Toddler Swing / Playset

T.,

Hey there, I bought a playset from what used to be called Playnation, I think they are now called Alpha Play or something like that. They have many different playground options, you can add things to them or take things off of them. They grow with the children, they are great and relatively competitively priced as they do have a maintenance plan and they will stain the playsets so that they wood will stand up to the Florida weather. By 2 boys, ages 6 and 3, even their cousins 1 and 2 have a blast playing on it.

Good luck.

S.

We got this set from Walmart: http://www.gorillaplaysets.com/Blue-Ridge-Frontier-p/02-f... . I just looked at Walmart's site and it isn't on there anymore, which is unfortunate because we only paid $1200 at Walmart.

My kids 21 months and 3 1/2 LOVE this set. My husband put it together. It took him a few weekends, but he did it by himself. He is pretty handy, though, and has a background in construction.

The set is very sturdy and actually pretty! I worried about having an eyesoe in our backyard. The tire swing gets tons of use. We have a separate sandbox so we didn't fill the bottom with sand, we just mulched instead.

We got a swingset from Creative Playthings, and we love it. The quality is exceptionally good, they set it up for your, and they'll even maintain it. The best part is that it can grow with your kids, adding and subtracting featurs as they grow older. We got it for our almost-3 year old on her first birthday, and now she and her 16 month old sister use it all the time, and will use it for years to come.

Just an idea...but I wanted to do the same type thing in my own backyard recently for my little guy since I am a stay at home mom and wanted to have lots of fun and active things for us to do.

I used Craigslist to buy various items at steep discounts. We currently have a sandbox, water table, pool, swing along castle, cube with slide, basketball hoop with stand, toddler picnic table and a few other items, mostly name brand (like Step 2,) and paid less than $100 for all of it.

Living in FL, it will all fade as soon as you put it outside so I hate paying full price for such things. As long as there are no recalls, cracks, missing pieces, then this gives us a lot of options for not a lot of money. Plus, when my son outgrows something, I can resell it and then apply that money to the next items we want to try. It keeps us from being stuck with just one or two expensive items that my son might decide he doesn't really like on a given day.

So far this has really worked for us and my son loves our outside time. He's just under 2 years old right now and when he's closer to 4 I will see about finding a large, free standing swingset or fort type climber...but for now we have lots of options depending on his mood. He generally can play in our current setup for an hour to an hour and a half without getting bored or distracted.

Good luck!

Hi T.- We just purchased a swing set for our 2 boys birthday (ages 1 and 2.5). I researched all kinds of swing sets (Big Backyard- sold at Toys R Us, Walmart, Gorilla Playsets, Rainbow). I wanted the playset to be sturdy and something they could grow with. We purchased ours from Playnation (on the corner of Colonial Dr/Semoran Blvd). We got Ella's Castle. It is perfect!!! Fits in our backyard and I can't get our boys off it. The quality far beats any other playsets I was looking at. For $175.00 they will deliver and set up the swing set for you (worth every penny). It is worth it to spend a more for now for a good quality swing set. Playnation's website is www.playnation.com. Honestly this is the best investment we made. Our boys love playing on the swing set everyday. Have fun and good luck!!!

Hi, I asked a similar question here on Mamasource a few months ago and several people recommended the Sunray Premium Playground from Costco. We looked/researched tons of playsets and did end up getting the Sunray from Costco. Sunray is actually made by Rainbow Playsystems (one of the high-end, high cost playset makers) so I figured it would be sturdy and it IS!! We had one board that came with a split in it so I emailed them and I received a replacement board within the week!

Comes with three swing spots, an optional sand area/hideout, picnic table, fort/house upstairs, and a cool slide. I have a 5 year old and an almost 2-year-old and they both love it!

It also seemed a bit more compact than some of the other systems, which we liked.

We paid 1400 bucks and my husband put it together a few hours each day after work...took about a week.

Good luck!
S.

Good Morning T.,
If your family is handy with tools, I'd suggest that you make your own play area! You could also re-cycle many things to build this area. Old ties make great swings, wood that may be around or gotten for free! I lived in Marion, Ohio and the play ground was totally made of wood and recycled stuff! It was GREAT, and you can add on or take away as your son grows. You could even add a small play house! Just a thought! Good luck & God bless you all..
Sincerely,
Kathy N.

Aren't boys fun! I have 4 and their energy amazes me.:>)
Just get a basic wooden swing set. As he grows you can add on. Ours started out with 2 swings and a slide. WE later added a curvy slide off the other side ,a fort on the bottom, and then a rock climbing wall....the possibilities are endless. Have fun!

I highly recommend the Sunray brand of playgrounds. We purchased ours at Costco 2 years ago when my son was only 1 because he's always been a very active boy. We now have a daughter who's 15 months old too and they are both in it every day. We live in the hot, South Florida sun and the playground has stood up to rain and some rough weather. We had the wood touched up last year, but it was only minimally and is to be expected. The person who did it for us told us that this brand of playgrounds was great and that they are comparable to playgrounds in the $4,000 range. I believe the "Premium" brand is currently going to $1,700 at Costco.

Good luck with your search and may your happiness continue.

You should check out craigslist. We bought a Rainbow set for 350.00. Granted it needed work. But, a great deal.

They have some great ones on walmart.com. My neighbor has the cheapest wooden one and all of our kids love it...ages 1 to 4. Walmart seems to have the best prices.