Every kid loves the moon bounces that one finds at carnivals. It’s something about that bouncy surface inside four colorful walls that just feels magical and exciting. Won’t your kids be glad to learn that Little Tikes Bouncer series does the service of bringing the carnival moon bounce right to them at home?

Within the Little Tikes Bouncer series is the Little Tikes Shady Jump ‘N Slide Bouncer, a yard-size replica of the typical carnival moon bounce. At 7 feet in height and 8 feet and 8 inches in both length and width, it’s the right size for two or three kids to bounce away without feeling crowded or hitting their heads on the ceiling (the whole contraption is inflatable, so it’s soft enough that hitting anything inside it won’t hurt anyway). The bouncer is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Two mesh doors, one on the Jump ‘N Slide Bouncer’s front side and one in back, allow for easy entrance and exit. For security’s sake, both doors seal shut with hook fixtures that fit through loops—no need to worry that the doors might fly open while the kids are bouncing inside. A set of stakes anchor the unit into the ground, and a blower machine keeps the air running. A repair kit and a storage bag are included with the product.

Another Little Tikes bouncer, the Bounce House Trampoline, will also comfortably fit two kids. The maximum recommended combined weight is 70 pounds, however, so it’s best if they are younger kids. Little Tikes recommends ages 3 to 5. The unit is 6 feet wide by 6 feet tall; that’s a little smaller than the Jump ‘N Slide Bouncer, but not by too much. It, too, encloses a bouncing space within four inflatable walls with mesh doors. Two repair patches are included. But the pump is sold separately.

The Little Tikes Triangular Bouncer is a new twist on the bouncer concept. This one is shaped in three sides, not four, and has a slide on the wide side by which kids exit (a mesh door opens on one of the other two sides). For added convenience, the unit has a storage space on one side for shoes. Stakes secure the unit in place, and an included blower machine does the air pumping for you. This is a unit that’s suitable for older kids: Ages 6 to 10 is the official Little Tikes recommendation.

Is it a gym unit? Is it a play unit? Actually, it’s both. The Little Tikes Wave Climber makes working out more fun for kids with a variety of challenging climbs, arm exercises, and crawls.

The Little Tikes Wave Climber is consists of a triangular enclosure that has the texture and look of building blocks: bulky plastics, bright pastel colours, and intersecting “blocky” connectors. Like building blocks, they’re pretty easy for you to put together. Just pull them out of the packaging and lock them together. Then they’re ready for play.

The three walls come together to enclose an elevated platform inside that has a panel with a large steering wheel that spins freely with the turns of a hand. Kids reach this inner enclosure by scaling a three-runged climber.

Once they’re done and want to go back outside, they can exit through the four-foot-long slide on the front of the Little Tikes Wave Climber. The slide is wavy- sided from top to bottom—an avant-garde spin on the traditional straight-edged slide. You’ll note quickly that this slide is very safe as well as very stylish. The sides are very high, and so the chances of a kid falling off the edge are very low.

The climber gets high marks for durability. Customers report that the bright colours—turquoise, magenta, fuscia, and gold—stay bright for many years thanks to their ingrained UV stabilizers that break down the sun’s rays before they have a chance to fade the colours’ pigments. It’s perfectly suited four outside storage.

But it will work well indoors, too. With the ease at which you can assemble it and take it apart, you can keep it outside and then bring it indoors when winter comes, summer is at its peak high temperatures, rainy season is in full swing, or the weather outside is otherwise likely to be harsh for a while and your kids could make do with a play unit to keep the cabin fever at bay. Many parents who bought this unit report happily that their toddlers play on it daily.

With the slide attached, the unit’s measurements are 4 feet, three inches long; three feet, 6 inches wide; and 4 feet, 4 inches high. It’s a right size, all in all: small and accessible enough that a 2-year-old can handle it, but big and challenging enough that an 8-year-old can climb it and have fun in it, too.

An array of Little Tikes products bring the public playground to you. The Little Likes Variety Climber and Swingset Extension is one of them. A proud addition to the Endless Adventures series, it’s a combination swing set, climbing net, gazebo, and double slides. Every piece is fashioned with kids ages 3 to 6 especially in mind.

The swing set has two separate seats, each one secured to an overhanging bar by strong steel chains. The rest of the unit—swing seats, climbers, slides, etc.—are made of synthetic fibres and plastics that are lower-maintenance, longer-lasting, and safer than traditional metal and wood.

The gazebo attaches on one side to the swing extension and is reached on any of the other three sides by climbing steps. In the gazebo, kids will find a steering wheel and a climbing net. One side leads down to a platform that ends at two slides.

If you want a unit that’s good for social play, this unit is among the best of the best. With two slides and two swings, plus other play equipment to go around, there is plenty at hand for sharing. The whole unit is a lot more than one kid, or even two kids, are going to be able to use alone.

Expect years of use out of it. Read product reviews, and you’ll find postings form buyers who bought their units three years ago and the kids still use them, or that they recently bought it and the kids are outside playing away at it for hours. If you’re one of those parents who are trying to encourage your kids to spend more time outdoors, this unit might be all the incentive you’ll need to offer them.

It’s also commendable for its safety. Customers say that the fully assembled Little Likes Variety Climber and Swingset Extension is quite sturdy—sufficiently so that two kids can each swing on the swings at the same time, and kids in the gazebo and climber will not feel any shakes or vibrations.

Yes, the Little Likes Variety Climber and Swingset Extension does require some assembly. Gather together a few simple tools and just follow the instructions, though, and you’ll get through it without too much difficulty. Keep in mind that a newly bought unit comes in two whole boxes. There are many pieces to put together. It will help if you have a partner to give you a hand.

The New York Times is definitely written for grown-ups. So when it spotlights a toy, you know that the toy must be something special. Apparently, Little Tikes for sale are very special indeed. In October 1998, a commentary by Times correspondent Dulcie Leimbach noted that the world’s best-selling car throughout much of the 1990s was—surprise, surprise—the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. It apparently led the pack for both plastic toy cars and even most real adult cars.

MSNBC pays attention to this toy manufacturer, too. Last March, correspondent Allison Linn marvelled in a feature story at how its products are bucking many market trends. While 95% of the toys bought in U.S. markets are imports, most Little Tikes products are still made in the United States. And while factories have been leaving the Ohio and other states in the U.S. Midwest region in droves over the last few decades, a Little Tikes plant in Hudson, Ohio, continues to churn out 230 different types of products a year.

Little Tikes owes much of its success to its knack for innovation. New forms of Little Tikes evolve as the markets evolve. In the last year, the manufacturer introduced the Young Explorer Workstation, a PC desktop just for kids. Its large 19-inches-wide screen, bright purple monitor, and jumbo keys on the keyboard all render this computer more approachable than a standard adult desktop computer.

The Young Explorer Workstation’s performance capacities are impressive, too: Windows operating system with a 160 Gigabyte hard drive that holds 1 Gigabyte of RAM. A locker for the hard-drive tower restricts access to the hard drive to the parents.

Besides toy cars and computers, Little Tikes products also include tables and chairs made for kids; playhouses shaped like cottages, castles, and frontier forts; building-block units; and all manner of outdoor playground equipment: swing sets, slides, climbers, and all-in-one playground units that combine all three. There are also many toys ideal for indoor play, such as dollhouses, tool kits (some of these come with tool benches and tables), and kitchen units that have play stoves, microwaves, and sets of pots, pans, and kitchenware.

The variety of Little Tikes for sale is astonishing already, and yet new designs are rolling out every year. No matter what kind of imaginative play your child might want to engage in, rest assured that at least a few of the myriad Little Tikes for sale can accommodate it.

Give Little Tikes credit for elevating see-sawing to an art form. The manufacturer let its creativity shine in the Little Tikes teeter totter series, which features a number of original and eye-catching spins on the traditional seesaw design.

The Classic Alligator Teeter Totter is a Little Tikes teeter totter shaped like a big gator. One kid rides atop its snout on one end, while the other kid takes a seat on its outstretched tail. A third kid can join them and sit comfortably on the gator’s backside. All three kids will have the benefit of comfy seating, a stable base, and easy-to-grip handles. The whole gator is a compact teeter totter, measuring a total of five feet long. It’s recommended for ages one-and-a-half to five.

Gators are cool to look at. But who doesn’t love to catch the sight of a big whale leaping out of the water? The Classic Whale Teeter Totter captures some of that magic. Its blue three-and-a-half foot body looks like a whale hanging out in your backyard. It, too, seats up to three kids at a time—one on the nose, a second on the tail, and a third in the middle on its big whale hump. With easy-grasp handles, a stable base, and comfortable seats, it, too, is fun for kids ages one-and-a-half to five.

One Little Tikes teeter totter combines seesaw action with a challenging ball game. It’s the Teeter Ball, and you’ll recognize it by its unique inflatable base that’s shaped like a giant bowl. Two kids at a time mount it, one on each of the plastic seats held on extended plastic arms.

The two kids bounce on the Teeter Ball’s seats, and they spin, too. While they move, two balls—one of each kid—roll around a track in the bowl. A hole lies in the bowl’s centre. Each kid tried to get his or her ball into the hole first to win the game. This toy is recommended for ages two-and-a-half to five. A little bit more motor skills and coordination are needed to get the most fun out of this one; hence it’s made for an older group than the first two teeter totters.

The Teeter Ball takes some assembly. But to make it easier for you, Little Tikes includes a free instructional video with every package. Watch the brief video, and you’ll have no trouble putting your Teeter Ball together.

When Spring arrives and the weather outside grows sunny and brisk, you’re inclined to do more of your entertaining outdoors. Picnics and barbecues probably strike you as good ideas. Well, your kids are no different. They, too, appreciate a pleasant Spring afternoon out on the patio. Fortunately for them, Little Tikes caters to this by offering selections of Little Tikes table and chairs combinations.

The Primary Colors Table and Chairs will be an appealing addition to a bedroom, living room, or playroom, or deck. The table’s maroon hue and the blue shade of the two chairs are both bright and engaging enough for kids but mellow enough that adults will like them, too.

You can alternately get this same set as a blue table and red chairs instead, or as a light-blue table and yellow chairs. No matter which colour you get them in, all three items come fully assembled and will seat kids ages 2 to 6. With a width of two feet by two feet, the table is just large enough that two kids will have room for drawing, snacking, or just watching the view.

If an outdoor picnic is more what you have in mind, then a good bet for a Little Tikes table and chairs all-in-one package might be the Endless Adventures Easy Store Table, which seats as many as six kids at a time on a circular wraparound bench. This particular table has a pair of cup holders and a tray for stashing condiments, or crayons if the kids feel like drawing. There is a hole in the centre where you can fit the Little Tikes Market Umbrella for shade (note: This umbrella is sold separately). Ages 3 to 8 are ideal.

The Endless Adventures Fold ‘N Store Picnic Table Combo Pack is another happy matching of Little Tikes table and chairs for outdoor use. It’s a table-and-benches combo that sits an even bigger party of eight. Better still, it has an umbrella included in the package: a big blue one lined with an inner UV-blocking insulation for safe shade on sunny days.

And for such a sizable table, you’ll be glad to know that the Endless Adventures Fold ‘N Store Picnic Table Combo is very easy to fold up and store. Fold in the legs and it will be compact enough to hang up on a wall. This, too, is for ages 3 to 8.

Ancient cultures made buildings and statuary out of sand many thousands of years ago. Look around your neighbourhood playground or a beach today, and chances are you’ll see kids carrying on the traditions and playing in the sand, maybe making sand castles and other formations, if not trying to bury each other in mounds of it. It’s amazing how some things haven’t really changed much in all that time, isn’t it?

Anyhow, the fact is that sandboxes are fun, have been so for quite a while, and will probably remain so well into the future. That’s why Little Tikes has rolled out a wide variety of sandboxes. The Little Tikes sandbox series has some compact sandboxes that will fit inside a playroom and larger ones meant for a prominent and roomy corner of your backyard.

There is the Classic Turtle Sandbox, a cute 43-inch by 47-inch plastic turtle whose top shell lifts off to reveal an interior pit that holds up to 150 pounds of sand. When play is over, place the shell back on top and the sand will be safe from water, wind, and random dust and debris that could dirty it up. It’s one of the smaller models in the Little Tikes sandbox series. One or more young kids can fit inside it at a time.

Surf and turf, anyone? The Butterfly Beach Sandbox & Wading Pool is a Little Tikes sandbox on one side and a Little Tikes miniature wading pool on the other. Between the two stands a green parasol for shade. Like butterfly wings, the two sides close as well as open. When the kids are done, empty out the water on the pool side and it becomes a lid that seals securely shut over the sandbox.

In its unsealed, fully spread glory, this sandbox-plus-pool measures 64 inches by 39 inches. That’s big enough that your yard is where this one should go, unless your porch can fit it.

Kids who like trucks and big machines will be wowed by the Builder’s Bay Sand and Water Table, a 2-foot-high table whose surface holds a layer of sand and a landscape of toy vehicles and contraptions roaming across it: dump trucks, a construction crane, bridges, and a ship loading dock encircled by a moat. A human-size umbrella spans above from out of the table’s centre to shade the whole scene and the kids who sit around it.

Disc swing, tire swing, swings that stand alone, swings that are attached to a grand playground unit—no matter how you like your swing sets, it’s safe to say that the Little Tikes swing sets collection has a model just for you. With nearly two dozen unique swing designs in its lineup, it leaves few—if any—customers wanting.

The disc swing looks a little like a Frisbee. One single rope leads from its center up to a pole or overhang of your choosing. A kid rides it by grabbing the rope and wrapping his or her legs around the base where the disc and rope meet, then pushing off the ground. It’s a 360-degree ride that’s also a great aerobic workout.

The disc swing is recommended for ages 3 and up, but kids under 3 can have their swinging fun, too. There are a few toddler-friendly Little Tikes swing sets, like the Highback Toddler Swing Set. Tailor-made for toddlers as young as 9 months and as old as a year-and-a-half, it’s a bulky bucket seat that secures its little rider in safely with a wraparound arm rest and two holes to fit the legs.

Four strands of rope reach from the Highback Toddler Swing Set’s seat to the overhang above. With the extra set of ropes, the ride is smoother and slower than usual. It’s the low-impact kind of ride that you can feel safe letting your toddler have.

The 2-in-1 Snug ‘N Secure Swing is another toddler-friendly swing. It’s also a girl-friendly swing, with its pretty pink colour. Recommended for riders 9 months old to 48 months old, it’s got a hinged T-bar with shoulder straps that fasten a rider in securely while her mom or dad pushes her back and forth.
Tire swings are also in the inventory. The Little Tikes Tire Swing, good for ages 3 to 6, is tied to an overhang with two sets of rope. The tire is big enough for two kids to ride at once.

A few Little Tikes swing sets are more than just swing sets. They’re all-in-one playground arenas. Behold the Clubhouse Swingset. A pair of swings hangs from a bar held up by two poles. At the end of one pole is a platform with a climbing wall, steering wheel, and slide. So when your kids and their friends get done swinging, they have plenty else nearby to keep them entertained.

Schools call gym sessions “physical education” for a reason. They know that when kids are being active, they aren’t just burning calories. They are also sharpening their minds and developing their coordination, motor skills, and social aptitudes. Hundreds of studies strongly agree on these points.

By that measure, the Little Tikes Swing Along Castle is a play unit that is very conducive to your toddler’s early mental and physical development. A very stylish array of castle turrets plus a lookout post with a play telescope and captain’s wheel, it includes a slide, a rock climbing wall, and a bucket-seat swing set.

Customers peg the Little Tikes Swing Along Castle as best for the very young set—10 months old to two-and-a-half years—though your toddler could get great use out of it up until age 4.

Given that it’s designed for very young ages, it definitely needs to be safe. And it is. The swing’s triple-point safety harness will keep a youngster strapped in very securely. And the rigid bar to which it attaches ensures that it does not swing too far out in either direction. This latter point may lower the fun and excitement factors for kids older than 2, but it’s a sure bonus for kids under 2, who need a safe swing that won’t go far enough to tip them out.

As for the slide, its slope is sufficiently gentle that a parent can let his or her child slide down it with no worries of accidental falls or rough landings. The climbing wall is very scalable and clearly fashioned with beginners in mind.

Reviewers say that their toddlers have great times not only climbing up the climber, swinging on the swings, and sliding down the slides, but also crawling through the castle turrets and underneath the climber and slide. One of the great things about this play unit is the options it gives kids to make up their own play routines.

The Little Tikes Swing Along Castle will look very attractive in your backyard. Though it will do just as well in an indoor setting, as well. Given that the entire unit weighs only 32.2 pounds and extends outward a modest 50.2 inches in length, 58.5 inches in height, and 41.2 inches in width, you’ll find that it’s neither a heavy burden to lug through your house nor a big space-consumer that will be hard to situate.

By all means, every toddler is unique. But there are some things just about all of them share in common. And one of those is an affinity for climbing and sliding. This is a good thing, for the more climbing and sliding the do, the more they are exercising their bodies and minds when they should be—at an early age. Little Tikes does its part to encourage these positive pastimes with its climbing- and sliding-intensive Little Tikes Castle series.

The Classic Castle is a Little Tikes Castle that is imaginative fun for a wide age range: two years old up to age six. Kids will love the very imagination-inducing high castle walls that enclose an inner courtyard within that they enter through a blue imitation-wood door that opens and closes on swinging hinges. Kids get bountiful play space on this one: It’s 58 inches long, 51 inches wide, and 50 inches high.

Those walls are high enough that kids outside won’t see over the tops of them. Those inside will feel like they are securely within their own castle fortress. They’ll get ample view of the outside world, though, through the angular windows that are carved out of each of the four castle walls.

Other castles in the Little Tikes Castle series are ideal for toddlers. The Climb & Slide Castle is one example. Little Tikes recommends it for ages 1 to 4. Nevertheless, a few customers say that kids as old as 7 will happily join in the play.

The Climb & Slide Castle is a bit more compact than the Classic Castle: 22.7 inches in length, 40.4 inches in height, and 15.7 inches in width. Those dimensions are just enough to fit a climbing wall, a platform, and a gentle slide opposite the climbing wall. Decorative turrets on both sides add castle style. Plus, the space underneath the top platform makes for a crawl-through tunnel space.

Then there is the Swingalong Castle, another Little Tikes unit for the ages 1-4 set. This one has a climbing wall, platform, and gentle slide just like the Climb & Slide Castle. And it’s got a few other things, besides: a play telescope and captain’s steering wheel on the platform, and an adjacent side bar with a swing set. The swing set safely straps its riders in with a triple-point harness, and the restrictive bar keeps the swing’s ropes from swinging out to extremes.