which playhouse shall I buy?

[bunnybunyip]

I have been planning to buy a playhouse for over a year and am plagued with indecision. DS is 2 and we have another on the way. I want to get something that DS can play with now but that won't be useless within a couple of years.
Here are are a couple of options:
direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-7668.aspx (there is also a version of this with a slide which I quite liked)
direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-9475.aspx
direct.tesco.com/q/R.210-4898.aspx
or should I go for a more shed sized house? Or any other suggestions? As you can see our budget is about £300ish.
Thanks all

[bunnybunyip]

any ideas anybody? (bump)

[arfanarf]

I think they would all be used in different ways.
The one with the slide is great, but would need to be on grass, unless you put a safety surface down, which means in wet weather it wouldn't get used much.
The basic playhouse could be put on the patio and used all year round. You could aso use it to store some outdoor toys. It aso has more flexibility for pretending that it's a cafe or shop.

[thisisyesterday]

i would keep an eye out on ebay. i got ours for £50 which is similar to your second one.

[Frawli]

Personally I wouldn't go for one with much height with young children because I'd be worried that they'd fall and wouldn't be able to relax at all while they were playing on it. We've gone for a small plastic step 2 house which we hope to sell when they're bigger and maybe then we'd go for a higher one.

[Tgger]

We bought a nice cheap one from Argos (about £40)- something like this www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3677904/Trail/searchtext%3EPLAYHOUSE.htm when our kids were this age. Unfortunately after about 3 years it has died (plastic bits come out etc), but I can't really complain as it had a lot a lot of use! Kids now 4.5 and 2.5 and we are going to buy a bigger wooden one as they both played in the old one loads. Quite which one I'm not sure!

With little ones I wouldn't get steps or slide as the little one won't be able to use it until quite a bit older. Probably good to go straight in and buy the more expensive one, as we are doing now- nice big wooden one that fits a few kids in- my neighbour had one of these and the kids spent hours in it

[smashingtime]

There are some nice ones in Argos - I'm just waiting for some good deals on them as they are expensive! I want a good sized one for the kids as they are 3 and 6 yrs old. I also want a tall one as will also act as screening between us and the neighbours! The ones with storage underneath could also be handy...

[OwlMother]

My youngest one have had something like this Argos for the last couple of years and get a lot of use out of it, they are now 7 and 5 and play endlessly in it.

They have ikea plastic stools and a little table and it has been everything from a cafe to a hospital.

My parents got it for them from Argos and it is still in really good condition, wood was retreated this spring.

[gillybean2]

The people I know who have had playhouses have ended up just storing stuff in them like a shed. They rarely get played in. In fact one family I know use it to climb all over the outside or race cars down the roof!

Ds has something similar to this
www.outdoortoycompany.co.uk/jungle_gym_cottage_climbing_frame_/c118925-1.html
He is 12 now and still uses it and it has been in constant use since he was 4.

Before that he had a plastic toddler climbing set with slide. I can't find the exact one now but it was sort of like this (only not quite as his one had a big round platform at the top from which the slide, rope ladder and steps went up too and a saftey rail all round)
www.littletikes.co.uk/product.php?filterorder=C&search=&agemin=0&agemax=0&gender=&range=0&cat=6&itemid=20&returnurl=%2Fsearch.php%3Ffilterorder%3DC%26search%3D%26agemin%3D0%26agemax%3D0%26gender%3D%26range%3D0%26cat%3D6

[Pkam]

We've got one like the first of your links. We wanted one with a slide but the ones we found had smallish 'house' bits so we bought one from the garden centre with a larger 'house' and added the slide ourselves. DDs were 18mnths & 3 at the time - the steps were a little hairy for the little one for a time though. They love it and the larger space gives them room for friends and, hopefully, to grow.

[jimswifein1964]

I know someone with the first one you linked to, and tbh, now the kids are grown a bit, it looks tiny. They cant really use it much. But the height was a great novelty!
We went for a large-shed sized one with an upper floor; in that way, they will always fit in it, we can get loads of people in for summer sleepovers, and when they are grown up, we can use it as a shed (or a retreat for ourselves , if they're still at home!)