Mothercare and ELC are both selling the Little Tikes My First Slide for 20% less than RRP at £23.99 right now, but if you've not used the VXXN code yet, you can get it for £19.19. Delivery is available to your local store for free, otherwise you have to add £2.95 to have it shipped to your house.

• Have summer slip sliding fun*

These slides are stupidly exciting to little people, much more so than their plain and rather dull appearance would lead you to believe. I think it's because it's at a height that allows them a sense of control or accomplishment without fear? I don't know the psychobabble too well, but watching my 1 year old and her 18 month friend going down these recently, that's my conclusion.

The fabulous thing about this slide is that it doesn't have to dominate your garden, so your little ones can enjoy a bit of garden equipment, without you having to sacrifice your whole patch of lawn to it.

The handrails on this slide snap into place to give little ones a helping hand,  and the slide folds for easy storage when not in use. It's designed for 'great stability' so it won't topple over, and isn't  really high enough to inflict much damage in a fall.

We've been trying to make our garden more child friendly, and add a few things to it to make it more appealing to little ones than being indoors, and one of the additions to our space this year has been the Chad Valley Inflatable Activity Centre*.

This multi-activity blow up bouncy castle has been a huge hit with both our three year old and our one year old.

The RRP for this activity centre is £32.99, and it's certainly been worth that.

We love the fact that it has three sides to it, making it pretty secure for a little one who is still a bit unstable on her feet on this type of surface. She can fall about without getting injured, so long as she doesn't fall hard, since it's not a huge 'castle' and she could technically fall to the ground, but so far that's not happened yet.

Despite mention of a slide on the Argos website, it doesn't have one, as you can see from the image.

It does, however, have ring toss with three rings on one side, a basket ball hoop up the top on the front, with an inflatable basket ball and an inflatable soccer ball (I think). Additionally there's a boxing punch bag at the back. All these accessories are inflatable.

The description also says that it blows up in five minutes. Perhaps if you have a pump of some description, yes, but it doesn't come with one, and we did it by mouth, so it took a fair bit longer, but we still managed it in one sitting.

All the components are inflatable, and it does retain it's fullness quite well. We don't have to inflate it every day or anything like that, though it does need a top up from time to time.

We've put some flattened boxes underneath the bouncy castle since it lives outside and we're conscious of something puncturing it underneath, and so far so good!

Overall it's a nice bit of fun, it doesn't cost a fortune, the children love it and return to it daily, even if they only play for a few minutes, and it's not a monstrosity that takes over the garden, nor does it require constant air with the sound of a running pump, so in all, perfect for a standard sized garden and two toddlers.

Use this TP Toys promotional code to get 10% off playhouses. A discount is welcome as these are more outdoor play equipment than they are just playhouses. Made of wood, and on stilts, all but one has a slide. The exception is a rather exciting Pirate ship shaped playhouse.

Click here to use your TP Toys promotional code

• Discount: 10%
• Applies to: playhouses
• Promotioanl code: PLAYHOUSES10
• Expiry: 25th April 2013

To use this code go to the My Bag page and enter it in the TP Toys coupon code box. The discount will be applied automatically to your order. If you don't see it, check you put the code in correctly.

One handy thing about playhouses is that they generally have a roof. So in the sort of weather we tend to get in the UK, children can play outside but have somewhere to shelter a little if there's a bit of rain, or it spits rain for a while. Handy when it is warm enough to be outside but still wet. And my spidey sense tells me that might be the case this year!

Thanks to Syzable at HUKD!

Amazon have a half off offer on the Hedstrom 2 in 1 Swing, selling for £25 instead of £49.99. This two in one swing should have a good lot of life in it as it converts from baby to toddler.

• Close out summer with peals of laughter from the 2 in 1 swing

The highly versatile Hedstrom 2in1 swing easily converts from a toddler swing to a junior swing (baby to toddler, same difference, different child). It comes with a high back, chunky seat and a 5-point safety harness for extra comfort and safety.

The junior seat has adjustable ropes and the whole thing has a powder-coated steel extendable frame.  It is apparently also very easy to assemble.  It comes with ground pegs for extra stability, an allan key for assembly, and  a screw pack and instruction sheet to help you with construction.  Assembled size is H182cm W180cm x D154cm.

The age recommendations for this set is from 6 months to 10 years - although I don't know that it's guaranteed for that long .

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

If you're after a slide for your little one then you might want to pop over to Home Bargains and take a peek at this bird slide - it's on sale for £16.99, rather than its full price of £39.99.

• Click HERE to look at the bird slide at Home Bargains

I've yet to meet anyone, young or older, who doesn't love sliding down slides.  Kids love it because it's FUN and I'm sure us grown-ups love it because it reminds us of being children and provides one of the rare opportunities where it's acceptable to squeal, "WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!" in public.

I love the quirky design and look of this bird slide, it's certainly more interesting to look at than the plain and boring varieties.  It's suitable for young sliders aged three years and older, although I'm sure with very careful supervision, younger littlies could have some fun with it too.

If you live close to a Home Bargains then you can go and collect your bird slide for free in-store four days after you've placed and paid for it online.  If you're not local to a store then you'll need to pay around £2.95 for home delivery.

Thanks to BahamaKarma at HUKD 

Tesco are selling this garden basketball set for £9.96 - a bit of a bargain for something that comes with a fair number of benefits, I think!

• Click HERE to take a look at the garden basketball set

For YEARS, my laundry basket perched up on top of the TV cabinet was a basketball hoop before I bought a proper one for the kids when they were small.

It was effective for indoor basketball but not so useful when they wanted to shoot hoops outside in the sunshine during the summer.

This little garden basketball set from Tesco is freestanding, height adjustable and comes with a backboard for bouncing the ball off, a small basketball and a pump to keep it nicely pumped up with.

It's suitable for little ones aged between five and eight-years-old, although I'm sure the recommended age police aren't going to come banging on your door if you let a younger child play with it!

The benefits I eluded to earlier?  Well, getting out to play in the garden (fresh air and stocking up on a bit of Vitamin D - don't forget sunscreen if the sun has made a welcome return) and the development of hand-eye coordination; marvellous.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Sainsbury's are selling this wooden sand and water table for £63.74 - its proper full price is/was £84.99

• Click HERE to take a look at the wooden sand and water table

What IS it about sand and water tables that make them so popular?!  When all of my children were at their respective creches and nursery schools, every single child rushed to the sand and water tables the moment they were unleashed and available for play!

Now, you're going to have to put your Bob the Builder hat on first, your wooden sand and water table needs putting together and will take you about an hour.

It comes with a liner suitable for both sand and water play and is suitable for littlies who are 18 months or older.  The corners have all been rounded off for safety and when it's all together it will measure L1.21 x W0.89 x H0.51m.

You'll have to buy the sand separately, as that's not included, neither is the water for that matter! HA!  You can't collect this in-store, but delivery is free and will only take between three and five days to arrive - just remember we have Jubilee bank holidays coming up, so you'll have to count the delivery days as of Wednesday when some sense of normality resumes!

Happy sand castle building and water splashing  

Argos on eBay are selling this Chad Valley Inflatable Water Slide for £3.49; if you're looking for some cheap summer fun for the kids then this might just fit the bill.

• Click HERE to take a look at this Chad Valley Inflatable Water Slide

I loved playing in the water in the garden as a kid, it was just too much fun.  I can only imagine our neighbours on either side (who were elderly) must have dreaded the hot summer weekends, because playing running through the sprinkler or running away from the hosepipe or water bombs inevitably meant LOTS of squealing.

There'll be none of that where I live this summer - not because I don't run through the garden sprinkler any more (there's a mental image for you first thing on a Monday morning!) but because there is a hosepipe ban in FULL effect in my little part of the country.

If you happen to live in a non-drought area though then your kiddies can enjoy the rush of sliding along all four meters of this Chad Valley Inflatable Water Slide without you having to sloosh them down it with a bucket of water each time - although you could, if you were feeling particularly H2o conscious.

Obviously as this is Argos on eBay you can't arrange to go and collect your Chad Valley Inflatable Water slide for free in-store, BUT it will be delivered straight to your door for just an additional 99 pence - you can't say fairer than that!

Thanks to lucersymum at HUKD

Lynley and I have written about this garden swing and glider set for the last few summers now.  Well, it's back in stock again and at another really good price, £34.86.  If you have enough Tesco ClubCard vouchers you still need to use then you can reduce the price even more, if you double up your vouchers as part of the ClubCard event.

• Click HERE to take a look at the garden swing and slider set

I don't know if it's just me, but do you feel you spend most of your life, and money for that matter, in your supermarket of choice?!  I do, Tesco is 'my' supermarket and it feels like I'm spending more and more time there online too - it's just not right *grin*

Anyway, this garden swing and glider set - now, it's quite big so you're going to need more than a postage sized garden to house it in; it's an enormous three metres wide which will be about the same size as the grins on little faces whilst they're playing on it.

It comes in bits so you'll need to get your tools out when  you get home to put it together, think of it as a warm-up for all the pushing you're going to be doing once it's ready to be played on!

You can choose in-store collection for free, or you can pay Tesco's new £3 standard delivery fee and have it dropped right to your front door - the choice is yours.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

A bargain’s always a good thing, but a sale on top of a bargain is a serious double bonus and worth looking into at least. At Mothercare at the moment, there’s 3 for 2 on a selected range of outdoor and sports toys, some of which are discounted too.

• Set the garden up for summer (hopefully)

I really want a sand and water table for my daughter. She has so much fun with it at a friend’s house, and it keeps them busy for at least the length of a hot cuppa.

So the red and pink sand and water tables are currently reduced from £45 to £36.  If you’re going big the Jump and Slide bouncy castle is reduced from £299.99 to £199.99 and the Fish and Count game has £1 off.

You also have the 3 for 2 offer, so you could buy the three images above: the water table for £36, the Bounce Zone for £45 and the Pop Up Tunnel and Tents for free – a saving of £30 (plus the £9 from the water table) and a spend of £81.

Not too shabby at all.  And hopefully there’ll be enough sun this year to make it worth it!

Thanks to missgem at HUKD

Now before you think I'm nuts, these pools make good ball pools too. Plus you could buy in advance to use for next summer! Tesco has reduced the price of the Disney Princess Pop Up Pool from £25 to £6.25. Delivery is free if you can collect from the store.

• Click here for your Disney Princess Pop Up Pool at Tesco

Another potential use for the pool is to fill it with sand. Although, like the water, that's more of an outdoor activity. If you are going to buy one of these to store away for next summer (always a good idea, plus you'll be prepared if we get an unexpected heat wave in Spring like we did this year. Sigh, that seems forever ago now) you'll be pleased to know that it comes with a 50+ UPF sunshade.

As already suggested, you can use water, play balls or sand in this pop-up pool for lots of splashy, sandy fun. According to the manufacturer, it is quick and easy to set up. The pool also comes complete with a handy storage bag, so you can take the cool Disney Princesses Pop-up Pool where ever you go. Could make an ideal toy for garden time when you go to stay at the grandparents.

Thanks to cameronjac at HUKD!

Toys R Us have taken £10 off the price of this Sizzlin' Cool Jumbo Ball Den, making it £19.99 instead of £29.99

• Click HERE to go over to Toys R Us

Kids and ball pits/ball dens/call them what you will, go together like strawberries and cream, night and day, black and white; I don't think I've ever come across a child who doesn't like messing around in a huge pile of plastic balls.

This Sizzlin' Cool jumbo ball den is a brightly coloured six-sided ball tent that's suitable for little kids aged six months and over.

It has see-through mesh sides so you can keep an eye on your little one(s) whilst their messing around inside, and there are two circular entry/exit holes on the two of the sides.

Here's what an existing owner has to say about their Sizzlin' Cool jumbo ball den - I've posted the comment in its entirety as I think it's very helpful...

"I can't emphasise how much i love this product enough. i have been searching for a ball pit for my one year old and i must say that this ticked all the boxes.

Its design is pretty and the best part of it is the size as i can fit in there with my LO and I'm sure my husband too if he tried.. She is still really young to appreciate this ball den but i'm pretty sure she will grow to love it more.

At the moment she loves playing with the balls when she's in it and i also put some of her favorite toys and she can sit there for hours. I would totally recommend this to anyone as it is good quality and well worth the price."

So there you go, praise indeed for the Sizzlin' Cool jumbo ball den.

The only thing missing is the balls - you have to buy those separately, so look out for deals on those!

I'm getting rather fond of Bargain Crazy - they're throwing some really good deals out there for you guys!

This Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit is guaranteed to be a hit with any young Thomas fan.

• Click HERE to go over to Bargain Crazy

My days of buying anything Thomas the Tank Engine are over, unless a friend or family member has a baby boy, as both my boys are now too old for Thomas.

But back in their Thomas days I KNOW they would have lived in this Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit; they would have wanted to eat in it and, probably, sleep in it.

The original price for this Thomas ball pit was £42.99 which, to my mind, is h u g e l y expensive.  But £9.99?  Well THAT'S more like it!

It doesn't come with any balls (but they're not hard to find and we often have deals on ball pit ball packs) and the official blurb does say you can fill Thomas with water and use him as a paddling pool too.

Either way, the Thomas the Tank Engine ball pit can be used both indoors and outside, if the Great British summer isn't letting everyone down (I'm out of the country at the moment, so I have NO clue what the weather's like back in Blighty - here's hoping it's sunny for you guys!).

Happy Splashing or 'Ball Pitting'!

Tesco Direct are selling this Aeroplane Ball Pit for £3.98 instead of £4.90; yes I know it's only a pound off but, let's face it, even the full price isn't going to break the bank.

• Click HERE to fly over to Tesco Direct

Not only that, the other ball pits on the Tesco Direct website are around the £15 mark, so this is a nice little price for a little ball pit.

Let me see what I can tell you about it, not much that you won't be able to figure out for yourself.

Here we have a little inflatable pit in the shape of an aeroplane.

You’ll need to inflate it yourself  - you choose to do this with an appropriate pump (no nipping off to your local petrol station and using the air line!) or using your own lung power.

When that's done, you can fill the inflated aeroplane with colourful, round plastic balls.  If you really want to ring the changes and detour away from the manufacturers intended use, you could always fill it with water to create a little splashing pool.

OK, so I'm hamming things up a bit but, seriously, how much can you say about an Aeroplane ball pit?

I've scooted through all the reviews and trawled around the Tesco site, but I can’t find ANY information anywhere to suggest whether the Aeroplane ball pit comes complete with plastic balls or not – hopefully it’ll be clear on the box, so when you collect it from your local Tesco (as there’s NO point paying £5 for home delivery) you can pick up some balls if not.

The age range for the Aeroplane ball pit is 2 years onwards; not sure why not younger than 2 years old, I can’t see any small parts or reason why younger littlies couldn’t enjoy this too.

Thanks to andywedge at HUKD

Toys R Us are selling this Brecon metal swing and glider set for just £29.99 instead of £59.99 AND there's 20% off at Toys R Us this weekend too.

• Click HERE to swing over to Toys R Us

This marvellous garden playcentre includes two swings and a glider and comes with ground pegs for extra support.

My cousins had one of these years and YEARS ago when we were all small and WOW! did I love playing on it, and did at every given opportunity.

It's funny, the summer holidays seemed to consist of endless sunny days and went on forever.

I know the weather's been rubbish of late, but next week looks set to be much better so this is an ideal time to grab some outdoor play equipment.

This swing and glider set is bound to bring hours and hours of joy and outdoor happiness to all involved - you, as it'll get your kids out of the house and active in the garden and them as it's just TOO much fun having a swing in your back garden.

There's a 20% off event running this weekend at Toys R Us too, which will bring the price down to £24.01...or at least it should do.

Thanks to maddie_moo at HUKD

Argos have a great deal on this outdoor wooden baby swing; it’s original price was £79.99 but now you can snap one up for £49.99.

• Click HERE to swing on over to Argos

Obviously when I say wooden baby swing I don't mean this is a swing for wooden babies, that would be a bit weird!

I had one of these swings 16 years ago when my eldest was tiny – except our swing seat (which was exactly the same) was hung from one of the mature trees in the garden.

It’s a universally accepted fact that everyone likes to swing no matter how old or young they are and babies find swinging particularly soothing, I've got a picture of my daughter looking very sleepy in it when she was nine months old too; both of them loved the tree swing.

This outdoor baby swing comes with a very sturdy wooden frame so you don't need to worry about finding a handy tree to hang it from; the timber is FSC certified (so is from a sustainable source) and comes with a five year manufacturer’s warranty against wood rot and insect damage.

The maximum user weight  for the outdoor baby swing is 25kgs and it’s assembled dimensions are L120 x W104 x H124cm; you should also allow about a 2m perimeter around it too, just to make sure everyone stays safe.

You can't collect this from an Argos store - probably because it's heavy - but home delivery will only take up to seven days and cost you between £5.95 or £8.95 if Argos class it as a large item (I can't find anything to say whether they do or not).

Thanks to bobthomas at HUKD

Toys R Us are selling this Holiday House for half price - £49.99 instead of £99.99.

• Click HERE to go over to Toys R Us

Playhouses are always going to be firm favourites with kids and in my experience they cross the gender divide, boys and girls love playing in them with equal gusto!

When my youngest was two, or so, we used to walk a few metres down the lane to the little village pocket park.  They had a little holiday house there and he would spend HOURS playing in there - opening the door and going in, playing BOO! through the windows and collapsing in hysterics every time.

It was his 5th birthday on Sunday and we threw him a 'birthday party in the park' - there was a bouncy castle, football, rounders, frisby and all of the big wooden adventure trail equipment to play on.

Where did most of the kids gravitate to? Yup, the now tired looking plastic holiday house!

This holiday house is suitable for little kiddies aged two years and over.  It has an opening front door, two open windows and measures 99 x 118 x 117 cm.

If you live in Southern Ireland then I'm afraid Toys R Us won't deliver to you (don't know why!) otherwise delivery is an option; although you'll need to spend a penny more to qualify for free delivery - standard delivery is £4.95.

OR you can click and reserve your holiday house and go and pick it up yourself for free.

Thanks to amibees at HUKD

Argos are selling this Spiderman Play Tent for half the retail price, £7.49 instead of £14.99

• Click HERE to web-sling your way over to Argos

I remember watching the Spiderman cartoons as a kid, I wasn't overly fussed with him then but when the first movie, with Toby Maguire, was released I changed my mind; that Spider suit did wonders for the imagination!

Playing in tents also seems to fire up kids imaginations, there's just something about climbing inside a tent and pretending 'stuff'.

You could be camping on the side of Mount Everest, in the deepest darkest most dangerous jungle or hiding from the bad guys in your Spiderman tent, all from the comfort and safety of your house or garden.

It's suitable for young superheroes aged three years and older and the dimensions are: Size (H)76.2, (W)76.2, (D)91cm.

From looking at the pictures, and reading the reviews, it seems it just pops up and folds away when it's not being used. The other thing I discovered from reading through the things other people have said about it, is there's no groundsheet - some people seemed a little disappointed by this.

In my experience kids don't care about such trivial matters; they'll be too busy conjuring up amazing games and role-play scenarios in their Spiderman play tent to worry about a groundsheet, or lack thereof!

Thanks to dobson64 at HUKD

Argos are selling this Chad Valley round sandpit - sans sand - for £23.29 instead of £34.99, saving you a third.

• Click HERE to go to Argos

I think playing in sand is one of those childhood things you never grow out of; it doesn't matter whether it's messing around with sand on the beach or digging around in a sandpit, I still love it.

The Chad Valley round sandpit comes with a ground sheet, a cover sheet (very important) and six modular pieces which fit together.

Each section has a compartment that you can fill up with water or use to store sandpit toys.

It's suitable for young sand diggers aged 18 months or over and it will take about 3kgs of sand to fill it - Argos are selling 15kg bags of play sand for £2.99.

The other good thing, I think, about this Chad Valley round sandpit is it's size, it's big enough for littlies to have fun playing in but isn't so huge it'll dominate your garden.  It's 141cms in diameter and just 18cms deep.

You can arrange to have your Chad Valley round sandpit delivered to your home for £5.95, or you can save yourself some cash and reserve and collect in-store instead.

Thanks to lottysdad08 at HUKD

QUICK! Argos are selling this 8ft Quick Up pool for half price, £17.49 instead of £34.99.

• Click HERE to splash on over to Argos

WHEN the summer decides to show itself again and stick around for more than a couple of weeks, your kids will love having one of these in the garden to splash around in.

The official blurb says it takes approximately seven minutes to inflate.  I can buy into that but I don't believe for a minute that it'll only take 16 minutes to fill it up - maybe if you have a friendly fireman who'll come round and fill it for you with his high-powered hose, otherwise I rather think you'll be in for the long haul.

I base this on my own experience with a 12ft Quick Up pool, that big boy took FOREVER to fill up.

The 8ft Quick Up pool holds 2,300 litres of water, comes with a repair patch and a UK helpline number: 0800 612 0457.  This made me laugh - you can imagine the calls that go through to that line can't you...

"Hello, I 've bought an 8ft Quick Up pool."

"Excellent; how may I help you?"

"What do I do now?"

"Umm...inflate then fill it up with water?!"

I would also suggest getting a cover for it too a) to keep any heat in and b) to keep flies and mossies out and to keep the water from going green and skanky - it's amazing how quickly that happens!

Thanks to nicster08 at HUKD