Whilst we love going out and about, visiting new places, and seeing new things, we also love spending time at home in our garden. Before T came along, Sharon and I often used to spend afternoons and weekends soaking up the sun with a book, eating our dinner outside, or simply sat round a fire-pit in the evening, and whilst we still do most of these things – our fire pit has recently turned into a swing ball set and ‘soaking up the sun’ is more like sweeping up excess sand from the sandpit!
It’s not the biggest of gardens, and grass comes at a premium due to having a raised lawn, but it’s our garden and we’re almost at a point where we don’t need to do much to it. It’s our little green haven and is a perfect spot for T to let off steam when we can’t go out – even in the winter!
Because our garden is so small, we’re always thinking of new ways to keep T occupied. Last year Sharon built T a sandpit from old pallets and I’m pretty confident we have more footballs than Wembley Stadium. T loves a kick around, but as he’s getting older his co-ordination is also improving, meaning that he’s now getting into different sports and activities (and actually being quite good at them!).
HTI Toys
A few weeks ago we were sent the new ‘Fun Sport’ range by HTI Toys to try out in our garden ready for summer, this set included (but is not limited to); a soft cricket bat and ball, a frisbee, a football, a tennis set, and a boom racket set.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I LOVED the Boom Racket when I was a kid and for some reason I’ve never thought about getting another one before this point, so I was over the moon when one appeared in our selection. Not only does it make an incredible sound, but it’s really fun.
Unlike tennis, a boom racket is much more sensitive, meaning it’s so easy to lose a ball over the fence – even with a gentle tap! T found this hilarious and during the afternoon we lost the ball or shuttlecock several times! This is when we swiftly moved onto a game of frisbee!
After recovering our lost balls, we decided to wait for a quiet Sunday afternoon before cracking open the cricket set. Whilst both the bat and ball are quite soft in comparison to a traditional cricket set, I didn’t want to try T with balls and windows. It was definitely one for Sharon to join in with.
So one Sunday afternoon we did just that. We took it in turns and played a decent game of cricket. Because the bat and ball are so light it meant T could join in , and boy did he join in. I’ll put it this way, he most definitely did not inherit his sporting skills from me. This boy can not only throw a good ball, but he can bat one. At this point I was grateful for having a small garden and for deciding not to go to the park to play.
The Fun Sport range is very much your basic collection of garden toys. They do what they say on the packaging and may not last long in the winter (or if your child likes lobbing balls over fences), but because they’re on the more reasonable pricing scale you really don’t mind collecting the whole range. They’re good quality for the price and at three years old T is the perfect age to get into the sports equipment they have on offer.
Over the past few weeks when friends and family have come round to play we’ve enjoyed getting them involved in a few garden games, such as football or tennis, as well as taught T how to play certain sports. I would happily buy the whole set just so T is occupied enough for me to read a chapter, plus, Sharon now has someone to play sports with!
We were sent the ‘Fun Sport’ range by HTI Toys in exchange for an honest review, however all thoughts, opinions, and photos are our own.
Ahh so much fun! I loved those boom bats too. We’re waiting to get an area of our garden fenced off so we can have some lawn to play on. We have the cricket set though, we love it for camping!
Nat.x
Yay. Another boom bat lover. We’re thinking of taking the cricket set with us camping, but I’m thinking we might not have any time.