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:)

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MNHQ

Wendy house and climbing frame. Plus water/sand table in summer.

We got a slack line last year which has proved a massive hit. If you happen to have trees you can fix one to, might be worth considering.

Bricks, rope, old fence posts and bamboo canes.

A big plastic slide that we bought second hand for £20. They've outgrown it but still play on it, jump off it and use it as a ramp.

Big trampoline if you have the space, great for younger and older kids also something they don't outgrow.

Thanks cestlavie. Don't suppose you know if it is suitable to be sunken into the ground... (I think this might be key to persuading DH to give up 25% of his garden!)

Swings are used constantly here. DD2 has outgrown her baby swing so we are going to replace it with a spiders nest swing [the round kind you can lie in]. I think they will use it until they leave home to be honest and I'll be having a G&T in it occasionally

We've also had a lot of use out of a large pub chalkboard screwed to the fence for outdoor drawing. Needs to be large enough to draw an outline of a body [endless fun]

Large lengths of fabric from Ikea are a great alternative to a wendy house if you can secure it from somewhere up high or have a washing line somewhere that can be used. We have a playhouse but the kids [6 & 3] still want to drag everything outside and make a den so it's used more for storage really.

My kids would love a trampoline but our garden isn't large enough and I've seen some really nasty injuries so I would not consider it as something they could use unsupervised especially with other children around. You can buy canopies to put over them though which make them look like circus tents and mean that they can be used in the summer.

Outdoor Jenga is fun

trampoline. Definitely

Chalks are a big hit too. We have an old piece of board painted with blackboard paint which they use if the ground it too wet (it lives in the shed)

Don't t know but call them and ask.

Big wooden playhouse with IKEA childrens kitchen and play food and a sand table.

We've got a wooden climbing frame that has two swings and a slide, and a sandpit underneath. It's been great! I've bought other attachments (unbranded from Amazon), so I can take the swings off and have a rope ladder, tyre swing, monkey swing or monkey bars to mix it up a bit.
Old car tyres, bits of wood, old plastic pipes and other bits of junk are popular too but do make the garden look messy!

Swingball. We are on our 5th one. DSs are now 23, 20 & 15 and still play it.
They also loved having a tent, and a tunnel ( IKEA).

Trampoline and table tennis table. Biggest hits in our household.