Hi,

I have 2 kids aged 5 and almost 3. We have moved into a house with a large backyard and now I'm wondering how to best use this space to entertain the kids? A lot of my friends or people I know all seem to have swing/slides or forts/cubbies or trampolines and in some cases, all of the above. This makes me wonder, do people expect you to have those things in your backyard these days? If we have kids over for a play will they get bored if we don't have all of those things? How quickly do the kids outgrow these outdoor toys? Do your kids get bored of these outdoor toys as quickly at their indoor toys?

I think a trampoline is the best investment. I've had all the outdoor stuff over the years and that's the thing they use the most. Outdoor equipment sells great on ebay so you're not going to lose your money if you buy stuff and they outgrow it.

I think kids can entertain themselves without that sort of stuff though with balls, totem tennis, running and chasing, but it would be nice to have something for them to play with.

I was just discussing this with friends the other day. In that group our kids are 10, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 3.5.

One said her girls (2x 5) hardly playd in their cubby at all.
Another said her DD10 and DS5 hardly used their swings.

But, my boys (5 and 3.5) use their swings all the time, everytime they go outside! We will be building them a fort with sandpit underneath very soon.
They are however very energetic boys, who are climbers/diggers etc They already climb the swing set!

You could just get a clam shell and fill it with sand to see if they will use it before doing something permanent?

We also have pop up tents/tunnels. We have the old huggies car (promo) a tunnel (from the cheapie shop) and a 'thing' that has tunnels leading to 'rooms' (square with no roof) and has basketball hoops etc It was heavily reduced at Target.
In winter the boys use them inside, but in better weather its outside. Then it packs up easily, plus doesn't cost a fortune!

HTH

I think a good natural environment is fun. If there are lots of trees and plants with sticks lying on the ground to collect, places to "dig" holes without destroying the landscaping etc then the can be entertained for quite a while just watching earthworms/snails, collecting "bugs", trying to plant their own apple seeds or whatever else they will dream up. If your garden is just a square patch of grass or landscaped to within an inch of its life, then it I have found it is less fun for kids.
I don't think you should worry about having kids around and them "expecting" more toys -my view is that they should be happy with what is there. If you do want to get some things though, what has worked best for us is a big sandpit (you can make yourself) for ages 1 - 3, one of those tennis balls on a string (very cheap only $20) for age 5-8 and a trampoline for 1 through to 8 yrs (and maybe beyond). A swing is great too, but I don't think you need a whole swingset necessarily if you have a tree you can attach a tyre or homemade swing on a rope to. The plastic forts etc don't seem to hold interest for very long. We have picked up few of them up from council clean-up, and you can always get those shells that make sandpits/wading pools (too small for a decent sandpit IMO but great for a bit of water play) at council clean-up as well. Just have to be willing to give them a bit of a wipe down. Small plastic ride-on toys are always being thrown out too. Otherwise garage sales have a lot of this stuff if you want to find a cheap way of trying them out. I wouldn't spend huge amounts of money on the plastic stuff though as I have found that toys that only have "one use" and can't be used imaginatively in a variety of ways only have limited appeal and aren't played with for very long. I also don't like the aesthetic and prefer to go for a more "natural" look, but that is just my personal taste - I'm sure other people would disagree.

Sandpit
(but a decent size one they can get in and play in, ours is home made 2.4x2.4m about a foot deep with shade cloth over the top)
I have two boys 4.5 and 2 they spend hours each day in their sandpit, 'making roads' digging, sandcastles etc.
They also use their swing set a bit too but moreso the slide than the swings.

We have always had a trampoline, but they can be a hassle if there are too many kids wanting to play on it without making sure one doesn't get bounced off, and we have always had a swing set and slippery slide, other than that the kids make their own fun, they used to have roads all through the gardens for their cars, they could dig, a few spare bikes lying around is good, we have skooters basket balls, tennis balls, frisbees.
I save the big ticket items for Christmas presents, the boys are getting older so they have a ping pong table, dart board boxing bag that sort of thing now, but I wouldn't rush out to buy any big ticket items for the yard kids are capable of making their own fun.

I second the trampoline. Am also in two minds about a swing set as I think they'd love it but my DH reckons they will play with it shortly and then never look at it again. As my kids are quite big, I'd need to get a proper frame installed which costs around $350 so it's a bit expanse IMO.

I often find they play most with natural stuff - give them a bucket of water and they'll be busy for ages. Granted, you might get two muddy kids back for it but this play can sometimes occupy them for hours! I also learn lots of little things from Kinder - eg, a paintbrush each to "paint" the fence, garage, furniture with a bit of water. Arranging their chairs & table and have picnics, borrow my picnick rug for the same sort of thing.

The pop-up tents are also a hit here! We got them from huggy years ago too.

At the moment they are running around dressed up as batman & wonder woman, they seem very busy but I can't quite work out with what? Often that's the best kind of play!!!

Anyway, don't feel like you have to have all these expensive things in your garden, the general consensus seems to be they barely play with it. Trampoline always seems an exception to that rule.

Cheers

I have swings and a plastic fort slide/ steps thing. Plastic fort doesn't get used much now, but it did when Jai was little.

Swings get used enough for them to not be a waste lol- mostly when other kids come over.

Their favorite game is playing with their trucks/ cars in the dirt. There's a track around the macadamia tree now from 'speedway' racing lol (Jai goes in the truck with my partner, who prepares the speedway track locally).

We are the ONLY house-hold with kids who have NOTHING. Well, we have toys like a mower and ride-on things like a digger, 2 scooters, 2 bikes, a little table with 2 chairs. That's about it. My kids are fine. They play in and out with what they have. They have asked for a tramp and swing set and all that but we basically don't like the clutter it creates and space it takes up in our small back-yard.

No.

I think it depends on the kid. I know some kids who do but most don't. Bearing in mind, most kids we know have more toys than my kids as I regularly 'de-clutter' and keep toys to a minimum ie 4 boxes which slide under a bed.

Again, depends on the kid, I reckon. My kids go over to house-holds where there is a new baby and they love playing with 'baby' toys. Definitely more than when they were babies themselves.

My kids prefer doing 'pretend play' indoors. But again, that's my kids. They generally prefer playing inside the house than outside. Maybe if they had a tramp or swing-set, they'd play MORE outdoors, I don't know.

I've hired out-door toys and am happy doing that as my kids play with it ALOT for a few weeks and then when they're bored of it, I send it back

I agree, I think backyard is not just for some ball games and trampolines and other structured activities - kids are capable of making their own fun. Backyards are great for all sorts of exploration and imaginative play, if there's more to the backyard than just grass or a "landscape".

On that note, planting stuff together is great entertainer. Probably teaches them patience, too, that nothing really happens for a long time afterwards...

Our sandpit is the most used outdoor 'toy'. At the moment we also have the plastic kitchen out there and DD1 can spend hours 'cooking' with sand.

My kids are 5 and 3 and I would say the most regularly played things are sandpit and bikes/scooters/trikes.

I think I will get them a tramp for christmas this year, they have both been asking for ages and I think they are old enough now.

The girls take toys outside to role play with. Otherwise they just run around, chase each other, play hide & seek or ride their bikes. Love our backyard.

The bucket of water thing is great!! I give my 2 boys 8 and 4 a bucket of water with food dye in it and a paint brush, they stay out there for hours "painting" the fence and bricks, (it doesn't stain) They really do have a good time! We also have a tramp which is fantastic, That is all we have.

When I was growing up we loved our swing set and Tramp. We really wanted our kids to have them too so for us they were essential. So far we have the swing which gets used all the time. Kids are getting a tramp for Christmas and we also have plans for a slide to go on the side of the swing set.

We have a huge veranda and we have set up a play area (small house and little room for toys so this works well). There is plastic fort which is used all the time (cubby houses), play kitchen, table/chairs, pop up tent and a black board. They also have ride ones and DD1 has bike/scooter, DD2 has a rocker thing. Our kids love the area and are always out there playing. They play with lots of natural/nature stuff too.

I also think a sandpit is a great idea for kids. Most kids love playing in sand.

I would have to admit that I have come to expect that there would be at least something in the backyard. I guess I think that most yards would have swing set or a sandpit. But it's not wrong if you don't though.

We just put up a totem tennis set and it has been used 3 times a day for the last week by my DD (3.5). She also has a wading pool, which I must admit I have spent more time in than she has (during summer with a book and a glass of bacardi and coke while she has a nap!!) but she plays with it a lot from the outside, splashing around her toys in it. She has more fun picking the veges out of the garden!

A bubble marchine is a great thing to entertain - something so simple keeps my children entertained for hours on end.

sandpit!!!

My girls love their Trampoline but spend much more time in their Cubby house.

We have 3 DDs - 8, 5, 3 - we have a cubby that DH built, a tramp & a swing set and the tramp is the thing all the kids play on even when the friends come over. they will make cubby houses out of it or get blankies and sit on top and draw or read etc. I encourage my girls to get outside every day and make the older one take her book outside to read which she does on the tramp !

Our mango tree is the most used backyard item !! All kids love to climb and we are the only ones with a tree the kids can climb - its funny to see the surprise on the kids faces when they come over and realise that they are allowed to climb a tree -its amazing how many kids have not been exposed to this very basic "toy".

So maybe plant a climbing tree !!

We have swing set but it has been in the box for two years in the shed. I am happy about this because I haven't had to push them or keep the 2yo from running into the swings etc. It will go up hopefully by this Christmas!
My girls ride bikes, play in the sandpit, skip, climb trees, push prams around, play with balls. But the best thing last summer was a net and bugcatcher from the $2 shop. They have spent hours catching bugs and other wildlife!

ETA as for other kids coming over they play with what we have (and my girls love playing with the swings/trampolines at other kids houses). Another thing we have had is a kids tent - cheaper than a fort!

The best things in our back yard are the vegie patch and the chook shed (with chooks of course) - hours of fun for the kids. The great thing about chooks is that you get rid of all your food waste, and they give you free eggs! And they are great fun to chase around the back yard.

The sandpit is also great and used a lot.

We also have swing set and trampoline - these get a fair bit of use.

Cubby house gets no use as my girls think there are spiders in it so won't go near it.

Great question...I could not agree more with kotchiornok...
A natural environment is a haven for kids to explore. It will open their minds to extensive creative play...