We love summer over here (truthfully… we love all seasons!). BBQs (bbq’d tofu! Yum!), swimming, hiking, playing, we love it all. This year our toddler is a lot more mobile, which means we have a lot more things planned – and a lot more packed in our bag. Here are some of our favorite natural alternatives for a fun toddler summer!
This post was inspired by Block Island Organics. I recieved their natural face moisturizer at no cost to faciliate this post, however all opinions remain my own. The following post contains affiliate links, meaning I will receive a commission at no additional cost to you. For more information, see my full disclosure policy.
Sunscreen
Arguably one of the most important things to carry with you when you venture outdoors is sunscreen – particularly if you have fair skin. A lot of mainscreen sunscreen contain toxic ingredients (see EWG’s guide to sunscreen), not something you want to rub on your children or even yourself (certainly not while breastfeeding). Our current favorite is Block Island Organics for when we’re playing outside. It contains no parabens, pthalats, sulfites or petrochemicals (and it’s cruelty free!) I actually keep a tube of this in my purse for any inpromptu outings.
We also love rash guards and swim trunks for both our kids, boys & girls. Helps cut down on the time spent rubbing in sunscreen on a wiggly, rambunctious toddler or disagreeable baby. 
Cloth Swim Diaper
Even if you aren’t normally a cloth diaper user, cloth swim diapers are great and reusable all summer, so they can be a huge money saver as well. Both reusable and disposable swim diapers aren’t designed to catch liquid (urine) or else they would suck up water from the pool or lake. Instead, they simply catch solids for disposal. The Nageuret swim diaper by beau and belle littles (affiliate) is our number one choice (see our Nageuret review here), but nowadays they are available almost everywhere. I’ve even seen reusable swim diapers at Target!
Sandals
Okay, so I pretty much live in sandals. Summer, spring, winter… I might put on a pair of rainboots if it’s raining heavily (might), but I’m totally a sandals type of girl. Currently, I’m in love with my vegan birkenstocks. With the temperature rising, my kids are getting in on the action as well. For playing outside, I prefer a shoe that provides some support so the kids can still run and jump, and they wear watershoes when at the lake. Most of my kids shoes come from consignment events and thrift stores since they grow so quickly I don’t want to pay a lot for them. We get a lot of our shoes from swap.com (see my swap.com review here, or how I get free clothes from it)
Beach Baby Wrap
I love wearing my kids, but wraps and babies are hot, and normal wraps and slings aren’t cut out for getting wet. We have a wrap by beachfront baby and it’s perfect for summertime. It’s made of a mesh jersey material that allows for better airflow to both you and baby, letting both of you stay cooler. They have been safety tested for water usage so you don’t need to worry about the fabric breaking down. Beachfront baby has both slings and wraps available on Amazon (affiliate)
Water
I make sure we take water with us wherever we go – dehydration and heat exhaustion are no joke. I usually take seperate water for me and my children – I can’t stand backwash, which my toddler thinks is hilarious to do. I don’t like plastic water bottles, and glass can be inconvient on the go (even with silicon sleeves), so we stick to stainless steel when we’re out and about. Our favorite is Kleen Kanteen (affiliate), as they are durable and lead free, but there’s a lot of other great brands on the market as well, and a lot are available in stores.
What are some of your must haves for fun in the sun?
