When I was little my mom was constantly telling me to go outside and play or go outside and get some fresh air. Go play with summer toys outside! I think that was good advice. I actually did a lot of playing outside when I was growing up. I had a couple of friends in the neighborhood and we played games outside just about every day. In fact we very seldom played inside the house. That was actually a treat to get to play inside.

So we had to use our imaginations and come up with games and things to do outside. I used to play “school” and “house” with one of my friends, and with the other friend we played other games, one of them being “Land of the Giants.” I think that was a show that was on then, I may need to do some research on that, I’m just pulling it out of my head right now, but I’m pretty sure it was a show on TV that my friend watched. I may have seen it a few times too. Okay I’m going to go look that info up.

Yep it was a TV show that only lasted 2 seasons from 1968 to 1970. But wait, that can’t be right, certainly I am not that old! Ahem. Never mind about that.

So what are some summer toys that you can send your kids outside to play with, something that will get them away from the computer and the video games. Well, if you don’t have a pool, you can set up a sprinkler or a Slip N Slide type toy outside for them to play with. Those can be extremely fun and on a hot summer day will provide many hours of play. In fact I just looked up this toy online and there are many variations nowadays to choose from. They really look fun.

Other simple but fun toys are things like Frisbees, sidewalk chalk (ask them to create a sidewalk masterpiece), basketballs, horseshoes, and other games. Try it, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much fun your child can have in the big world outside of his or her room!