What are your favourite outdoor toys?

[Pannacotta]

We have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and I'l like to get them some toys for the garden - we have a good size garden for the first time.
But have no idea what to go for - have seen some friends with gardens like adventure parks but the toys don't get used much.
DS1 (3.5 likes climbing, DS2 (1) likes swings (DS1 hates them), any ideas folks?

wooden playhouse
sandpit
water table

have all been hits with our 3 - 6,3,1

my boys are similar ages... we have a small slide, a house to hide in and a few cars for them to drive round on... oh and a sand pit!

ds1 in particular always wants to play in the garden!

Well we put up a trampolne and enclosure for the garden yesterday and I reckon that is going to be a big hit.

When DD was smaller she loved her Little Tykes play house.

Sandpit is a winner - and lasts over a long age
Ride ons/scooter for the older one

But my absolute killer outdoor toy is a hammock - bought by dh for me to relax in (ha, ha). When they were ytounger we would all snuggle in together & sing songs, look at the leave, generally behave like happy families. Now ds is 4 it is a constant source of both adventure play (how high can I swing it?) & imaginative play (regularly doubles as a pirate ship etc)

Little Tikes Cosy Coupe is very popular with ds1 (2 years).

Mine can't get enough of their sand/water table and their little pop-up tents and tunnel.

I've ordered this for dd2's third birthday - she loves to bounce!

DS (2 years) absolute favourite garden toy is his sand and water table. He got it for his first birthday and plays with it for hours day in day out. Obviously to go with it are various buckets, spades, sand shapes etc accumulated over time.

He also has a climbing frame/slide that we got off ebay with a den on the top (TP explorer) which he plays with a lot.

Sand pit.
Little trampoline.
Playhouse.
Car (buy cozy coupe used on ebay or at car boot) or bike.
Climbing frame (TP Challenger here).
Swing.
Slide.
Water table in good weather.

These all get played with lots by dd (2.4), but sand pit and trampoline are top recommendations.

Thanks all - some great suggestions. Anyone have any experience of larger things like combined slides/swings/playhouses etc?

Ours is a big trampoline, but then our kids are much older (16, 14.5 & 5.5).

DD had a Little Tykes slide when she was dinky. It was the taller one, not the really wee one. She used it and lovd it from being about to 2 to 4. She now uses it as a ladder to help her get on the trampoline !

This slide

we have a house/climbing frame i got if from ww/kidsoutside.co.uk its been a fantastic purchase, had it two years? now and the elder three play on it everyday, it has a slide, a climbing wall, a rope ladder, a knotted rope and a regular ladder to get up into the 'house' on top and there is a sandpit underneath, it actually is squarish so doesnt take up loads of space in the garden.

we also have a little tykes play house, given to us by someone who had outgrown it, wouldnt buy one through choice, but the littles one does like it

a see saw, that is well used by the youngest two who are 3 and 5.

then all your usual ride ons, scooter, bike, tractor, trike, etc etc

but the climbing frame/house is the most well used and loved by kids of all ages, from when they are wlaking up to ten years old

I think DS1 would love a trampoline - and it'd help him burn off some energy - but not safe with DS1 around, not yet anyway.
Think a slide and maybe a swing are in order (we have a sandpit and Cosy Coupe which are well loved....).

We've gone for a sandpit and a small slide. Our nearest park is only 5 mins walk up the road, so if DD wants to bun off energy we can always go up there. It doesn't have a slide, hence why there is one in our garden.

Her best outdoor toy seems to be a bucket and the loose shingle footpath...

shingle, oh yes, my 1 year old keeps trying to eat it, yuck!!

swing & sandpit.

sandpit, definitely, but place it on grass, so the sand falls off on the grass and not in the house.

we got the Villa from this company 2 years ago and it is still really popular with everyone who comes to play in our house. You have to build it yourself but it's very easy to put together and very sturdy. Also if you have a small garden it takes up very little room. It's also a lot cheaper than a lot of others like it. If you email them they tell you where the local stockest. The Villa has a sandpit, ropeladder, climbing wall, slide, climbing rope and playhut and it was about 520euro (£408)

sand and water, plus buckets, spoons or spades. The permutations are endless.

That looks good qdm.

I have experience of larger playhouse with slide, yes. Pic is on my profile. May well fall into the too large category though .

This is what I would get, in a couple of years it would be perfect. We have something similar but without the swing and my 6 and 4 year old love it, we bought it last summer when they were 5 and 3.

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Scrabo-Tower-Wooden-Climbing-Frame_W0QQitemZ290234422084QQihZ019QQcategoryZ16515QQssP ageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

the villa is what we have, but we got it from www.kidsoutside.co.uk, they supplied all the parts and the wood etc dp just had to build it, it was done in a day. oh and all ordered online etc and delivered within 2 days, the company were great at responding to emails,phone calls etc for any queries. not that i had any myself but mil was buying it and she is always really wary of ordering over the net, and paranoid about safety regarding the boys so she had lots of questions........ but the company were very good and very patient when responding (much more patient than me... )

That does look good qdm, in fact they all look good, not sure how you would choose!

dd just got 8ft trampoline with enclsoure this weekend..put together so easilly and kept her and Dp quiet ALL afternoon!..well wortht he money