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Little Tikes Large Slide
by clairesmiffy
We bought one of these for our daughters birthday after seeing and using it at our local mother and toddler group. We have a small garden, but as this is can also be used inside, it is an all year round toy.
It is very sturdy, being made of very chunky plastic, and quite happily takes a combination of many small children and ... toddlers all queuing up the steps to use it! There is a small bump as they hit the ground, making for lots of giggles - it also means you can put a padded mat down for them to land on should you feel the need. As it is all plastic, it is completely wipe clean - my children have made it into a mudslide for action men and barbie dolls, and a quick blast with the hose pipe and its as good as new.
From a safety aspect, there is no faulting this product. It has a safety latch to keep it open and secure when in use, this then unlatches so it can be folded and put away until next time. Just make sure, (as common sense would tell you!) to put it on a flat surface/area of your lawn and there should be no problems, other than getting the kids off it when it's time to come in for tea!!!
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Little Tikes Climb & Slide Castle
by kat1234
In anticipation of some nice weather, we have been collecting a few bits for garden play for my son so we can get out and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. At 14 months, he is still a little young for some toys so we needed to make sure we got things that he could use but, at the same time, we didn't want to spend a fortune on toys ... that he would grow out of quickly. We were lucky enough to receive this Little Tikes Castle Climb n Slide from friend of ours whose children had grown out of it.
THE SLIDE
The slide is suitable for children from 12 months to 4 years and retails at around £50. It is flat packed when new but relatively easy to assemble (about 10 minutes for us but as this was second hand, not sure how much had been left when disassembled!). The main body of the slide is a turret of the castle and made of a cream plastic with a brick pattern. This features a brown plastic platform where the child can stand and look out through the castle. This also has a red plastic steering wheel on the side that can be spun - I assume to pull the drawbridge up and down with.
To climb up the ladder there is a 'rock climb' which is essentially a green plastic ramp with small boulders for hand and foot grips. The slide is red plastic. There is a crawling tunnel in the turret, under the platform that children can climb into and hide or crawl through.
PLAYTIME
At 14 months and just mastering the art of walking and climbing, my son is, as yet, unable to climb the slide himself. He will give it a good go but then become very frustrated, so will always need adult assistance to actually get on slide at the moment. The foot grips do provide some assistance and he does seem to get the idea of these at least. He enjoys standing at the top and spinning the wheel. Again, this needs close supervision as it is a relatively small platform and quite high up for a one year old so any potential falls need to be averted.
He does enjoy being placed on the slide and sliding down although, as he is quite tall for his age, it doesn't seem that the ride lasts long at all - it is quite a short slide. He is also yet to really explore the tunnel in the bottom of the turret but his older friends very much enjoy using this as a hiding place.
MY OPINION
The slide itself is well made and feels very stable on the ground - as a parent I am reassured by this as there is no danger of this being pulled on top of a child. It is sturdy and can support up to three children at a time. I don't really see this lasting my son up to 4 years of age as the slide is so small that I think he will want to move onto bigger, more exciting things by that age.
Like I said earlier, our slide is second hand and had been much used (and loved) by the previous owners. Despite this, it is still in great condition with no pieces missing or cracks etc. It also cleans up really well so it looks almost new.
I like the fact that this, whilst acting primarily as a slide, this also aids imaginative play as children can act as king (or princess) of the castle and stand at the top of the turret to watch out over their grounds. The crawling tunnel is also a nice addition and something else for the children to do, although I do not feel that it adds much to the slide as a toy.
Overall, this is a nice garden slide that doesn't take up too much room. I probably wouldn't have bought this myself as I think that it is quite pricey for what it is and how much use my son will get from it. However, if you can pick it up cheaply I would recommend it as it is well made and seems to weather well. My son also seems to enjoy it too, which is the main thing!
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Little Tikes Large Slide
by Whizz11
A slide is a great addition to a little persons garden and my little girl loves hers. We don't really have room for a swing in our garden so we compromised and bought her a slide instead. This was her favourite thing to do at the local playground and she would literally spend hours going up and down the slide if we let her so we knew she ... would love it and its fun to have one that she can play with whenever she wants.
This slide is from Little Tikes and I've been very impressed with the quality of it so far. The slide is for kids aged 3 plus but I think it depends on how well you think your little one would cope with it. Its quite high as baby slides go, about five foot so if you have a child who is scared of heights I would suggest waiting until they are at least about three but at 2 and a half and as my little girl loves slides and seems to have no fear we thought it would be fine for her and it is.
The slide is made of a thick tough plastic and I find it very sturdy and feel fine with letting my little one climb up and down it. Obviously I've shown her the proper way to use it and I don't let her stand when she gets to the top, nor do I let her climb back up the slide, she must always use the steps but as far as this goes I don't worry about it tipping over or being a problem for her. There are 4 fairly thick and wide steps to climb up and you can hold onto the side of the steps to help you get up so its quite safe in that respect. Then when you actually go down the slide it has quite high sides. Obviously she could still fall over the side but when she puts her bum down there is no fear of her falling out if she just over to the side a bit which is nice and comforting to know. The only thing I don't like is once she gets to the end there is a bit of a drop between the end of the slide and the ground so you get that bit of a bump when you get to the end but after initially not liking this bit my little girl now finds this quite fun and after all, a bump at the end of the slide is something you expect anyway. The slide is nice and smooth so my little girls slides down easily but its not too slick that you go way too fast.
This slide was easy to assemble when we got it and although we leave it put together and store it in our garage you can take it apart to store it fairly easily if you wish. The slide clips into the top of the stairs on either side. There is also a support bar that goes from the steps to the slide portion and that is it, simple yet sturdy and effective. I suppose as this is made of plastic you could leave it out in the garden even if it does rain but like I've said above we like to store it in the garage after use. Its fairly easy to lift although a bit awkward when its up to manoeuvre with just one person.
We got our slide in green and yellow, green steps and a nice bright yellow slide portion. It cost in the £40-50 region if I remember rightly and is a fun addition to our garden.
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