If you follow my insta stories, you’ll see that last Saturday we attended a fabulous Little Tikes event in Hyde park. We were fortunate enough to be invited to the wonderful event for their Bring Back the Outdoors campaign. The weather was absolutely delightful and it made the day even more fun!
Little Tikes conducted research on outdoor play in today’s day and age surveying 2,000 parents with children aged between 2 and 16. Here are some of their startling findings:
- 42% of parents have heard the excuse that it’s too cold to go out
- 1 in 4 say their little ones have been too tired to leave the house
- 1 in 10 germ-conscious kids have even said they’d rather stay indoors to avoid getting dirty or touching germs.
- 30% of kids have been too lost in a videogame to get some fresh air and 24 per cent have asked if they can stay in so they can watch their favourite TV show.
- 10% frequently bribe their kids to convince them to leave their devices behind and play outdoors.
- 45% have had to get persuasive with their little ones at some time or another in the past in order to get them out of the house for a runaround.
- And 11% have told their parents they are too scared to go outside at one time or another.
Parents estimate the length of their child’s average play session outdoors lasts 47 minutes. When Arjun does go outdoors, he can be out there pretty much from morning to evening but keeping him busy is key.
Arjun has definitely always been an outdoorsy kinda guy – don’t get me wrong, he does love a bit of screen time, arts and crafts and cooking but he’ll take playing on his bike, fixing something outside with daddy or playing football over those things any day! Saajan seems to be following in his footsteps – he gets bored of being indoors quite quick! Arjun has had hours of fun in his Go Green Playhouse that was kindly gifted to us by Little Tikes last year.
The event hosted by Little Tikes was for us to explore the different range of outdoor toys that they have to offer – many of which I didn’t even know existed! Little Tikes are famous for their chunky, sturdy and colourful toys. I also love how versatile they are – for example, their tortoise sandbox which has been in production for decades, can be used as a ball pool as well as a paddling pool or sand tray! Win win as it means you get to use the outdoor toy throughout the seasons.
Arjun had a great time exploring the water toys outside and was a little taken a back by a bucket of water catching him on the Fun Zone Tumblin’ Tower Climb – he hadn’t quite figured out the pulley mechanism right away. He enjoyed playing with the Fountain Factory Water Table which he has at home – through play, he’s become more confident with how it works.
And he loved catching us with the Splash Face which is like a tug of war water sprayer. He wasn’t as enthused when someone got him back though! He really enjoyed playing with the sand toys and using the diggers for role play.
Arjun literally went crazy over the BBQ set by Little Tikes – having BBQ’s is his latest obsession and this is perfect to ensure he gets to participate in a safe environment.
With Saajan, one of the things that can be quite heartbreaking having a child with Down Syndrome is him not being able to always play with toys that his typical peers may be playing with as he’s not yet quite there with the crawling, balance or walking. To be completely honest, I didn’t have any expectations of the event in terms of what Saajan could play with but we were so thrilled with how many toys he was actually able to use.
The Fold’n’Go trike was definitely one of his favourites. The trike was sturdy and offered just enough support for him to balance himself on it. He really enjoyed his stroll and we are so excited for him to have his own! We particularly loved this one as it has a folding mechanism to enable compact storage – perfect for our little family adventures!
Saajan also loved the rocking horse which he was super comfortable on sitting with by himself. He also enjoyed the ball pool. We were so grateful to the team at the event for being so helpful with selecting appropriate toys for Saajan to try.
Both the boys enjoyed their lunch and Arjun enjoyed a spot of crafts before getting his face painted as his favourite superhero – Spider-Man! All in all, we had an amazing family fun filled day! I love the range of outdoor toys and how engaging, education and fun they are enticing my children to spend even more time outside during warmer days!
