outdoor toy ideas for a 4 year old

[SoTiredoftheWheelsontheBus]

Does anyone have any good ideas for a 4 year old boy? We'd like to get an outdoor toy, we've only got a small garden, but the street we live in is quiet, and local children play out quite a lot.

He already has a bike (with stabilisers) and a scooter, but he's lazy he doesn't seem to 'get them'. On the bike he just doesn't try to pedal, on the scooter he just won't try to do it himself. When he was younger, he really liked the cozy coupe, but is getting too big for that now.

We were wondering about a balance bike, or maybe a didicar. We don't want to spend a complete fortune (looking at outdoor toys on the internet, we don't want to spend £300 on a car with an engine), but would spend around £50. Can anyone recommend anything (or advise on what not to get)?

I would get a balance bike. The theory is that you shouldn't try to learn to pedal until you've got really good balance and can zoom around on a scooting type bike. Toys R Us do a cheap one for about 20 quid but he may be too tall for it as it's only a 10".

I can also recommend a sand pit, a paddling pool, pedal racer, Ezy Roller, didicar, Zoingo Boingo, Spiro Hop, Spiro Bouncer space hopper, hula hoop, wheelybug, pogo stick, swing ball, stilts and diablo.

I prefer to get smaller stuff like this that gets a lot of use and doesn't need too much supervision. I have heard of too many broken bones with trampolines (even the junior ones with the handlebar and bigger ones with nets), bouncy castles, slides, swings, monkey bars, climbing frames etc.

We got a didicar for our dd when she was three and she is still using it now at 7. You can squash two children on which is nice for playing out in the street.

A slide seems to be the biggest hit with all the kids I know! The most popular brand has ones that you can fold and put away so they're not overpowering your space all the time (sorry, brand name escaping me at the mo)

Or what about a sandpit - my son loves his and takes his diggers out to build roads and stuff. We've got the red crabby one with a lid that's a really good size - big enough for a decent playing area, small enough not to overpower the garden.

My DS loves playing outdoors and favourites have definately been go-cart (can get from Argos for about £50, I think), sandpit (plastic with lid), ride on tractor/digger

For your budget, I'd get a snadpit. They're everywhere - ELC, Toys R Us, M&S this year. Get one with a lid though if you can. We got DS' sandpit from ELC last year (its the one which is like a table) reduced from £45 to £36 when they did 20% off. Its been great.