Okay, so it seems premature talking about a summer that seems to be holding back from arriving on our fair shores over here in the UK, but the truth is that sun will get here eventually and when it does, you want to be ready.

The kids will be on summer holidays in less than two months so you need to start thinking “activities!” Believe it or not but kids will want to play outside when its sunny! And if that’s the case then the best way to encourage that i to make sure that they have plenty of games and outdoor toys to go to.

Ball games is what we’re focusing on here this week at Wicken Toys. Who’d have thought that just having a ball and a net would be enough to keep them entertained all day? Well, just ask schools! They always keep the children occupied at playtime and in P.E. lessons through ball games. Plus, it’s fund for adults to join in to.

What we’re looking at today is specific ball games.

Football

Yes, it’s the nation’s crown jewel this sport and many children get into it from a young age. Why not challenge the little ones by getting a Giant Goal so they can actual have a real game with each other? It’s all well and good giving them a ball but in order to complete the game they need to have the other main ingredient.

The tp giant Goal is big enough for Dad’s and teenagers to enjoy as well as the younger family members. If you’re boys are football crazy then this is the best place to start their summer with.

Basketball/Netball

Traditionally netball is played more by girls than boys but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a mixed sport at home, after all this tp Netball complete set doubles as a basketball net too. This is one of those team sports that really gets kids to co-ordinate and work together, more so than most and also teaches them excellent hand-eye co-ordination. Netball set with fully adjustable ring and net height, from just above the base up to 10 feet.  It’s ideal to encourage even very young players.

Table tennis

If the summer proves to be more rainfall than sunshine, then indoor ball games are always an alternative option. None more so a better one than table tennis. The Kettler indoor table has a strengthened undercarriage & playback facility. It’s Kettler’s best selling indoor table. INCLUDES FREE 2 bats, 3 balls and a net.

That said if you already have a table or decide to put together a make shift one, all you need is the bat and balls.

You can get a Kettler Table Tennis pack of balls and Kettler tennis table bats to play like pros do. It’s a lot of fun and ocne again very, very good for hand-eye co-ordination.

Talk to Wicken Toys about sports and games this summer whether it’s for a kickaround in the back garden or a championship game of table tennis indoors, we can promise you that when it comes to these activities we’ve got the balls for it!

Everyone has their ideal of what summer should be. For children though, they only want one thing; as William Wallace once said, “Freeeeeedom!” It’s their time away from school where the world is their oyster, so to speak. Wicken Toys really gets this idea. Summer holidays are a time for children to really feel like children without the confines of school rules and regulations and classes and stuffy old learning! It’s their time to have FUN.

We here at Wicken Toys have compiled our Fun List of activities for children plus the toys we think will best serve their summer of freedom and fun.

1. It’s got to be the beach at the top spot!

What kid doesn’t love to play in the sand and run amuck in the shallow waters of the sea? Beaches are the number one family holiday destination in the summer and they make for a great experience for everyone concerned, if the weather holds out of course.

If you can’t make it to the beach every weekend with the kids you can always bring the beach to them! Get them a Forest Hexagonal Sandpit that fits at home in any garden. It’s ideal for building sandcastles and digging and certainly offers up the closest at-home equivalent of the beach. To match the sand of the beach with a sandpit you shuld also match the water of the sea for a pool.

Get your hands on the Intex Fish Pool designed to be the closest thing to a safe water experience for young children at-home. There is enough room for mum and dad in this pool.  Deep side walls make this great for older children too. Intex are one of the worlds largest inflatable manufacturers and they inflate all their toys at the factory before they are packed.

2. Water parks

The next best thing to the beach is a water park. We don’t know quite what it is with kids and water but they seem to love going in it (unless it’s bath time!) Water slides are just a delirious treat for them but the parks can be very expensive, even for family special tickets. So if you’re not too keen on the idea why not build your own water park outside? It’s cheaper and just as much fun for the kids.

The Aqua Slide is a very popular seller come summer time. It can be used with any normal slide or just lay it on the garden and away you go. Great fun made better by the extra slippy silicone surface which helps propel you down the garden at great speed. Guaranteed laughter for kids, Mum’s and Dad’s.  Yes, parents need to get involved too!

3. Play Park

When in doubt, the play park is always a safe bet. Swings, slides, seesaws, roundabouts, climbing frames, the whole works. There’s enough energy to spent there to make the kids exhausted by day’s end and allowing youa  break in the evening while they wind down to sleep.

You can build your own play park of course by selecting from our range of garden swings, climbing frames and seesaws to create your own park package out back.

This summer make it easier on yourselves by writing your own Fun List for the kids. It helps you to plan out activities and ultimately save some money in the long term.

Rediscover the magic of childhood with Wicken Toys. This blog is for any of you who remember a simpler time where imagination and creativity played a major part in growing up. There was no such thing as Nintendo or iPhones, no concept of the Internet or satellite/cable in excess of 200+ channels, and no time to waste as childhood was a precious but fleeting period that would be over before we even knew it had truly begun.

There is something inherently good and pure about those times as a child that we take for granted as adults with our own children. Kids today are missing that important sense of wonder and discovery in their playtimes. Rather than communicating with each other verbally and interacting direct, they are separated by mirco-chips, wires, text messages, digital barriers and addictive distractions that pop-up on screens and gadgets that vie for their attentions instead.

What has happened to outdoor fun and outdoor toys? They have been sidelined by advanced technologies seemingly intent on making children lazier and more insular than ever before. More and more children aged between 7-12 are content to stay in playing computer games rather than playing in parks or with their friends in the outdoors.

Even popular culture is reflecting this change in children’s attitudes and influences like the movies directed at them. Remember when you could have an adventure in your own back garden in films like the Explorers, The Goonies, E.T. and Flight of the Navigator? Nothing was more powerful nor more exciting than your imagination back then. These days contemporary films reflect today’s youth in less innocent terms with a sense of imagination squandered and the discovery of adventure stolen.

So what can we do to rectify that?

Wicken Toys is determined to bring back that lost childhood that most parents hopefully can still remember and look back on with fond memories. It is the responsibility of parents to instil this sense of fun, discovery, adventure and imagination in their own children. Only you can guide them to it.

Think about the garden swings in the back garden in summer time with your children reaching to the skies.

Make their world a fortress, a castle, a pirate ship, a cabin, a tower with outdoor playhouses tailored for adventure and playing pretend.

Find a way to give them an active lifestyle by encouraging their fitness and health with wheeled toys from trikes to bikes and beyond!

Get them to climb, to race their friends, to work out how to make their way to the top of the climbing frames.

Give them the opportunity to jump higher than any other in an effort to take flight with trampolines.

There are so many different ways of bringing joy and adventure into the lives of children whilst bringing back your own memories and sense of nostalgia. Outdoor toys are designed to keep the spirit of the past alive and to make sure that modern technology doesn’t destroy what made being a child so much fun in the first place.

Believe it or not, summer is actually fast approaching!  In spite of all the rain and bad weather we’ve all had of late, the warmest season of the year is well on its way, and we at Wicken Toys definitely believe in planning ahead…

With this blog entry, we thought we’d introduce you to just a few of the amazing aquatic toys we have on offer.  Whether in your back garden or a public pool, these colourful and inspired floats are guaranteed to provide hours of fun and enjoyment – they would make an ideal addition to holiday preparations too.

We’re proud to stock a range of products manufactured by the industry leading Intex.  With over 40 years in the business, Intex dedicate themselves to designing and producing the highest quality of products possible – this applies to both their pools and pool toys.

All of their inflatable toys and airbeds are inflated in the factory before being packed for delivery to ensure the product is of their usual exceptional quality and to make sure there are no punctures.  The majority of their products come equipped with a double valve system for ease and extra effectiveness during inflation and most come with a repair patch just in case tragedy strikes.

With designs ranging from crocodiles to dragonflies, our ride-ons are sure to keep kids of all ages entertained.  The Dragon Ride-On is perfect, for example for the smaller of swimmers or virtuoso dragon tamers, while the Large Dragon Ride-On is ideal as the little ones grow up – with the ability to hold more than one child at a time.  These shaped and colourful floating toys can fuel imagination, add an extra element to creative play or simply serve as a brief rest from swimming!

The standout Sea Turtle Boat offers all the features of the aforementioned ride-ons with the addition of oar features, which not only reinforce physical coordination but can aid the development of upper arm strength.  We can only imagine the piratey adventures that would entail if a group of friends were to get together with two of these fine turtle galleons!

Of course, you’re allowed to join in the fun too!  Intex supply a selection of inflatable pool lounges as well, all made to the same immaculate specification as their other products.  We at Wicken are liking the Pool Lounge Large – just picture yourself floating on by in that, basking in the sun’s warm rays as the kids splash away in the background… And even if they splash into your pool lounge, it comes equipped with a drain plug in the base – problem solved!

So this summer, why not break out the inflatables and hit the pool?  …And if you don’t have one of your own, don’t forget to look at our selection of Intex pools too!  Now we just have to wait for the sun…  It’s coming!

Finally, after fighting through an arctic winter and getting through a rather erratic spring, we are arriving on the cusp of summer. This is the time of year that all Britons anticipate as we know that we will get at least a couple months worth of strong weather between the May-August period.

For kids that break-up for the school holidays they will need to find activities to keep their attention spans engaged so you can get on with other things around the home. We recommend, providing the weather holds out and things heat up, water play outdoor toys. The benefits here are that the kids get to play outdoors, enjoy the nice weather and stay cool all at the same time.

We are in no short supply of these pools and water play toys. Our range includes Intex above ground swimming pools, baby pools, splasher pools, fun floats, pool lounges and accessories. We also have a selection of sandpits and water trays to suit gardens large and small.

The trick to finding the ideal swimming pool is to know your garden and know your kids. You need adequate space for anything large like an Intex above ground pool, and you also need to know what is most suitable for your children (depending on their ages). All of our products come with age range requirements so you know if they are appropriate for your tykes.

Let’s start small and work our way up…

The Intex Beachball Fun Pool – this is a great paddling pool for the smaller child and garden.  See thru rings with fun beachball print. Intex are one of the world’s largest inflatable manufacturers, Intex products are sold all over the world.  They inflate all their toys at the factory before they are packed. This can be used in the back garden or even taken down to the beach for those of the young ones who are too young to go in the sea.

Going up a size and going in terms of age suitability – the Intex 10ft x 30 Easy Set Swimming Pool is quick and easy to install suitable for the whole family from 6+ years. It’s so simple to put up and within ten minutes you’ll be ready to fill it. The Intex Easy Set pool provides a convenient and easy alternative to steel-walled pools with a durable, heavy-guage PVC construction. They are also easy to drain after use.Another step up from this is the Intex 16ft x 48in Ultra Metal Frame Swimming Pool Set which includes all the following accessories; filter pump, ladder, ground sheet, debris cover, maintenance kit and surface skimmer. The ultra pools feature a stronger frame than a traditional metal frame pool and the pool liner is finished in a light grey more up market colour.

Another step up from this is the Intex 16ft x 48in Ultra Metal Frame Swimming Pool Set which includes all the following accessories; filter pump, ladder, ground sheet, debris cover, maintenance kit and surface skimmer. The ultra pools feature a stronger frame than a traditional metal frame pool and the pool liner is finished in a light grey more up market colour.

There are many choices at Wicken Toys that you can select from but you can also contact us for some swimming pool advice. Treat your family to a really great summer that they can enjoy from the safety of your own back garden.

Since we are getting closer to summer it’s time to open up the back gardens again to the delight of outdoor toys… well, at least to the delight of your children! It’s important to give them some activities to independently partake in at home and nothing quite beats that than the introduction of trampolines into the environment.

Wicken Toys offers a highly varied range of trampolines that could suit small to large families and a variety of different sized back gardens. We have garden trampolines for very small toddlers, large full size heavy duty trampolines, cages/barrier trampolines designed for safety, plus many more.

See if any of these tickle your fancy…

The tp Junior Trampoline is a great way to improve standing, balance and jumping skills through play, suitable for 12+ months and for indoor and outdoor use.

The JumpFree Trampoline Base Net 12ft and 14ft has netting that wraps around the base of the trampoline and prevents young children and pets from walking under the trampoline while someone else may be jumping up and down. It’s a very safe trampoline for children of most ages to use.

The tp 8ft Capital Trampoline is suitable for 6+ years ages. It’s a no nuts-and-bolts designed frame which is easy to set-up with a weatherproof trampoline bed with quality padding. The easy slot-together frame means that taking in apart and piecing it together is a piece of cake.

The Super Tramp Wallaby High Performance Trampoline is a heavyweight performance rectangular trampoline. There is no other rectangular trampoline that will match it on performance, quality and value. It’s a good choice for the whole family once again suitability ranging upwards from 6 years of age.

Trampolines in the garden provide a great source of fun – even for adults! In summer, when the sun is shining and the warm air makes in perfect for relaxing in the garden, there’s nothing quite like watching the children laugh and play and bounce around.

We discount all the products that we sell but at the moment we are able to offer the tp Sovereign trampolines at unbeatable prices, you will not find any other trampoline to the same specification at the same low prices. The Sovereign trampolines are being sold with a tp bounce surround and a tp ladder in 10ft, 12ft and 14ft sizes.

For more information on our trampolines, outdoor toys and play equipment please contact us and we can help you to find the right toys for your children this summer.

Wicken Toys is one of the biggest distributors of outdoor toys for children. We are all about giving children the perfect playtime activity toys but we also are stern supporters of child safety, particularly outdoors.

We wanted to provide a guide to help parents continue to support their children’s activities outdoors with safety as a top priority. If an environment is not safe to play in, the kids should not be allowed to play in it! It’s as simple as that.

Public playgrounds often are considered the most likely place for accidents to happen or for there to be potential dangers, but if you are creating an outdoor play area for your kids in the comfort and safety of your own back garden then it is the most easy to control environment.

Garden fences are hopefully lining the perimeter so young children cannot wander out into the streets or into the roads. Make sure your garden is secure in terms of fencing for both the safety of your children and the security of your home.

If you have bought garden swings then you need to make sure that they are good quality, durable and well manufactured pieces of equipment. DON’T buy second hand outdoor toys as this is the most unreliable of purchases that can easily affect or directly injure your children. Always buy outdoor toy products brand new from a trusted retailer or source. Garden swings are the bread and butter of garden activities and toys after all, so give your kids the very best and safest experiences you can provide.

Many parents know that children at different ages require different levels of supervision. Below 5’s often need to be kept at very close watch and even at arm’s length. They can very easily hurt themselves, especially whilst playing, so strict supervision is essential. 5+ is the start of an age where children learn to do things independent of their parents and spend more time playing with other kids. If you are providing play space outdoors for your children and their friends you know you can let them play more freely.

If you own or have purchased climbing frames for the brood, once again only purchase them from trusted sources that come with guarantees. Climbing frames are ideal for groups of children to play on and as long as the climbing frame has been constructed to a professional level then you should be able to rest safe knowing that the children can enjoy themselves without fear of rickety bridges and rusting towers.

Keeping your garden and the outdoor play area safe is all down to common sense really, however, as far as the public playgrounds are concerned if you see unsafe conditions or anything that could be deemed as a danger, report it immediately to the playground operators. Most playgrounds have contact information stencilled on the gates or on sign posts. Adults need to take an active role in the community, especially public areas for children where potential problems can be eliminated before they cause any harm.

Children should be able to have fun on the garden swings and on the climbing frames and enjoy their time outdoors. Have fun but be safe.

Spring is here already, and summer’s on its way – have you figured yet out how to entertain your kids this summer while keeping them active?  If not, there’s no need to panic!  Wicken Toys has it all sorted.  With a variety of items, many of which are discounted from our already competitive prices, there’s every reason to take a look at our Sports and Games section.  Let’s run through some of the products we have available…

Encourage your younger children to exercise and have fun through the ever popular sport of football with the TP Goal.  A catalyst for learning coordination and social interaction, this small goal is perfect for the smaller gardens out there, while still keeping the premiership dreams alive for the younger ones.

As they get older they may appreciate something more of a challenge – the TP Super Goal with Trainer is perfect for accuracy practice, giving your kids the chance to perfect their penalty skills for their inevitable role in the world cup final.  Alternatively check out the TP Giant Goal for the more ambitious strikers and goalkeepers – this goal is big enough for dads and teenagers to join in the action too, so you’ll have a team together in no time at all!

Football isn’t the only sport you can introduce your kids to this summer – give them some practice for the tryouts with the TP Netball Set.  With a regulation sized hoop and a height adjustable pole that ascends to 10 feet, this set can challenge and encourage potential players of all ages and grow along with them.

Get the ultimate outdoor play set from TP with their Garden Games Set, adaptable for a variety of activities.  From short tennis to volleyball to badminton (racquets and shuttlecocks included), this all in one set is guaranteed to give many hours of gleeful enjoyment and exercise through play, essential in the modern age of entertainment where TV and the Internet appeal so widely.  This set will keep your kids active while giving you a chance to join in the fun – grab a racquet and give it a go!

Provide a window to a more traditional play area with the TP Forest Seesaw, this time with a rotating action too so your kids can take it for a spin in addition to the usual motion.  Ideal for the younger kids out there, this is an excellent way to teach more about balance while encouraging social interaction and cooperation with friends or siblings.  Alternatively inject a modern twist with the award winning Spiro Hop, also from TP, which includes a bouncing action alongside the functions one would expect with a regular seesaw.

Most of these products are on display at Wicken Toys, so if you haven’t made up your mind yet, why not visit the UK’s biggest outdoor display of outdoor play equipment to have a closer look and try before you buy?

In modern times, entertainment has become an industry.  Television enchants young children with bright colours and playful characters.  Video games offer a window of interactivity into a vibrant world.  The Internet provides a gateway to a wealth of knowledge and new experiences.  It’s not hard to see why, even when the sun’s out, many children still choose to stay indoors.  Here at Wicken Toys, though, we still firmly believe that kids need to experience the great outdoors, as it provides a stable base for development – not just physical, but emotional, social and cognitive development too.  It seems we’re not the only ones…

All learning is based on sensory information, meaning what a child can see, hear, feel, smell and taste.  The outdoor environment can provide stimulation for all these senses – think of an outdoor picnic in a verdant forest, the scent of dew fresh on the grass, with a blackbird singing nearby.  Merely staying indoors in front of the TV only stimulates the senses of sight and hearing, which has been suggested to affect perceptual abilities later on in life in too great a concentration.

Children are energetic, especially the little ones – many parents understand the trouble that can come from kids expending too much energy indoors.  Outside they can do this without jumping on the sofa and breaking the chairs.  Swings provide a way of learning about the basics of balance and physics, while climbing frames aid in early muscle development.

It goes almost without saying that a great deal of children’s play is imaginative, especially when playing with friends or siblings.  A little imagination can go a long way to creating games, environments, scenarios and whole stories.  Apart from reinforcing cognitive processes, this sort of play encourages the development of social abilities.  Children learn to communicate by playing with each other, and creating games (and the rules thereof) can help with self-confidence, teamwork and vocabulary skills.

Even the smallest efforts go a long way in early developmental play time.  The process of merely throwing and catching a ball between two children, for example, exercises motor control, spatial awareness, cooperation and social interaction, while being outdoors reduces the risk of any expensive electronics being broken!

In addition to the developmental bonuses of outdoor play over its indoor counterpart, there are a plethora of health benefits.  Outdoor play is, with few exceptions, more energetic, and therefore burns more calories.  This is obviously a good way of lessening the risk of obesity, which in turn lessens the likelihood of associated health problems in the future, such as heart trouble and cancer.  Sunlight and fresh air have also been shown to have long-term beneficial effects on mood and general well-being too!  Of course, be careful with direct sunlight, and make sure your kids have enough protection.

Here at Wicken Toys we stock all manner of imagination fuelling and energy releasing outdoor play equipment, from go-karts for little speed demons to swimming pools for cooling off in the summer.  Come and visit our massive outdoor display to see what we have on offer for your children today!

Schools are now free to decide the length and structure of their school day including lunchtimes and breaks plus activities available during those breaks. The worry is that some schools might reduce unstructured playtime in exchange for promoting further academic study and curriculum time. There is a danger that schools are losing the sense of importance involved in providing their students with adequate playtime activity which is vital for children’s development and learning. Not only does playtime do this but it also helps encourage better classroom behaviour, improved motivation and boosts academic performance overall.

Studies have highlighted that the more children play outside the more they are likely to do better in the classroom. With an epidemic of “indoor children” becoming more and more prevalent in the UK more and more pupils are aggressive, easily distracted and harder to manage in the classroom. A lack of outdoor play is affecting classroom readiness.

Playtime at school should provide a range of activities and outdoor play equipment that helps to encourage the children to play freely without the constraints of routine and structure being imposed upon them. P.E. lessons on their own are not enough to do this. It has to be everyday at intermittent times throughout the day.

School administrations have a critical role to play in reversing the negative impacts of the indoor mentality. Helping children to experience and appreciate the nature of the outdoors and outdoor toys has never been more important than it is today in 21^st Century Britain.

Children tend to be more physically active with open-ended play where the emphasis is on the non-competitive. This is where we at Wicken Toys come in.

Supplying outdoor toys is our specialty and our years of doing so has helped us to draw the conclusion that nothing quite beats toys like climbing frames, swings and slides as tools for helping to keep children healthy and active. They help to foster an environment of freedom and energy that cannot really be matched in any other way.

Pre-schools and primary schools should be able to provide these tools for their students to be able to use at their leisure when break times and lunch times come to pass. They can reinvigorate children within the space of minutes and get them interacting with each other on a different level to their interactions in the classroom.

There is no structure necessary when it comes to outdoor toys beyond the structure the children create for themselves. Help to give your students a helping hand towards their development outside of the classroom by investing in outdoor toys.

• Climbing frames
• Garden swings
• Slides
• Playhouses
• Sports and games
• Wheeled toys

Contact us at Wicken Toys for more information on our product ranges available.