The Best Safe Non-Aerosol Sunscreen Products for Kids

Like most moms, I was thrilled with the advent of spray-on sunscreen. What a great convenience when you are trying to protect your kids from over exposure to the sun on a hot summer day. However, it has come to light that this great convenience may not be so great for our health due to the chemicals used in it and the danger of inhaling these nanoparticles and propellants while airborne.

So which sunscreen products are the safest for my children and myself? That is a question many parents have been asking lately. And what is the best alternative to spray-on-sunscreen now that it has been deemed unsafe? I am not looking forward to spending hours spreading sunscreen on my two squirmy kids this summer when they would rather be out playing - so what are the alternatives?

My list below contains top sunscreen products as rated b the Environmental Working Group - a non-profit whose mission is to inform the public about dangerous chemicals in our food and personal care items. For more information on these picks check out their website at EWG.org.

If you are trying to avoid exposing your kids to nanoparticles, retinyl palmitate and oxybenzone then you will have to avoid spray-on-sunscreen this summer. I decided that this was a must after both of my children broke out in a rash after I applied a friend's sunscreen spray at a party a few weeks ago. What I thought was protecting them was actually harming them.

What I have discovered in the past few weeks is that a sunscreen stick is a must-have for your beach bag or pocketbook. Because they are small, it is easy to tuck one in every bag that may need one - from your pocketbook, to your beach bag to the glove compartment of your car. And the best part about these little sticks is that my kids love that it gives them the ability to apply sunscreen themselves and I don't have to worry about messy spills.

Lately, I have been handing out the sunscreen sticks to my kids in the car on the way to the pool and letting them apply it themselves on the way. The good part about mineral sunscreen is that it is easy for me to tell which spots they have missed once we get to where we are going.

Try this sunscreen stick which got top ratings from the Environmental Working Group:

Adorable Baby SPF 30+ Sunscreen Stick Non-Nano Zinc Oxide UVA/UVB

More Top Sunscreen Sticks as Selected by EWG Here:

Sunscreen sticks are great for faces and some kids DIY application, but for broader coverage go for one of these safe lotions.

The EWG advises against sunscreens advertising an SPF factor above 30 citing a false sense of security a parent might get and the potential to neglect reapplying sunscreen after long periods of time. So here are some safe picks around SPF 30.