Water Table
This has been the single best item we purchased for Mckenna this year! We got ours from Toys R Us and we ended up buying a second one for my parents house from Costco, you can find the link for that one here. Yes, she has so much fun with this that we bought two! It entertains her for at least half an hour at a time, which for a busy toddler is a long time! You can add other toys to the water, cups and buckets. Whatever you have in your kitchen that might be fun for water play.
Trampoline
We found ours second hand on Facebook marketplace for only $50! You can purchase it new here. It is definitively a lot more expensive new, so if you can find one second hand I recommend going that route. I know there is some controversy about owning a trampoline because kids can so easily hurt themselves. It's the leading cause of broken bones in children! Growing up we had one and it had no net and the springs pinched our thighs so badly when we fell on them. It was a rusty old death trap and we survived it. Nowadays the netting on the newly designed trampolines does help prevent injuries. Follow simple safety tips, like only one child on at a time and you should be okay. We plan to buy this one for indoor use during winter months.
Garden
Chauncey and Mckenna planted flowers and a nice vegetable garden this year and it’s been so great to see her helping with the watering. She checks on her plants everyday and is learning about how they grow and that we need to take care of them. It’s a fun little activity that she enjoys and is proud to show off all her efforts. She likes to remind me that those are her and Daddy’s flowers. If you don’t have a ton of space a planter box might be a good option.
Pool
We are very luck to have access to my parents large pool. However if we don't want to drive (or when we were on lock down, thanks Coronavirus!) we used a simple kiddie pool similar to this one. If your child is a water baby like ours, they truly don't need anything fancy. Between this and the water table I mentioned above, she's very happy!
Swing Set or Swing
We plan to get a swing set for Mckenna when she's a little bit older. My parents have an amazing set in their backyard that we use often, it's an investment and they purchased it a few years ago. You can find similar ones here, but many are currently out of stock. We decided to get this swing from Costco and she absolutely loves it! It was $50 well spent.
There you have it! The 5 items in our yard that bring our toddler hours of fun. Enjoy your summer.
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