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Have you got a trampoline for your kids? Gardens with kids (middle class ones anyway) seem incomplete without one these days so do I need to get one for my 4 year old son? My wife thinks so but I think a decent climbing frame would be a better long-term bet as my son loves climbing - he does like going on his friends' trampolines though. If my wife had her way the back garden would be a fully kitted out play ground but I like the garden to mostly look like a garden. What's the answer? Seems to me that kids have a lot more these days than back in my day when I was mostly happy with my bike and lego - plus the odd tree to climb up. So partly I'm concerned about him being spoilt by having too much stuff - he already has the biggest room in the house as a play room stuffed with toys.
Get the trampoline. They'll play for hours on one.
Make sure you get one of the safety nets unless you enjoy frequent trips to A&E with your and other people's children.
they'll grow out of a climbing frame - my 12 year old still uses the trampoline we bought 7 years ago.
Yes and they do love it. Definitely money well spent for us. My son's six and still loves playing on it.
he already has the biggest room in the house as a play room stuffed with toys.
I think you should target that rather than the trampoline - it's outdoors and it's exercise - to me that's a double plus more than being something spoiling them.
We have a huge climbing frame, and a huge trampoline... The trampoline is used at least three times as much as the climbing frame... But my kids (4 and 5 year old girls) use both... a lot! And the wife uses the trampoline after a few beers 🙂
Would not have got either with out ebay though...
My boys were playing on ours when I left for work this morning.
Put a grumpy child on a trampoline and they'll be laughing within seconds. The change is hilarious to watch.
Kids love them and they are great as an adult too – certainly helps with your core muscles doing all the silly jumps and stuff.
Also brilliant as a giant canvas for chalk drawings which will wash off with a light shower/hose.
You will get a patch of bare grass underneath unless you keep moving it though.
It's worth noting that they're really comfortable for lying on like a huge sun lounger 🙂
Get the trampoline, the bigger the better. It's easily the best vfm thing in our garden, and healthy too.
Ours was cheap as chips SH which helps, but I'd have bought new quite happily. I'd have loved one as a kid but they just weren't around then.
Putting 4 or 5 kids around 6-7 year old on it then catapulting them into the aitr is good excercise too!
As above, I'd second the sun lounger/ chalkboard versatility. It sees a fair bit of use as a mini theatre too 🙂
Plus one for nemesis, just got in off our after a small kip:)
Yep get one, we did and the kids love it. Get the largest you can afford or fit (unobtrusively) in the garden. I think the most we've had in ours (10 ft) so far is 9, from 2 years to 17.
Edit: And as above, it's fresh air and exercise, what's not to like! (Neighbours might disagree).
Edit 2: As for the rest of the garden I just cleared a corner of ours that had large rocks randomly dispersed (not quite a rockery) and piled them all up. 5 minutes after I finished piling them up it was covered in cars and action figures (2 boys, aged 3 and 4) - plenty of 'natural' things for them to do in a garden.
Make sure you get the safety net. My lads mates were round the other week, and one didn't understand why I insisted he zip it up once he'd got on, as his parents didn't bother.
"You remember the time you broke your arm?"
"Yeah"
"And your brother broke his ankle?"
"Er, yeah"
"And your sisters mate broke her wrist....?"
"Ok, I'll zip it up... "
I got a free 10ft one in the winter storms; it appeared in my garden one night.
Maybe in winter it'll move on but my kids adore it.
Apparentlty yes! Then you can make yourself one of these and get those indian airs dialled:
http://www.bmx-forum.com/t/72416/howto-make-a-trampoline-bike
The 12ft trampoline that's here is hammered regularly by children and adults alike. We have such a laugh on ours.
I got a free 10ft one in the winter storms; it appeared in my garden one night.
Maybe in winter it'll move on but my kids adore it.
The same storms provided me with the most random conversation ever with my neighbour. He knocked on my door and asked "have you seen the cow on the trampoline?"
Sure enough a massive trampoline had blown into the farmers field next to us and there was indeed a cow on it!
I have thankfully just got rid of a really big rectangular monstrosity that took up about a 5th of my garden, put some plants in & I'm trying to seed what's left of the grass, all is well in my life again 😉
Oh, & I went the opposite way on the net, when they get to 8 or 10 stone ( no aspersions as they are 15 & 17) then no net is going to stop them having an accident so I took it away to make them aware of the risk.
Cheers.
Apparently they account for a large proportion of kids broken arms\legs in A&E
In other news going outside can.be dangerous. Get one they are ace fun. My boys love it (3&4)
We splashed out about £500 on a decent one 4 years ago.
I was worried the novelty would wear off after 6 months, but they still use it almost daily.
Without doubt the best value thing we've ever bought our kids.
The climbing frame, on the other hand,.......
yes
We had a good climbing frame - sold it for a fortune on ebay and got a trampoline. Eventually sold it when the youngest went to Uni (again via ebay). We never had a net - not sure why not since we were regulars at A&E. Great fun, many many hours spent on it. In terms of hours spent vs cost probably the best thing we bought for our two.
We have a garden that looks like a play ground. Boy2 has grown out of it all except the trampoline. The trampoline was the best value for money by a long shot. It's time to start claiming our garden back, so the big swing frame and the climbing frame and slide are going.
We bought TP kit so it has lasted, by comparison next door have bought 3 cheap nasty trampolines in the same time scale as our 1 TP. So you do get what you pay for.
They are fantastic for practising snowboarding jumps and being comfortable in the air in the off season
Has anyone got any recommendations?
Does this look any good? [url= http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3683596.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:12414481710|tsid:41361|cid:166583670|lid:47690727990|nw:g|crid:33457900830|rnd:5388089097004099825|dvc:c|adp:1o2 ]Tramp link[/url]
Mrs Natrix thinks that they look ugly so our children have to do without. I did offer to sink it in a pit in the garden so that we wouldn't need a net, but that didn't get SWMBO approval..........
Neilforrow.
Try this: [url= http://www.activitytoysdirect.com/tp-toys.asp?categoryid=5 ]RECOMMEND WHAT YOU HAVE!!![/url]
Try this: http://www.jumpking.co.uk/product-GB.asp?id=1000
Our still looks very presentable after several years (we replaced a torn net last year).
trampolines are ace. Our two play on it every day.
harry_the_spider won't get one for his kids, the big grump.
We got a TP trampeaze or something, was half price at the time direct from TP.
As others have said ours is ugly and PITA the mow the (now mossy) lawn underneath but the kids love it. No major injuries yet but could easily happen, such is life. Spent about 3 times as much as the trampoline on a wendy house on stilts and it gets about 10% as much use. Sand pit doesn't get much of a look in either......
Looks like a trampoline is the best garden option then, just have to persuade my wife that son can't have a house, climbing frame and slide as well. Will have to do some digging as garden is on a slope.
Not sure how much to think about the A&E thing:
I dont have kids but a house a few doors down the street has one and it seems every kid in the neighbourhood plays on it.
Whilst children's laughter is to be commended, please, please, please oil the blinking thing.
For the last month every night till 9 all you hear is laughter(good) and an incessant squeeking (not so fun).
They are brilliant, hours of entertainment for the kids and me 😆
[i]middle class ones anyway[/i]
I took exception to this comment, so went to a Google Earth image of a random area of my local council estate
Middle class my arse
[img] 
[/img]
They pay for themselves fairly quickly, you get £250 off Harry Hill for each video of someone launching into the shrubbery*
*launching into the shrubbery isn't a euphemism (in this case)
[i]Middle class my arse[/i]
Spotters guide;
1) the middle class ones have nets to prevent Tarquin injuring himself.
2) council estates don't and rely on the NHS and, in the case of a bad accident, having spare children.
(please note: this is not a serious post)
middle class ones anyway
I don't know any working class people so my comment was based on my experience.
Fair enough mudshark. They're not worth knowing anyway.
(note: same as wwaswas)
We've been advised to avoid the spring free system as the platform effectively rotates under compression and can cause knee injury.
I've just sunk one into our lawn, no need for the net now and it looks great. Though digging out the pit was a fair bit of graft.
Kids and parents love it.
Top tip about the chalk, will have to get some.
How big is this pit? I got fed up digging a hole for my green cone food digester thing.
Would have thought a net still sensible though.
3m diameter, about 700mm deep, slightly raised mound around the outside, the wife says it looks like something from the Teletubbies!
There is still a risk of injury, however the jumping surface is now level with the grass surroundings. The netting would mean no running jumps and no ideas of clearing the trampoline on the BMX, suspect my son will beat me to this feat 😉
As there are plenty of trees to fall out of in the garden we think the lack of netting is a minimal risk given the amount of fun it has provided, it's reduced the tree climbing time as well.
3m diameter, about 700mm deep
No need for all that work, all you need is a post hole borer and to sink each leg of the trampoline into the ground until the rim sits on the surface.
That's what I did....it had the added bonus that once I'd finished making it into a safe environment we didn't get all the neighbours' children playing on it any more 😉
Nice and firm that option Wombat, surely you earned money from Harry Hill with the confused expressions of the kids...
3m diameter, about 700mm deep
Good job!
No need for all that work, all you need is a post hole borer and to sink each leg of the trampoline into the ground until the rim sits on the surface.
Well surely you need quite a large gap underneath as the surface of the trampolene must come down quite a bit when jumped on?!
When we decided to get a bigger trampoline I did away with the digging entirely by simply attaching the disc of mesh directly to the lawn with tent pegs through the metal loops...don't think anyone noticed 8)
twistedpencil - MemberNice and firm that option Wombat, surely you earned money from Harry Hill with the confused expressions of the kids...
The upgrade was financed entirely by Mr Hill's excellent programme
[i]Well surely you need quite a large gap underneath as the surface of the trampolene must come down quite a bit when jumped on?! [/i]
*whooosh*
wwaswas - MemberWell surely you need quite a large gap underneath as the surface of the trampolene must come down quite a bit when jumped on?!
*whooosh*
Beat me to it...
thought I was missing something clever, never mind...
[i]thought I was missing something clever[/i]
this [i]is[/i] stw, lower your expectations 🙂
Unfortunately the digging is required for a functional trampoline at ground level, don't forget vent pipe to allow the air to escape during use, otherwise the padding tries to take off...
don't forget vent pipe to allow the air to escape during use,
The chap next door forgot about this, his greenhouse nearly exploded with the back pressure, fortunately for him he got away with just a couple of cracked panes....lucky the door was open and this allowed the pressures to equalise without serious damage
EDIT Although it was very funny watching all the worms and moles being fired into the air out of their tunnels when "Large Mavis" from number 37 had a go on it 😆
If anyone wants a 10' TP trampoline FREE gratis you are welcome to it. Our kids have gone and I've put a greenhouse for Mrs TMS in its place.
Good condition, no net or pads but these asre widely available.
Collect from Edinburgh or arrange your own courier.
TMS