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Best garden toys to keep kids playing outside all day long!

Best kids outdoor toys

Looking for the best garden toys for kids? We are so ready for the summer holidays- who else is with me?! I’m looking forward to lots of garden time, to outdoor play, to watch the kids play, and play, and play, for hours, completely in flow and absorbed in sand castles and water splashing and flower potions and swings. I’m looking forward to an outdoorsy, exploratory, imaginative, dirty fingernails, muddy everything, kind of summer – with lots of exploring. I’m hoping for all of this without bickering…… but I may be hoping for too much! Read on for our list of the best outdoor toys for kids…….

I love that we have a great garden for playing in, it was a big reason we bought the house and I love that it’s a special place for our kids and for the whole family – they could play there all day so, I thought I’d put together a little list of our kids favourite garden toys that keep them playing outside all Summer long and garden toys that are perfect for kids of all ages from young children to teenagers. You can find more gift ideas for nature loving kids in our outdoorsy kids gift guide.

Best Garden Toys for Kids

Sandpit

A sandpit is a fun outdoor toy. ALL kids love sand! It’s a great toy for imaginative play. Being able to pretend to cook, make cookies, roll the sand – ours often have a bake off style competition with the sand. We like the picnic table format sandpit so we can fit more children around it and I’m hoping it will be easier to keep it clean with it being slightly raised. Sand is a great outdoor toy for developing hand-eye coordination and you can use it in so many different ways. You can try adding water or have a kiddie pool full of water near by for the ultimate messy play! 

Best kids outdoor toys
Best Garden Toys for Kids

Chalk Board

A good many years ago now, when we were in our old house, Mr M had a tricky near miss carrying a chalk board home on the roof of the car – but alls well that ends well and we still have our chalk board attached to a fence outside. The kids like drawing on it but also they generally plan out maps and adventures and garden treasure takeovers on it too! An outdoor  chalkboard is a good idea for the entire family. You can use it to write BBQ menus on or clues for a treasure hunt. On sunny days, kids can also use the chalk for patio or pavement drawing. You can make your own by painting a board with chalkboard paint or buy a garden chalkboard here.

Outdoor Activities for Kids to do in the Garden

Treasure Hunt Game

This treasure hunt game is a great garden game but is also brilliant for inside too. Setting up a treasure hunt game that is perfect for siblings to play together and it’s good for rainy days inside too. You set up the game with clues that you place around the house or garden – I loved that you could create your own clues if you wanted but also there are pre-written clues for ease and speed! I love setting up treasure hunts but sometimes they can take forever to think of clues. This games makes it easy! You can place treats or prizes in the gold box for the kids to find at the end. It’s a great way to get them work together. Your intrepid explorers work their way along the treasure trail, fixing clues to the map and collecting gold coins in a red swag bag as they solve the clues. Our kids loved the treasure hunt I set up but they loved creating treasure hunts for each other even more! They spent a good few hours with this game, setting up treasure for each other but I drew the line after the second time and they had to offer fruit as the prize after that! The treasure hunt is suitable for all ages. Our young kids enjoyed this because they could set up their own hunt as there are picture clues as well as written clues – this is a dream of a game for siblings. They’ve thought of everything to make it easy for siblings to play together – different levels of difficulty for alternative age groups and several different ‘jobs’ as you play the game – one can collect the coins, another the clues and another hold the map. This game would be a perfect for parties and can grow with kids as they get older. For more treasure hunt games and some cool pirate party games and travel games – read our party games post here. For more scavenger hunt ideas read here!

best kids outdoor toys for the garden
go trovo treasure hunt game
go trovo treasure hunt game
go trovo treasure hunt game

Trampoline

Hands down, probably the best thing we’ve ever got for the garden! This trampoline has given the kids hours of entertainment outside in all weathers and they could bounce from morning until night! They’ve practised synchronised bouncing (a game they invented where they time someone swinging and someone on the trampoline and try to get them in synch!) and made up elaborate trampoline dances too. We love this trampoline from Jumppower – it feels safe and secure with a large net around and the zip has safety buckles so it’s hard to fall out! Here’s some of our crazy kids captures from their latest trampoline dance show!

best kids outdoor toys for the garden
best kids outdoor toys for the garden
best kids outdoor toys for the garden
Favourite Outdoor Toys for Kids

Boom Ball Set

This is a garden toy complete hit with active kids! It’s basically a game of noisy tennis which makes a very satisfying noise when you hit the ball with the bat. The fact that it’s noisy I think makes kids practise batting more to keep the noise going! It’s great for younger kids and it’s one of the best products to help boost their gross motor skills. You can buy the Boom Ball set here.

Best kids outdoor toys
Best kids outdoor toys

Badminton Set

We don’t actually own a badminton net – but our kids love just bouncing this badminton set back and forth between each other and trying to hit the badminton shuttlecock is a good game for older children which is a harder skill to master than a ball (at least I believe so anyway!) It’s a great addition for your garden! Buy a Badminton Set here.

Garden toys for outdoorsy kids

Camping out in your back garden can be a lot of fun for kids! Try these other garden toys for maximum outdoor play.

Water Play

Just a simple bowl of water and our kids are happy for ages. Happy and wet that is – they never just play with the water – it always ends up tipped all over them! I add jugs, water pipes and cups to keep the littlest busy or our kids also enjoy playing car washing or dinosaur washing up (add the toys with bubbles). Water balloons are fun for hot days too – try these reusable magnetic water balloons which are much more environmentally friendly and kids can even fill them up themselves! This is a great water table for young children to explore with.

Bubble Machine

Our littlest (aged 2) adores bubbles but makes such a mess if he tries to blow them himself whereas a bubble machine means he can keep dancing through them and trying to pop them! It’s a big hit with the older ones and for slightly older kids – bubble wands to make giant bubbles are great too. Bubbles are one of the best toys to help boost kids outdoor time – buy our favourite bubble machine here.

Best kids outdoor toys
Best kids outdoor toys

Obstacle Course

Smaller outdoor toys can be combined to make a kids obstacle course which is a fun outdoor activity for all ages. For example, a hula hoop, a skipping rope or a play tunnel can all be combined to make a fun obstacle course for big kids and little kids. For more fun outdoor garden games for kids, read this post.

Football and Football Goals

A soccer ball and football goals are a great way for kids to pass time outside. Goals can be bought in all different sizes to suit the ages (and height) of the kids involved and make great garden toys for kids.

Slackline

If you have kids and you’re looking for garden toys they’ll love, try a slackline! It’s a great garden toys for developing confidence and balance skills. Click here for the slackline we love and find a post here full of tips and tricks for getting started with a slackline for kids.

Pogo Sticks

A more unusual outdoor toy but one that’s fun for kids aged 5+. If you want to improve your kids balance and give them a great workout – then a pogo stick is the best outdoor gift for them! Teens will also love a pogo stick, here’s my son’s favourite pogo stick. We’ve got loads more good ideas for outdoor games that teens will love here. 

Magnifying Glass and Bug Collecting tubs

A simple but great outdoor gift that is a perfect way for kids to explore nature is by gifting a magnifying glass. It’s good for developing eye-hand coordination and leads to many backyard games collecting bugs and making a home for them. We have great ideas for more nature exploring in our 100 Nature Activity Ideas for kids.

Big Bang Rocket Outdoor Toy

This is a great and more unusual toy, particularly if you have an enclosed or large garden or it works really well in a local park. You just fill the rocket launcher with squares of paper and launch the foam rocket high into the sky and it will make an exciting ‘bang’ when it falls back to the ground. It’s the most fun way to recycle your old newspapers! Buy one here! Stomp Rockets also make great outdoor toys and provide loads of fun for kids of all ages!

But probably best of all is the chance for kids to run around in a garden and the funny games our kids make up – like closing your eyes and see who can walk around the garden without bumping into everything!

Happy Summer Holidays everyone! Hope your kids have lots of fun in the garden!

Best garden toys to keep kids playing outside all day long

*We were gifted some of these items in exchange for a review but the words, photos and thoughts are my own*

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