are other lovely options, including this Unicorn play centre.

Fun for all the family, this large paddling pool comes in various sizes, from 6ft to 10ft so there's a potion to fit most families, ages and gardens. Reviewers praised the size which meant it was big enough for a few kids to enjoy without crowding, "8ft was perfect size for my 2 kids and their inflatables" said one mum reviewer.

Some mentioned that it does need to be on a completely flat surface to stand up properly. As you might expect with a pool of this size, it takes a few hours to fill so you might want to get a cover and leave it up for a good amount of time.

Turn your garden into a bubbly waterpark with a Frankie the Fish bubble machine. This cute bubble machine will pump out bubbles without you having to blow them or risk your little one spilling all the bubble mixture. Just fill him with the bubble mixture (sold separately) and let the rotating bubble wand create endless streams of bubbles. This is perfect for the garden as it does create lot of bubbles, as one mum reviewer noted, saying "the only downside to using it indoors, the carpet/flooring gets wet (it really does kick out a lot of bubbles)." Another commented "this is by far the best bubble machine we have used! It is so good at letting out so many bubbles, our garden is filled instantly! It’s brilliant and the kids love it."