Hi all,

I have a 2 year old DS who loves being outside. We are looking at getting him a playset of some description. My husband and I are not handy so we would have to buy something rather than be able to make it! So I am tossing up between a metal swingset (ie with the slide, swings and bars) or a wooden playgym which is a bit more complicated and obviously more expensive. I don't have a particular budget in mind as we have some savings for this and we would rather get something that lasts (having said that I don't want to spend $2k).
Just wondering about other peoples experiences with metal swingsets vs wooden ones? Which ones do your kids seem to prefer and is there much maintenance involved with the wooden sets? any feedback or ideas? Thanks.

We have a swing and a plastic climbing gym, so not exactly what you're after, but both my 2yo and almost 4yo prefer the climbing gym. It gets played with every day.

We have a swingset, the girls play with the slide but are too young to swing by themselves yet. We also have a Little Tikes Cubyhouse which they absolutely love and play with all the time.

ebay can be a great place to find good condition second hand wooden forts etc, you may have to disassemble them yourself and remove but they're 1/2 to 1/3 the new price.

We have a wooden one from Target. It's got a rock wall, platform and slide and under this is a sandpit. Off to the side is space for 2 swings (but you can put whatever you want there). We got if for abotu $400 I think. My two love it but I don't know how it compares to a metal one.

My two use the swing set every day. The cubby house is not really used. They would love a slide but we have not got one yet...

The most used thing in my yard is the trampoline (by my 2yr4m old). He LOVES his trampoline.

Having said that though, we also have a metal swing set with slide which he also enjoys (the slide in particular but he likes the swings) and we also have a large plastic climbing frame that gets just as much use (up the ladder on one end, through, over etc. and then down the slide on the other). My puppy likes playing with it too.

Probably not helpful though