Best water bottles for kids
As a parent of 4 kids, I’ve been through my fair share of water bottles and I think we’ve landed on what we think it the best.
Younger kids (1-3 years)
For our 2 year old we like the Tommee Tippee Insulated Active Spout Toddler Sippy Cup. It’s pretty tough, mostly leak proof, and can go in the dishwasher. I say mostly leak proof as my 1 year old is a big fan of aggressively shaking it upside down and sometimes the little bit of water left in the spout comes out but once that’s gone, it doesn’t let any more out!
3 and up
For the older kids (3, 5, and 6) we have the ION8 stainless steel bottles. They come in all sorts of designs and have a double lock on the lid which, once you’ve drilled always closing the lid after drinking into their minds, means that they’re fully leak proof and don’t accidentally pop open in a bag. Being stainless steel, they’re really tough and have survived frequent drops. We went with the 400ml size for the 3 year old and the 600ml for the 5 and 6 year olds which seems to have worked out nicely.
In terms of cleaning, they’re really easy with basically no places that are hard to get to. The rubber seals are easy to pop out and they don’t hide deep crevices. Gone is the build up/mould in areas you can’t quite get a brush into!
Another plus is the fact that ION8 sell replacement parts for the bottles so you’re not stuck with a useless bottle if one of the kids decides that they’re going to remove and promptly lose one of the rubber seals. They also sell a straw that works great for the younger kids who haven’t quite mastered tipping the bottle up to get the drink out yet.
Not just for kids!
We’ve also got some of ION8’s larger bottles for us! The 1.2l stainless steel bottle is great for days out and is tough enough for me to use when I’m working out in the garden. They also included a free 750ml Recyclon bottle in our order which is equally high quality with all the same benefits as the stainless steel bottles. The main difference is that the exterior has a matt finish which doesn’t quite slide into the drink holder in my bag as easily as the stainless steel bottles but other than that, I don’t have any complaints!