What garden toy would you recommend?

[chocciedooby]

After spending many hours looking on the net at various different garden toys I am still completely undecided on what to buy so was looking for a few ideas/recommendations etc

We have a 6 yr DS, 5yr DS and 10mth DD. We have been considering either a) wooden play house b) trampoline or c) climbing frame.

Please note that our garden is small.

Trampoline

It's times like these that I wish there was a 'great thread' choice.

I need to also buy something for the garden that is interesting for a 5yo and 2yo.

Hope this bumps it.

trampoline if it won't take up the whole of your garden.

Tho frankly the most played with thing in our garden (by DSs 10 and 7) is a football (or rather half a dozen!)

DH keeps going on about a bouncy castle. I am not so keen as it would take up storage space and I would be the one at home having to get it out and pump it up each time the kids wanted to use it. Also, are they that durable?um....

Our garden is pretty small. We could fit a 12 ft trampoline but it would take up half the lawn. Thi doesn't bother me if it keeps the kids happy. Our next door neighbours have one and a shed!

This is quite pricey but looks like fun
here

Our garden unfortunately isn't big enough for a good game of soccer.

Thanks Scurryfunge. I had a look at that before. It does look good fun and the height would not be a problem like a wooden playhouse could be. I will have to look into delivery as we are in Ireland and I am not finding many companies deliver here.

sandpit, dd (8), and ds (almost 5) have played with our sandpit more than any other garden toy.

Found one that delivers to Ireland. Company called Waltons. Have to keep thinking....

Yeh my boys have a sandpit and have played with it loads but I was going to put it away as they see to have lost interest

seem (oops)

Maybe a local carpenter could make one made to measure to suit your garden -guessing that would be expensive maybe

That looks cool too Lockets.Thanks a million.

Any other ideas anyone?

what about ride-on pedal toys?

No votes for a play house, I see - I've been wondering about one so will follow this to see if there's any enthusiasm!

bump

Are wooden playhouses a bit too babyish for 5 and 6 yr old boys?

Air flow bouncy castle or paddling pool are something they can all use.

For 10 month old DD I would get something like this

DS had one from about 6 months. The harness was really handy for those few months before he was really steady sitting up.

Then once they can walk balance bikes are really good and you can buy parent handles to attach to them as well if you want. They say they are better because trikes and bikes with stabilisers teach them how to pedal first and balance later. When learning to ride a bike balance and steering are the most important parts and balance is also the hardest part so should be learnt first. Then once that is mastered they can learn how to pedal on a two wheeled bike.

I would definitely recommend a climbing frame! We got one this year and it's great because it has everything in one set.

It included swings, slide, a little climbing wall, and our kids love the fort part. Be sure to consider one of these if you have space.

I would recommend the company we bought from too, as they knew what they were talking about and we got the set 6 days after order. Although it took us about 6 hours to build, once it's up it looks great.

You can see the set we bought here... www.climbingframesuk.com/selwood-columbia-climbing-frame-65110.htm

Lockets - I grew up with a spinning seesaw and it was fab! Never thought to buy my own children one though .

Ours have had years of use of a plain (non-bumpy) ELC slide. The wendy House has been ok, but not such a hit as I would have expected; they would have probably been just as happy with a pop-up tent.