I’ve been enjoying the lovely weather here in the Netherlands, spending a lot of time outside with the kids.
My parents have quite a big backyard, with enough room for all of our outside toys.
I just wanted to share some of our favorites!

Garden horse

This wooden horse, made by the German company Helga Kreft was a birthday gift for Celine’s 7th birthday.
We have the ”small” version (named Susi in their shop) which is easier for the kids to climb up on. There’s also a bigger version or you can replace the legs on this one to make it higher as the kids grow.

It arrived in a huge box. Assembling is easy. Just add the legs and the head and you’re ready to ride. The head can be adjusted (so the horse will be bending over to eat) and you can cut the manes open. Celine wanted to leave them fringed like they currently are.

You can buy accessories like a saddle, a helmet or even felted wool balls that double as horse poo. 🙂

Emile (almost 3 now) often plays with the horse, but can’t climb on it yet without help.

 

‘Abel’ tent

This is den building 2.0. It’s quite simple, a stick with some holes + a pin, fabric pieces in different shapes and sizes and either weights or pegs.
We have a size L, which has 2 poles and 9 pieces of the fabric. The size L is a nice set for multiple kids to play together. It does take up quite some room…. with the rectangular pieces of fabric measuring 160cm x 110cm you can probably imagine how big those tents will be. I’ve chosen the weights as they’re perfect for inside play. I do think we need some pegs too, as that would make it easier to bring the tent along for a day on the beach or more outside play.

Building a den with the set is intuitive, every single tent we’ve made is different and possibilities are endless.
The fabric pieces have loops which can be either put over the pole, attached to other pieces of fabric (using a cord with two wooden balls) or attached to the weights/pegs.
You can also buy add-on sets to upgrade your tent from L to XL or even XXL.
Currently, we’ve set a one-pole tent up in the playroom/bedroom and the other pieces are in a basket for outside play.

 

 

Mud kitchen

Nothing beats water and mud play. As much as my kids love the sandpit, a bowl of water and some dirt are way better.
The leave me outdoors range (pictured above) by Twoey is made to be left outside. The duraply should withstand even the Dutch (wet) weather. Offcourse there are very nice DIY options too, or just hand your kids a bowl.

 

Slacklines, Levitat & more…

Movement toys. My personal favorite. We’ve already had 2 slacklines in Germany (where we didn’t have a garden but took them along to the park or playground) and now we’re using them in my parents’ backyard. My future home doesn’t have a backyard big enough for them.

Levitat  is a hammock. The kids often use it as a trampoline (don’t tell Levitat – they say it’s not suitable for jumping!) 🙂 It’s been one of those Kickstarter things I pledged on, got disappointed about (as it didn’t arrive on the timeframe they said), almost forgot about until it got shipped finally. The kids love it, but again this is something which won’t fit my small garden, it needs space.

The swings are the first things I’ve bought for the backyard, it’s one of those swing & slide sets by Wickey.
My kids mainly use the swings or climb on the tower, but don’t ever seem to slide.

 

 

 

 

 

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