What is the garden toys that your kids have got the most pleasure/longevity from?

[united4ever]

I managed to tame the overgrown garden we got when we bought current house. It is kind of lacking in things to do though for the kids. I thought they would use it more and improvise (big lawn mainly). 7 year old boy and 4 year old girl - what would you recommend in terms of something that will get them out into the garden more?

There are swing and slide sets like this:

www.toysrus.co.uk/toys/little-tikes-hamburg-swing-and-slide-gym-set/0123017

but they range from £250 to £500 which is a lot. It's ok if they use it well for years but would hate for it to be a novelty and then never used. We go to the park regular too and that would always offer more than what we could put in our garden.

Then there is a trampoline. Could you let your kids trampoline unsupervised at 4 and 7 years old?

Any other suggestions? Feel free to link up specific models or items:)



----
This thread is quite old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for garden toy recommendations, we’ve recently updated our best outdoor toys page with lots of great options, as tried and tested by Mumsnet users and their kids. We hope you find it useful.

MNHQ

[ScarlettDarling]

Our trampoline has been used to death. I think that as long as the safety net is on, they should be fine on it. My 2 have used the 'swing ball' for years too, I even enjoy a game now and then.

[WhizzPopper]

My dd is only 3 but she has a swing, slide and a trampoline and the swing is her definite favourite.

[Smartiepants79]

Trampoline. Best thing ever. A safety net and they're good. My 5 yr old uses it 'unsupervised'.
They also love the real Wendy house in my mums garden. Not fussed over the small plastic one in our garden but love the wooden one with real doors, windows, and curtains!
We've never tried the swing set as we haven't got room really. They enjoyed the small slide when small.

[clopper]

The trampoline and safety net were our best buys and we had a climbing frame similar to the TP one from Early Learning Centre, although we never had the den part. Also a football goal proved very popular for many years.

[GreenMarkerPen]

a bundle of bamboo planting sticks.
for building dens, swordfighting, digging in mud, laying out obstacle courses. very very occassionally used to support plants :o

[Winifredgoose]

A play house with a kitchen in it.

However, the most time in our garden has been spent with spades and diggers etc playing in a small patch of the flower bed they were allowed to dig in.

[LizzieMacQueen]

Football goals - regardless of age or sex they will get used, and fine if you have one kid playing out on their own - penalty practice!

[SpaceKablooie]

DS loves his half sand and half water table.

[BennyTheBall]

Trampoline and Crazy Catch

[craftyoldhen]

Trampoline

Paddling pool in summer

Bubbles, we have a bubble machine but it eats batteries and TBH they like the big bubble wands even more.

Tree swing

[Pigeonpost]

Trampoline definitely. Mine love their playhouse too.

[TalkMeDownPlease]

Agree with all PPs about trampoline. We have just got rid of a wooden climbing frame and have ordered this Rebo 14FT Base Jump Trampoline With Halo II Enclosure sorry I can't do clicky link, but its from Amazon £350 so not cheap, it will replace our worn out smaller trampoline. My two DS are 7 and 12 so they need a large trampoline, and its the one thing they'll go and do and enjoy independently in the garden.
Also definitely paddling pools in the summer, we buy a couple of cheap £10 ones each Summer, they love them on warmer days.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

My trampoline acts as a big bouncy thing but also as a play area for the baby, I stick her in it and zip it up while I'm gardening and the ground it too wet for her to crawl around on.
I throw a bag of ball pit balls in the trampoline net for the kids to play with as well.

Our playhouse is an ice cream shop, a fire station, a police station, post office, secret batman hideout... The list is endless.

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

Something to dig with, something to hide in and balls. Also sand pit and water play table.

We're in the process of making a mud kitchen which seems popular.

The den out of willow and hazel sticks is cheaper than a playhouse but more work.

[Fourarmsv2]

Biggest trampoline you can fit in the garden. If you've got the time / skills / inclination consider digging it down so it's not such an eye sore. We're lucky that ours is screened a little.

We had a TP climbing frame with den but that wasn't missed at all when we moved and had to leave it behind (kids at end of reception and Y2 then) however it had lots of use previously. It had monkey bars and a slide on it.

Wendy house - not much used.

Some sort of water play - water table when smaller. I now highly recommend a stream with frogs and fish for hours of entertainment (main reason we bought our current house)!

[Haudyerwheesht]

Trampoline most used thing ever.

Wooden playhouse too.

Goals.

Swingball

Giant blackboard on fence

[mrsbee2be]

Oh most definitely the trampoline, best bit of money we spent on garden toys (and we have a big wooden climbing frame/swing/slide thing) they spent hours on it and play games with dolls/teddys, plus they can go on it when the grass is wet so it still gets them outside.
Other thing we have & love is a tp wooden see-saw, but obviously is only great if you have similar sized kids, mine are 3 & 4, it goes up & down & round too, which is the most amusing bit for them. Listening to them laugh makes it worth the money!

[Smoothyloopy]

Trampoline & swings

[Scottishthreeberry16]

Definitely the trampoline.Dd now does somersaults on it which makes my stomach flip. It does have a net and she does gymnastic classes but still... However, it's now 3 years old and she's still on it every day.

[ChippyMinton]

As long as you can supervise at all times, a metal-framed pool (or maybe one of those fast-set ones).
A trampoline, the bigger the better.
And a tent/tepee.

[HMF1]

Aside from the trampoline ours had a swing frame with 3 swings from tp toys & a climbing frame with slide from the same brand. The swing frame is still in the garden 14 years later DN uses it when she visits & our neighbours have the climbing frame. They have been worth every penny we bought that brand on recommendation (they aren't cheap), we also had a little tikes car which they loved & a brilliant pop up tent, tunnel & cubes from elc.

[Xmasbaby11]

What's a mud kitchen?

[HeadDreamer]

I haven't got a trampoline so they might be good.

But slides are a complete waste of space. So is the water and sand table.

[harverina]

We have a plum wooden frame with swings, a rope and a slide. My dd's are only 6 and 2 but the set is suitable up to age 10 and I can't imagine it not being used until then at least.

We also have a little tikes play house which is used a lot but we had to pay extra for a bigger one that my dd1 can stand in.

We also have a sand pit which is a huge hit for my kids and any friends that they have.

Swing ball is away just now because we packed it away at the start of winter but I would say it was one of the most played with garden toys last year!

[harverina]

I agree that a water/sand table is a waste. We have one of the little time turtles which is pretty good