Create a stay-put beach towel for kids

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I know it’s March, but it’s sunny and warm somewhere, right? Actually, it’s been warm and sunny in North Carolina for the past few days. With the (real) warm season coming up quickly, I’m really looking forward to swim season. My 4-year-old has always been a water baby, and I’m hoping that the baby I’m growing will also enjoy the pool.

We have access to a friend’s pool just three miles from our house, the pool at our gym (there’s an outdoor and indoor pool) and the public pools in our area. I have a lot of items to remember to take for an enjoyable experience.

What my Kids Need for a Day at the Pool:

Towel
Sunscreen
Water shoes
Sun hat
Floaties or baby float
Water toys
Sunglasses
Huggies® Little Swimmers®

Most of my must-haves are fairly self-explanatory. I’m all about sun safety and water safety. I also don’t want my child to get bored at the pool, so I make sure we have a toy or two to keep him occupied. My son is usually already wearing his swimsuit and rash guard (so we don’t even use a lot of sunscreen on him because of the coverage he’s already getting.) The Huggies® Little Swimmers® are so helpful, though. They are different from regular diapers (they aren’t going to expand when they get wet!) and they’re going to contain any little messes your tiny swimmer might make before you can get to a bathroom. We’ve been using Huggies® Little Swimmers® on our boy since he was 9 months old.

I actually just found the fun Finding Dori Huggies® Little Swimmers® at Sam’s Club.

One of my complaints of some of our pool adventures is keeping my boy dry and warm after getting out of the water. It’s easy to throw a baby towel on him, but those are so thin. I’d rather use a regular beach towel, but he can’t always keep it on him…until now.

I added elastic to a beach towel in order to secure the towel on my son’s arms – keeping the towel in place, but also keeping at least one hand free. My son tends to forget he’s holding towels and then needs me to re-wrap him when we’re walking to a bathroom or the car, etc.

What you need:
1 towel (this can be a bath towel or a beach towel. I tend to go for the regular size beach towel.)
Elastic – 2 pieces about 7 inches in length
Thread, needle (or a sewing machine)

1. Measure about two inches in from the short ends and roughly 5 inches down from the top of the long side. Secure one end of your elastic with a safety pin. (Using safety pins will also help you in making sure the towel isn’t too long once it’s on your child. My boy is a little short, and I didn’t want him tripping over the towel.)

2. Pin the other end of the elastic straight down from the top marking. Once you have both pieces of elastic in place, you can try it out on your toddler. Adjust the placement, as needed.

3. Sew the ends of the elastic in place.

4. Wrap your child up in the towel! Start with the elastic over one arm and wrap the towel (it goes around my son twice) and bring your child’s second arm out just slightly to get the other elastic over his/her arm.

Not only will the towel stay in place, but they have their hands free and it’s ok if they let go of the towel. It isn’t going anywhere!

The beauty of this is you can hand sew the elastic, if you’re not comfortable with a sewing machine. It takes a few stitches on each end of the elastic.

Summer (in my opinion) is all about fun and swimming. I’m excited to be back in the pool soon!

Are you a swimming family? My son is ALL about it, and I’m fortunate that we’re all fans of the water.