Zoggs Water Wings Vest REVIEW

#AD – Product gifted for review

Erin loves the water, and has done since she was a tiny baby. At the age of four, she now goes swimming with her Nanny and Grandard every Wednesday afternoon, and it is one of the highlights of her week. She is always so excited when she comes home, telling me about what she has done, and how she dunked Grandad or went under the surface to retrieve one of her toys!

Whilst she isn’t scared of getting her face wet and is improving in confidence in the water, she still relies on armbands at present.

We were recently contacted by Zoggs to see if she would like to review the Zoggs Water Wings Vest, a new Zoggs swim vest with an innovative design to help children gradually progress to swimming unaided.

About the Water Wings Vest

The new Zoggs Water Wings Vest provides fixed buoyancy, whilst encouraging a natural swimming position to get little ones used to using their arms and legs to move around in the water. It features a neoprene body and super soft sleeves with foam floats strategically sewn into the arms and shoulders to provide exceptional buoyancy whilst keeping the ease of movement necessary to perform a range of swimming strokes.

The vest features a large zip which does up at the back. Children can simply pop it on by putting their arms through the sleeves, before a parent can zip it up and secure it in place. There is a flap of material over the zip at the top to prevent children from removing it on their own.

The Zoggs Water Wings Vest is available in sizes 2-3yrs and 4-5yrs and retails at £23.

Our Experience of Zoggs Water Wings Vest

I will be honest, we have reviewed swimming floatation aids and kids swim vests in the past, and Erin did not get on with them at all, so I was a little unsure what to expect with this. Granted she was a little younger at the time, and previous swim vests covered the entire body -where as the water wings vest was a little different, in that the floats were focused on the arms and upper body.

First impressions were that the Zoggs Water Wings Vest looks great – being a wannabe mermaid herself, Erin loved the friendly mermaid pattern on the arms, and the bright pink colour was right up her street. It is really easy to slip on as you would a normal piece of clothing, poping her arms in before simply zipping up at the back. I found the sizing true to size without being tight or restrictive. Erin was pleased as punch to prance around showing it off in the garden when we tried it out for size with her new swimming costume!

We have used the vest on a number of occasions now at our local swimming baths. In the water, Erin was a little confused at first, presumably because she was used to armbands and it must have felt a little strange. The natural positioning of the body is quite different using the Zoggs Water Wings Vest due to the additional floats on the chest, and as such, at first Erin asked for her arm bands back, feeling a little more buoyant than she was used to.

Our Overall Verdict

We have persisted with the water wings vest and I am glad that we did, as she is now becoming a lot more comfortable, and I can see already that her swimming position is more similar to that of a swimmer moving unaided, rather than relying on the bands which push her into a more unnatural posture.

Unlike arm bands, the Zoggs Water Wings Vest allowed her arms and shoulders to move freely, which is great for helping teach her about the different swimming strokes. Whilst traditional bands would stop her from being able to do front or back crawl, the vest allows her shoulders to really move, and therefore we have been practicing the back crawl which is now her new favourite!

The vest also gave her some natural buoyancy so she still felt safe and secure in the water, and was able to jump in from the side of the pool without feeling like she would sink or struggle to get back to the side.

Overall my personal view is that the Zoggs Water Wings Vest would be best used from a slightly earlier age, so that they get used to how this type of swimming float feels against their body. Erin took some time to get used to it, mainly because she has been using arm bands for a long time now, and the way they work is quite different.

I hope that by continuing to use the Zoggs Water Wings Vest, Erin will continue to take steps (or should I say strokes!) towards swimming unassisted. She continues to love her swimming, and I am so proud watching her learn.

You can learn more about the Zoggs Water Wings Vest on the Zoggs website.

*Disclosure – we were sent the Zoggs Water Wings Vest free of charge in exchange for our review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.*