Unless she can swim on her own, I would get her a Speedo life jacket. You can get them at Target for under $20. We prefer the ones with the float padding that comes up to the chest with the clasps that go between the legs. The ones that had the chest padding all the way up to the shoulders always rubbed my sons neck raw.
My kids love playing with the water shooters. You can get them at Walmart 2 for $5. I just bought some a few weeks ago. They shoot the water into the air and are kind of like air cannons and made of foam. We also have a plastic pool basketball hoop, squishy water balls that float, water skippers/skimmers (you throw them and they skip across the water), and a few water sinkers. My kids are 5 and 3, but they've been swimming in our pool since my oldest was 1.
I really like the Speedo lifejacket for the pool, especially since I have two kids to keep an eye on. My 5 yo stopped wearing his life jacket last year because he was tall enough to just stand up in our pool (it's 3.5 feet deep all the way through) and I was confident in his swimming abilities in our pool. If we went to another persons pool that was deeper than ours, he would wear his lifejacket. My daughter will be wearing her lifejacket this year and probably next year because she is shorter than her brother was at this age, and because she is not a natural swimmer like her brother. This suit gives them the buoyancy that they need to be safe while giving them the independence and freedom to move where they want to go. But know that it will take a few times for your daughter to get used to it. She will need to figure out how to balance her body so she is upright in it. It took my son about an hour or so for the first few times he used it. He was also 2 when we got him his first lifejacket. After a couple of weeks in the summer he had it down pat and would paddle himself all over our pool.
Can't wait for the weather to warm up a little more so we can get back in the pool. Have fun with your daughter!
