Outdoor Toys!

[lisac77]

What fun things do you all have in your backyards? We have a huge backyard, which up until today we rarely used because the playset the previous owners put up isn't safe to play on. I took the ladder and slide off of it today, thereby making the backyard a safe place to play... but there's nothing in it! I'm looking for ideas on how to make our backyard more fun.

[SomedayMom]

Well, we have a playset (Cedarworks, just put in) that he loves, a sand and water table, a sandbox, a wagon, some ride on toys (2 plastic cars and a tricycle), our old baby slide/swing (Little Tikes I think), and a small plastic playhouse (Step 2 I think). Oh, and we have a teeter totter out there too.

Next summer I want to get him a wooden playhouse, but I'll have to convince DH they are worth the money over the plastic one. Oh and maybe a new plastic play grill. Wooden grill, outside, not a good mix (it's ruined).

DS is only 2 (well, in a few weeks) but I prefer (and he prefers) to get him outside as much as possible.

[mumm]

We have a great yard! (At least I think so and so do my 6 and 3 year olds.)

We have a trampoline (yes, terribly dangerous and unsafe, but great fun and in the 3.8 years we've had it only one kid had a minor injury because he was completley ignoring his mother who was directly supervising him!), a tree platform about 6 feet high that has 2 ladders and a slide coming down. We have a space trolley that runs about 100 feet. We have a sand box that never gets used, and a big dirt box that does. (It was my garden once upon a time. Now I get about half of the space and the kids dig and play with water and hoses and bury things and make tunnels and roads, etc.) We have space for 3 swings that hang from about 30 feet. Right now there is one swing and one rope ladder. We also have a hammock that is great for lazy days and reading books once we've all snuggled in. In the summer we have two small wading pools.

Plus bikes, wagons, scooters and a plastic kitchen play set for mud pies and concoctions. A plastic toy bin with buckets, pails, balls, batting tee, hockey sticks and the like. That looks pretty cruddy.

Now my yard may be an eyesore to some- our landscaping is pretty poor and I've let raspberries grow where ever they want and the pumpkins go across the grass. The only things I wish we had were a comfortable place for the adults to sit around a fire on cool days and to sit in the shade when it is warm. And if I had an extra $7k I'd remove a zillion enormous pines to let more sun into parts of the yard where it is a little dark and the hard wood trees are getting squeezed out. Oh and I wish I had a nice deck since we eat our meals outside from May-Sept and ours is all splintery and really small.

Have fun with your yard- It is often the unexpected, unplanned things that end up being the most fun!

[nathansmum]

We really only have our large deck that gets used for outdoor play at the moment - the rest of the property isn't child safe, and our front yard, although safely fenced, the kids don't lilke playing out there by themselves.

So our deck has a tricycle, playhouse, sandpit with dump trucks and tractors etc. We're going into summer here (NZ), so it's getting heaps of use at the moment - especially the sandpit.

[jtbuko]

Mumm.... I want a yard like your someday!!!!!!!!!!

[raleigh_mom]

We have a sandbox, balance beam (4x4 beam lying flat on ground), gardens, bird feeders, bird bath, inherited a plastic car, and have a wagon. We just got a metal swing set from a friend.

For next year, I would like to add a free standing loveseat swing. I found one that is like a futon - it can go flat and we could take naps or read out there. Also, our neighbors said we could have their grape vine. With a little arbor, those make great playhouses.

It sounds like a lot when I list it all out, but our .3 acre yard looks very plain to me. Since adding the swing set, the kids spend much more time out there.

Oh - and this last summer we added a fire pit (yeah for Target clearance!) and bought some plastic lawn chairs that we use for s'mores parties with neighbors.

[Finch]

We have a sandbox full of colored rocks and fake gems, about 1/4 acre of woods (our yard is 3/4 acre fenced in) in the back full of nice trees and rocks and turtles. This doohickey that ds loves, a screened in porch with a porch swing, and this summer we'll be putting up this doohickey, which has lived in its' original box in our garage because ds isn't old enough to use it yet but it goes for $300 retail normally and is super cool so we went ahead and bought it.

[Strong Mama]

we have a giant swing hanging from a tree, ride on tractor with trailer, pick up truck like dads, motorcycle, tricycle, bicycles, wagon, skateboard ramps, balance beams, basketball goals, soccer goals, football goals, slides, water sprinklers, pool, lots of balls, sandpit with all the trucks, etc. my ds' are 2 and 12.