Most gift guides are a list of products in no particular order. This one is sorted by age, because what works for a four year old and what works for an eleven year old are barely the same category of thing.
Skip to your age and ignore the rest. There is also a price list at the bottom if you are working the other way round.
One test before you buy anything
Will they still be using it in April?
That is the only question that matters, and it is the hardest one to answer in December. The gifts that make it to spring tend to have three things in common. They live outside the house, so they are not competing for the same hour as a screen. They work without an adult running them. And a second kid makes them better rather than being required.
Everything below is sorted against that.
Ages 3 to 5: somewhere to make a mess
This age does not want a game with rules. They cannot reliably hold a rule, wait a turn, or keep score, so anything with instructions means you become the instructions permanently.
What works instead is open-ended. Water, sand, dirt, pedals. The kid supplies the game.
-
A balance bike. Three is the window. The First Ride Balance Bike is rated from 18 months, and the Get Up & Go uses cork for the handles and seat and weighs about five pounds, which matters because they have to be able to pick it up.
-
Something to make a mess in. The Mud Kitchen comes with accessories and the wood is treated to live outside.
-
The one that covers everything. The Sandbox Cabana Kit is a sandpit, a kitchen, a planting bin and an easel under a UPF 50 sunshade. The shade is what decides whether it gets used in July.
We went through this age in more detail in outdoor toys for 3, 4 and 5 year olds, including what to skip.
Ages 6 to 9: a reason other kids come over
Around six it flips to social. The right gift at this age is whatever makes your yard the one they end up at, which almost always means something two or more kids can use at the same time.
Swings do the most work here, and they get used in two-minute bursts twenty times a day rather than in one long session.
-
A swing, if you have the tree. The TreSwing Explorer at $69.99 is the entry point: a 24 inch round saucer seat on a steel frame that hangs from one or two points on a branch. Branch straps are sold separately, so add a TreSwing Strap Kit. The 40 Inch Dreamcatcher is the same idea scaled up, a 40 inch seat rated for over 500 pounds, so it holds several kids at once, which is the whole point at this age.
-
No suitable branch? The SkyStand Swing Support mounts to the trunk instead and gives you the attachment point the tree never grew.
-
A whole setup. The Swingset Gymnastics Kit is a 36 foot line with two swings, gym rings and a trapeze bar, and it goes up in an afternoon.
-
Something for four kids. Rockin' Pockets at $59.99 is a cornhole-style toss game with a target that rocks. Both sides throw beanbags at the same time, and every bag that lands in a pocket tips the target toward the thrower, so nobody waits a turn.
Ages 10 to 12: something they can get better at
Old enough to want a challenge, quick enough to get bored without one. At this age a gift needs a skill curve or it is finished by New Year.
-
A Gaga pit. Gaga CrazyBall is a 10 by 10 foot steel-framed pit that comes with two balls. Players hit the ball around inside the walls, and anyone hit below the knee is out. It takes 2 to 8 players and it is the single most reliable way to get a group of this age outside and loud.
-
A ninja line. The Ninja Adventure Line 36 ft is a 36 foot line you ratchet between two trees, with monkey bars, gym rings and monkey fists that clip on and slide along it. It is the one to buy if you are buying once. The Ninja Ultimate 56 ft has over ten obstacles and is rated 5 to 15, which is the longest useful age span we make.
-
Something competitive. Bash Net and Disc Duel both reward practice, which is exactly what this age wants. Bash Net is roundnet: two teams of two hit a ball down onto a small round net, with three touches to return it. Disc Duel puts a bottle on top of each side's pole, and the other side throws a disc to knock it off while the defenders try to catch the bottle before it lands.
If you are shopping by price instead
Under $25. Silent Shot Crossover Ball at $19.99 is the one we would pick: a size 5 foam ball for dribbling, passing and shooting indoors, soft enough that it won't scuff the walls, which is why it still gets used in January. Pod-Copters are throwing toys shaped like maple seed pods. Throw one straight up and it spins back down from as high as 25 feet. $9.99 for three.
$25 to $75. The Ultimate Kickball Kit at $39.99 turns a lawn into something eight kids use all afternoon. The P1 Pickleball Starter Set at $32.99 works in a driveway.
$75 to $150. This is where the swings and the first ninja line sit, and it is the best value band in the catalog.
Over $150. The bundles. A Deluxe Swing & Climb Bundle is a gymnastics line, a rope ladder and a saucer swing together, which is a complete backyard rather than one more thing in it.
Two practical notes
Check what is under it. Anything that hangs needs grass or mulch beneath, not a patio and not exposed roots. This is worth checking before you order rather than after.
Measure the tree. Swings and ninja lines need trunks around eight inches in diameter or more, measured straight across at chest height. Most mature yard trees qualify. Not all do.
The thing that actually decides it
Whether an outdoor gift gets used has almost nothing to do with the gift.
It is whether it is visible from the back door. Something standing in the yard gets used constantly. The same thing in a bin in the garage gets used when an adult decides to go and get it, which is to say rarely.
Set it up and leave it out. That is most of the battle!
