Suggestions/links for small playground toys please!

[LilyChantilly]

I'm a midday supervisor in a small village primary school and we ran an Easter egg raffle before half term to raise money for new playground toys. We now have nearly £100 to spend which is a great result.

However, companies who specialise in selling school equipment seem to be having a laugh - the prices are shocking! We'd get very little for our money if we bought from them.

So can anyone give me some suggestions for small, safe, cheap, fun toys that would suit children between 3 and 11? I already plan to get a big bag of those small plastic balls with holes in as they always go missing (tennis balls are popular but they ended up blocking the gutters on the bit of flat roof and caused a leak so avoiding those!)

They like balls, bouncy hoppers, balance toys, skipping ropes etc but I was hoping for a few new things as well. Any recommendations for supermarkets, high street shops, websites that have good cheap toys available and also suggestions for what to buy would be very welcome - thanks everyone!

[DonkeyOaty]

juggling bean bags?

[DonkeyOaty]

Well done on the fund raising btw - magnificent effort [thumbs up]

[DonkeyOaty]

teeter-popper?

[almightygirl]

Hula hoops are popular at my school

Other popular things are our drawing/craft area, the tuff tray which we put train tracks or dolls on, a rug with wooden blocks or Lego on.

Is any of that possible for you? This is a KS1 playground btw

[almightygirl]

Oh, and I scour charity shops, keep an eye on freecycle/gumtree, nearly new sales etc

[DonkeyOaty]

ribbon sticks?

[LilyChantilly]

Thanks Donkey and almighty - great suggestions! I'm also on the lookout for anything that can involve quite a few kids to encourage co-operative games if you think of anything. I did think a couple of sets of skittles might go down well...

One problem I'm having is that I'm training to be a TA at the moment and have just done the unit on health and safety - I can't help seeing dangers in every toy or game I come across!

[mrz]

French skipping elastic and ordinary skipping ropes
Bubbles
Cup and ball games
Ankle swing ball

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

space hoppers?

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

chalk?

[Lowdoorinthewal1]

Bubble machine is a good call.

Maybe look for some second hand stuff for a mud kitchen. They are great.

[LilyChantilly]

Ooh thanks everyone, great ideas! We do have a mud kitchen Lowdoor - they absolutely love it Ankle swing balls are a great idea too Mrz, we do have most of the other stuff already so they're not actually badly off, toy wise - I guess a bit of novelty will go a long way. I love the idea of chalk Tomorrow - that could keep quite a few kids occupied in a quiet corner. And would be super cheap too. Keep 'em coming mumsnetters!

[mrz]

We have chalkboards (marine plywood painted with chalkboard paint) plus a trolley with pens pencils paper and colouring books