All your swimming goggle questions answered 🙂
Getting the right children’s swimming goggles for your aspiring fish is one of the most helpful things you can do to help your child achieve their goals.
Well-fitting children’s swimming goggles allow kids to see clearly, feel comfortable and enjoy exploring the depths of the sea and swimming pools for hours on end.
Poorly-fitting goggles? They lead to leaks, non-stop pleas to fix them, and kids develop the rather annoying habit of taking them off constantly. Cheap goggles are cheap for a reason, they’re badly made, tend to not work properly and won’t last long. Buying the wrong shaped goggles will lead to many avoidable problems.
In this guide to children’s swimming goggles, we’ll cover:
What to Look for in the Best Swimming Goggles for Children
Whether you are buying for a 3, 4 or 10 year old, the things you need to look out for stay the same:
Avoid Full Face Mask Goggles
Many parents think this is a good option as their child will be able to see clearly through the mask goggles. Wrong! These goggles are very stiff in form and only suit one kind of face shape. All the others will result in leaking. A lot of leaking!
Choose a Small or Adjustable Nose Bridge
Most children have small noses and a small gap between the eyes, and therefore need goggles with a small bridge. If the goggles have a wide bridge, pulling them so tight that your child’s eyeballs start popping out won’t solve the problem, it’ll only make it worse. The goggles are too big.
The best solution is to get proper fitting goggles. If you are unsure, choose goggles with an adjustable bridge, so you can hedge your bets.
The goggles we recommend have a large soft, fleshy frame, small bridge and easy to see-through lens. See our recommendations.
Lens size matters
With children’s faces having softer features and structures, a wider lens is usually better. Also it makes it easier to see through. As previously mentioned, steer clear of the mask shape, unless it fits your child’s face exactly, it will leak, rendering the whole pair of goggles useless.
Adjustable Straps: Back vs Side
In our experience, it doesn’t usually make much difference whether the adjustable straps are beside the ear or at the back of the head. Both options work but:
We have found that straps at the back of the head tend to be easier for the child to adjust themselves. However, the ability for kids to adjust their own straps can open a can of worms. If your child tends to fiddle with things or get distracted easily, having the adjustable strap alongside the ear may be a better option.
How Should Children’s Swimming Goggles Fit?
Goggles should always feel comfortable and have no leaks at all whilst swimming. It may take a few goes to get the hang of putting your child’s goggles on properly.
Watch our helpful video on how to put on cap and goggles and you will have it mastered in no time at all!
A good fit is everything. Here’s how to check:
Goggles should create a gentle suction seal without straps
They should feel comfortable—not tight
The goggles should pull off the face easily. If you have to tug hard to get them loose, then they are too tight-loosen the strap.
Goggles should keep water out throughout the swim.
If the goggles are leaking even though there seems to be a clear suction on the face, it could mean that the goggles are too wide for their face. Check whether there is proper suction on either side of the nose.
If there’s a leak, you will normally see where the water is leaking in. If your child’s goggles have an adjustable bridge, you can easily put it on a smaller nose. If they are part of the mould, you will have to buy a smaller pair and save the bigger pair for down the line.
Signs of a Poor Fit:
Deep red marks around the eyes
A slight red mark is usually ok, if it doesn’t hurt, but deep red lines are a no no, as they will start putting pressure on your child’s eyes.
Persistent Fogging
Goggles needing constant adjustment
Where to buy children’s swimming goggles?
Thankfully in today’s day and age, finding good goggles is easy. Search for well known brands, such as Zoggs, Speedo, etc. Most online shops such as eBay and Amazon have a good selection. You can also purchase children’s goggles from the Cindys’ swim school online shop.
Best Swimming Goggles for Children (Our Top Picks)
Based on years of experience in swim lessons, these are reliable, comfortable, and parent-approved options.
Ripper Junior Goggles
For ages 6 to 14, Zoggs Junior Ripper goggles have soft fleshy frames for young faces, anti-fog lenses and adjustable split straps to help keep those goggles on for the whole session!
£15.00
Predator Junior Goggles
As seen in our photos, we love Zoggs Predator Junior Goggles! We like the supple frame and large lenses that fit comfortably on smaller faces, and that’s so important to prevent leaks and stop goggles from becoming a distraction in swimming lessons.
£25.00
Frequently Asked Questions
Do babies need swimming goggles?
Not usually.
The main function of swimming goggles is to allow the swimmer to see and direct where they are going underwater. In baby lessons we focus on developing their macro-motor skills, water confidence, building muscle and coordination. Once they have mastered these skills, the focus turns to more structured swimming, including rhythmical breathing and learning strokes, which is where goggles come into play. At Cindy’s Swim School, this happens around the age of 2 years old, when they start to transition from baby lessons to toddler lessons.
Feel free to introduce swimming goggles to your baby, but don’t worry if they only use it as a chew toy 🙂
Can you get prescription goggles for children?
As swimming goggles’ main function is to allow you to see underwater, children who wear glasses will need specialised goggles. A quick internet search for “prescription goggles for children” brings up multiple options. Just make sure you get a pair of goggles that will fit your child’s face shape. See above for our top tips on What to look for when buying children’s swimming goggles?
Do I need anti-fog goggles?
I think we all remember back to our childhoods, wearing goggles wasn’t that helpful, they would get so foggy, we could barely see our hands in front of our face! Although spitting into your goggles gave some anti-fog help, it would have been so much nicer not to worry about it!
These days anti-fog is much better, making swimming a more pleasurable experience. As with most things these days, the cheaper you go the worse the quality. Same goes for goggles. The cheap goggles you can pick up at the Pound shop may cost next to nothing, but they will also offer you the same cheap quality. Most decent brands will have anti-fog included, and should say so on the package description.
How to Care for Your Swimming Goggles
To keep your child’s swimming goggles in good condition, rinse them in clean, cool water after every use to remove chlorine and prevent damage. Avoid touching or wiping the inside of the lenses, as this can wear away the anti-fog coating—if they need cleaning, a gentle rinse is enough. Let them air dry naturally and keep them away from heat or direct sunlight, which can damage the seals and shape.
Storing goggles in a protective case will help prevent scratches and extend their lifespan. If they start to fog up, you can use a child-friendly anti-fog spray, but over time all goggles will need replacing. If they begin to leak, feel loose, or the lenses become cloudy, it’s time for a new pair.
What to wear and what to bring to your swimming lesson?
You have found a smashing pair of goggles that fits your child’s face perfectly, so what next?
First off- we recommend that you get your child used to wearing a swimming cap as soon as possible. A swimming cap is the goggles’ best friend. They help keep the goggles in place, keep ears and hair ‘mostly’ dry and most importantly, keep hair out of swimming pool water filters, which keeps water clean and healthy to swim in. Silicone caps are the best, they don’t need to be dried or have powder added to them and they don’t tend to pull hair. Swimming caps also make the perfect vessel to put wet costumes in after a swimming lesson 🙂
A stretchy swimming costume or swimming trunks is also a must. Stiff material swimming costumes make it very difficult to climb in and out of swimming pools and may restrict your child’s movements whilst they swim.
A warm thick towel to dry your child with afterwards their swimming lesson will always be appreciated!
A good and sturdy swimming bag that you can keep all your swimming stuff in makes for easy storage and you’ll never forget your new and shiny goggles again!
Most swim schools will not need you to bring anything else, but it is always good to check before your first lesson so that you and your aspiring fish are ready!
Want More Help?
If your child is just starting out, check out our guides to:
How to put on child’s swim cap
Preschool swimming lessons: everything you need to know.
5 surprising benefits for holiday crash course for kids
If you’d like to book swimming lessons for your child, we’d love to help get in touch or book your place here.
