I tested cheap paddling pools – the £35 winner has comfy seats and a cup holder, it’s perfect for summer
A PADDLING pool is a must-have for the (hopefully warm) summer months.
Not only do kids love a bit of water play, but it helps them cool off too. But with so many to choose from at such a big range of prices, which should you choose?
Some pools have extra features from sprinklers and sides to help maintain your kids’ interest, whilst others have comfy seats for grown-ups to join in the fun.
Some are huge, whilst others are more compact if you are tight on space.
Lynsey Hope tried out a range of paddling pools with her three children, Jacob, nine, Olive, seven, and Ivy, four, to see which was best.
Here’s what happened.
Intex Family Lounge Pool – grown ups’ favourite
- £34.99, smythstoys.com
- Size: 229cm x 229cm x 66cm
This pool was fab for grown ups as it had four built-in seats. It wasn’t exactly a rest, as the kids loved having me to splash water over, but it was a lot of fun.
My older son Jacob, who is nearly 10, loved lounging about on the seats too – they were great for cooling him after football in the warm weather.
Plus, the seats sit just below the water line, so you can sit there for a decent amount of time without getting a numb bum.
The head rests made it especially comfy and the cup holders were an added bonus.
It’s a good depth and, like most of these pools, it is far easier to blow up with an electric pump.
Overall, it is a good size and took just ten mins or so to fill. It comes with a repair patch, too.
- Ease of use: 9/10
- Kids rating: 9/10
- Grown up rating: 10/10
- Overall score: 10/10
Bestway Fantastic Aquarium Play Center
- £24.99, smythstoys.com
- Size: 239cm x 206cm x 86cm
This pool looks super fun once it’s set up.
It’s a good price and not too large if you are short on space, but with lots of extra bits to keep the kids entertained.
The palm tree doubles as a sprinkler and there’s an octopus ring toss, game plus a dolphin and two clown fish inflatables.
While it all looks fab, we did have bit of trouble getting the sprinkler function to work properly and I don’t think the slide will last too long before it is punctured.
- Ease of use: 5/10
- Kids rating: 8/10
- Grown up rating: 7/10
- Overall score: 7/10
Paw Patrol 3 Ring Inflatable Pool
- £7.99, wilko.com
- Size: 25cm x 24.5cm x 5.5cm
If you’ve got a budding water baby and are short on space, this Paw Patrol pool would make a choice.
It’s small enough to fit most gardens and even on balconies and it only took us four minutes to inflate, so it’s a quick job too.
While it’s no frills, this is such an amazing price, costing less than £8 and comes up with a Paw Patrol beach ball which Ivy, four, loved.
It is best suited to babies and toddlers rather than older kids, though, and they may outgrow it quickly.
However, because of its size, it’s also easy to warm up the water a bit for little’ uns.
- Ease of use: 10/10
- Kids rating: 5/10
- Grown up rating: 5/10
- Overall rating: 5/10
Bestway Magical Unicorn Carriage Paddling Pool and Play Centre – kids’ favourite
- £44.95, outdoortoys.com
- Size: 274cm x 198cm x 137cm
This is the pool that got the biggest shrieks of delight from Olive and Ivy, and that’s before they even got in.
Inflating it was a bit of a mission as there are lots of different attachments, but it was still up in around 10 to 15 minutes and all the added extras kept the kids entertained for far longer than a simple pool.
It’s really colourful with a good size splash pool area and it has loads of added extras including an inflatable wand and star, a unicorn ball toss game and a double slide.
There’s also a sprayer at the top of the arch, which sprayed the kids at the top of the slide.
It’s not very deep, so younger kids could have a bit of freedom to play while I watched from the sidelines.
It really sparked their imagination with Olive and Ivy playing all sorts of unicorn games for hours.
The biggest problem we had was fights over the blow up magic wand.
Overall, I loved this pool and even though it costs a bit more, I would buy it again.
- Ease of use: 8/10
- Kids rating: 10/10
- Grown up rating: 10/10
- Overall score: 9/10
Bestway Family Paddling Pool
- £25, Iceland.co.uk
- Size: 2.62m x 1.75m x 51cm
This rectangular pool is incredibly easy to inflate, blowing up in around two minutes.
It’s great value for the size – far bigger than I expected – and felt quite sturdy for a two-ring pool.
It was filled in less than ten minutes and though a basic design, it was perfect for hot sunny days.
It comes with a repair patch too, in case it gets damaged.
- Ease of use: 10/10
- Kids rating: 8/10
- Grown up rating: 8/10
- Overall score: 8/10
Hapello Rectangular Classic Pool
- £20, groceries.asda.com
- Size: 2.11m x 1.32m x 46cm
This pool is recommended for kids aged six plus, but I thought it was a perfect size for my four-year-old to enjoy.
Ivy loved it and it wasn’t too big or deep, although my nine-year-old boy said it wasn’t really deep enough for him.
It took a matter of minutes to inflate and was very easy to deflate with a plug.
This pool doesn’t have the bells and whistles of some of the themed pools, but the girls were super happy with it and for £20, you can’t really go wrong. It’s excellent value for money.
Bestway 8ft Fast Set Pool
- £29.16, amazon.co.uk
- Size: 96.1cm x 96.1cm x 26cm
With these “fast set” pools, you simply inflate the top ring and the pool rises by itself as it is filled with water.
You need a level surface for these pools to work, so don’t buy this if you have a lumpy or sloping garden.
Other than that, it is indeed easy to set up. The biggest problem is the fill time, taking over an hour to blow up.
It also takes 2,100 litres of water, which we reckon cost us around £5, so once this pool is up you’ll want to keep it up for a while.
Because of that, I’d recommend buying a cover too, which for around £8 is a good investment.
It pool is quite deep, so may not be suitable for younger kids, but my bigger ones loved diving about it in.
- Ease of use: 7/10
- Kids rating: 8/10
- Grown up rating: 6/10
- Overall score: 6/10
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