Heat-proof your kids: 5 ways to keep them cool in school this summer
It’s a fact that our summers are getting hotter. The UK Met Office reports that the last four years were among the five warmest ever, with 2025 topping the list. And the searing temperatures start long before the kids break up for the summer holidays.
It’s also exam season, so kids are facing the heat in more ways than one.
Keeping them cool in school is vital: they need to be comfortable enough to concentrate, and you need to prevent serious conditions like sunburn, dehydration and heatstroke.
Phew! That’s heavy stuff. The good news is, these simple tips should be enough to keep your little ones safe at school and ready to enjoy the sunshine.
Trust us: we’re an Australian brand, so we know how to cope with the heat.
1. Make sure they have appropriate uniform
Many schools relax their uniform policy in the summer time, allowing kids to ditch their blazers and wear shorts and summer dresses.
The British weather is obviously very changeable, but checking the forecast and making sure they’re dressed as lightly as possible on the hot days will go a long way to making them feel comfortable at school.
Don’t forget their footwear: it’s amazing how much body heat can be retained by heavy shoes and thick socks.
On the other hand, exposed skin presents another danger. Your school will most likely send out multiple warnings to the same effect, but make sure you apply sun screen before school, and put a bottle of it in their lunchbag for them to re-apply later in the day.
2. Keep them drinking plenty
Your main enemy during a heat wave is dehydration. Drinking plenty, while always essential, is especially important in hot weather.
A child aged 4-8 needs 1.3 litres of water per day, but it may be more in hot weather. The best way to test hydration levels is to check the colour of your kid's wee - there's a wee tracker on this link.
Keep reminding your kids to have a drink, and try to make sure they have a water bottle with them at all times. Giving them a bottle that’s easy to carry will help to ensure they do carry it around with them.
If your kids ‘hate’ water, don’t feel bad about adding a little sugar-free squash (if the school allows it) – it still counts as water, unlike, say, fizzy drinks. Ice cubes make water cooler, more refreshing and more palatable: at b.box, we sell drink bottles with wide openings so you can add ice.
Don’t forget that their commute to and from school in the hot sun is likely to tire them out and make them sweat, so they’ll need an extra drink when they get in. When this writer was a kid, Mum used to fill a big jug with squash and ice cubes and keep it in the fridge ready for when we all got home from school. It was extra delicious and refreshing for having been prepared with such love.
Top tip: got younger kids at home? As well as ensuring they’ve got plenty to drink, you can try putting their teether in the fridge for an hour (not the freezer) – it’ll help to keep them cool, and help numb their sore gums. Try b.box’s chill and fill teether for extra cooling superpowers!
3. Choose their water bottle carefully
We recommend buying your child a water bottle that’s insulated: they are much more likely to drink water when it’s cold, rather than lukewarm.
At b.box we sell a wide range of beautiful bottles in many exciting colourways, and we love to see the way kids adopt their bottle as a prized possession.
Our easy tip-and-sip sport spout bottle is triple-insulated, to keep water cool for 15 hours. It’s leakproof, and has a flexible strap handle so kids can carry it and pull it easily out of their school and sports bags. We sell replacement spouts separately, so if it breaks, no need to buy the whole bottle again.
We also have our insulated drink bottle with its soft silicone straw, suitable for kids of most ages and available in 350ml and 500ml sizes.
4. Make sure they’re eating properly
Drinking plenty of water should be enough to prevent dehydration, but it’s important to consider what your kids are eating on hot school days too.
The heat can make us lethargic and less inclined to eat – not an option for kids who need fuel for the long school day.
You can keep a kid cool, refreshed and energised by choosing water-rich snacks and chilled meals: cucumber, tomato, apple, watermelon and yogurt are all good bases for snacks, while green salads, cold pasta and chilled soups like gazpacho are great for meals on the go, as well as sandwiches.
5. Keep their food cool
Most schools will not refrigerate your kids’ packed lunch, and when it’s hot, the food is likely to spoil more quickly.
Prevent your kids sitting down to an unappetising, overripe lunch by keeping a cooling pack in their lunchbox. Better still, make sure their lunchbox is insulated against the heat.
b.box’s big bento lunchbox is designed with a special section for a gel cooling pack, which sits neatly underneath the sandwich and keeps it cool for hours.
If your little one has extracurricular activities that will keep them out of the house all day, we recommend our insulated lunchbag. It’s available in many lovely colourways, and can fit both lunchbox and snackbox together, as well as a jumbo cooling pack (sold separately) for the ultimate chilled food all day.