Kids love having their own umbrella when the rain hits. From animal-inspired prints to a map of the world, the ones we’ve found have designs that are bound to cheer up even the dampest day, as well as being durable and user friendly.
1. Skip Hop Zoobrella: £15, Amazon
The Skip Hop range of children’s umbrellas is so endearing that they will make you smile whatever the weather. Choose between ladybird, monkey, bee, giraffe, dog and butterfly. The handle is child-sized, the opening mechanism is easy to use even for small fingers and the front pane of the umbrella is transparent to allow your child to see where they’re going. But best of all, for parents who enjoy dressing their children as animals, each animal umbrella has a matching raincoat in the range – adorable.
2. Dotcomgiftshop Children’s Umbrella World Map: £8.95, Dotcomgiftshop
It’s not really a world map, rather repeating panels of Europe and North Africa, but the overall effect is one of map-ness, so providing your child is using this to show their interest in the world beyond their own muddle puddle, and not to reference in their geography exams, they’ll be ok. It’s small and lightweight, so not one for high winds, and the larger £14.95 version would be better for children above the age of roughly 10 years old, but we liked the look and feel of this umbrella.
3. Suck Colour Changing Umbrella: £15, Suck UK
Really, the idea of an umbrella that changes colour when it gets wet should be ridiculous – after all you only use an umbrella when it will get wet. Nevertheless, there is something compelling about watching the raindrop border on this striking brolly change colour. It’s an umbrella, yes, but it’s an objet d’art too – beautifully made and we’d have loved one of these in our teens (in fact, we’d love one now). The kids’ version is only available in red, and there’s a black version for adults.
4. Royal Academy Children’s Cecil Aldin Umbrella: £8, Royal Academy Shop
It’s not the most user-friendy children’s umbrella there is – it needs pushing up rather than springing at the touch of a button, though the mechanism works well – but the dogs and ducks of Cecil Aldin, famous 100 years ago for his images of rural life, and the bright yellow fabric they are printed on, are guaranteed to brighten up even the greyest day. It should be enough to persuade even the grumpiest members of the family out for a walk. It’s an umbrella that is made for twirling.
5. Fulton Umbrellas Funbrella 4 Guards: £13, Fulton Umbrellas
Fulton Umbrellas does designs to suit every taste, but it makes sense to choose this wonderful Guards "funbrella", given it is a Royal Warrant Holder and umbrella supplier to the Queen. The transparent dome gives great coverage and the mechanism is designed to stop little fingers getting caught.
6. JoJo Maman Bébé Dinosaur Colour Change Umbrella: £12, JoJo Maman Bébé
Another colour change umbrella, this time for younger kids – it’s the perfect size for a pre-schooler – the dinosaurs start off mostly white and reach their full colour glory once they’re wet. We simply cannot think of a single primary-aged or below child we know who would not love this, even though they are likely to get wet taking it down to look at the colour change.
7. ZSL Children’s Animal Umbrella: £12, ZSL
A parade of elephants, penguins, lions and gorillas circle this largely transparent dome umbrella, designed to completely cover your head and shoulders without being too big to poke passers-by in the eye, but it’s the giraffes that make the umbrella into an eye-catching design, and make us want to get down to the zoo, or go on safari, immediately.
8. Bugzz Ladybird Dome Umbrella: £11.95, Soake
These generously proportioned dome umbrellas (several centimetres wider in diameter than most kids’ umbrellas) maximise your chances of actually staying dry, while the striking designs mean the user looks pretty cool brandishing it. The easy open and shut mechanism means the kids can actually work it too.
The Verdict: Kids’ umbrellas
All of these make us smile, and the Fulton Guards Umbrella certainly lead to much fun marching through puddles, but if we could only choose one it would be the Skip Hop Zoobrella – it comes in beautiful colours and designs and has a lovely feeling of quality when you open it.
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