y’all know brett is bigggg into gardening.
our backyard is on the smaller side, and Brett has taken probably 60-70% of it for his garden.
which is fine, but it does mean we have to be very intentional about what we offer in our backyard for playing.
we do love to play outside. and since we’re in Texas, we’re able to play outside pretty much all year. (yes, we do hit a point around July where that outdoor play needs to involve a pool, but you get the picture.)
so investing in some very specific outdoor play things for our home that we can grow into - both as KK gets older and as we potentially grow our family - is 1000% worth it. especially since Brett loves to be in his garden, and he likes for KK to have other things to play with when she’s outside with him, other than “helping” him.
but also? now that warmer weather is upon us and KK is more active, I reevaluated our rhythms and routines and realized I want more outdoor time and more outdoor play.
here’s what we have (and love!):
our rock pit play area + mud kitchen
yep, you read that correctly. a pit of rocks for playing.
post coming soon!
our outdoor play tables
we have three of these tables - one for sand, one for water, and one for soil. THE BEST INVESTMENT EVER.
see more about our beloved outdoor play tables here!
this wagon
so. much. play.
these gardening tools + watering can
for helping daddy. but also to use in that aforementioned soil play table.
this slide
my wise friend lisa swears by this slide, so of course we had to have it. SUCH A GEM.
a playground ball
of course.
we also have this t ball set.
THE BEST WALKER/PUSH TOY/BIKE IN ALL THE LAND
technically this is an indoor toy, and an indoor toy we love dearly. kk has used this every day, multiple times a day, since she turned a year old. but recently we moved it outside and it’s kk’s favorite thing there, too, as she likes the added challenge of pushing/riding it over our yard.
her bike and scooter
KK’s birthday is June 3rd, and I like to ask for things that can be used for outdoor play or summer play. This year I asked my family for:
outdoor toys we keep (and love!) at my parents’
a note about pools:
we have this kiddie pool we love, but hardly ever use it, only because we’re very fortunate to have pools we love both at our gym and my parents’ house, so we usually go to those.
we do use it for the beach - see my beach favorites here!
see why joining a gym with good pools and good childcare really works for us here.
see what I bring to the pool and gym here.
see our summer (and pool!) essentials here.
And that’s all we have for now! I’ll add to this post as we add more (I’d love if Santa brought us an outdoor easel at some point), but for now this is our very intentional, open-ended set of outdoor toys for our small-ish backyard.
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see our full list of our favorite bigger indoor toys here
see our summer and pool essentials - like my favorite swimsuits for KK! - here
see our full list of kk’s favorite things - from birth until now! - here
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