With the massive increase of childhood obesity, it has never been more essential to make sure our youngsters are living happy, active and healthy lives. Before the creation of dedicated kid's TV channels, video games and the internet children would naturally want to play outdoors with friends participating in a diverse energetic games. Unfortunately nowadays motivating a child to play outdoors is be a serious struggle and one that is all to often left too late. As soon as your child is able to toddle they must be shown the joy that can be found through active outdoor play and help to develop healthy habits for the future. It is sad that in today's society a great many parents are worried about children playing outdoors away from home and that many local government recreation parks and play areas have been closed in recent years. The ideal solution in this case is to have outdoor games and play equipment children can use in their own back garden with friends and family.

Traditionally outdoor games consisted of a football or a fishing net and copious amounts of imagination, happily today the outdoor toy industry is massive and the array of options available ensures there is an outdoor toy for everyone. However prior to spending any cash on toys you should try a little history and try to interest children in simple outdoor games from yesteryear such as What Time IS It Mr Wolf, Kick The Can or Rounders all of which require little or no props to play and are definitely active.

If you are looking to purchase a fewtoys to stimulate your child in outdoor play then there are a rangeof superb toys out there to ignite your child's imagination. Sandpits are a superb choice for toddlers children. Once a child can sit unassisted they can enjoy the joy of playing with sand, building sand castles, running it through their hands and toys and developing key motor skills at the same time. Very small children have a penchant to shove everything they grasp in their mouths so good lookout will be crucial until they getout of this practice. Sandboxes have also changed over time from the ubiquitous plastic 'shell' shape popular in the eighties and you can now find a range of alternatives including quality wooden sandboxes, sandpit desks where children can sit on a bench seat to have fun in the sand, and even moveable sandpits that can be kept in the shed or garage when not being used. One thing to bear in mind when buying sand for your sandbox is to purchase specific 'play sand' that has been rinsed and processed to remove staining clay particles and to make it clean and gentle to young skin. The other advantage of buying a wood sandpit is that once the children have outgrown it you can simply pack it with compost and a few flowering plants for a decorative flower bed!

Another newcomer to the UK has been cedar 'Swingsets' or climbing frames from Northern America These amazing swingsets are normally constructed from cedar or redwood wood and range from straightforward swings and slides to multilevel play centres costing thousands of pounds. There are two different kind of wooden playcentre available; boxed or modular. The boxed climbing frames from manufacturers such as Adventure Playsets include everything you need to construct a superb freestanding cedar swingset by yourself in your own back yard. The modular sets from companies such as Backyard Adventures and Rainbow permint the customer to pick component 'modules' that combine to one another to produce a stunning and unique swingset. The difference between the two is quality, (with the modular sets traditionally being constructed from somewhat better lumber) and price with boxed sets costing from two hundred to a several thousand pounds and modular swinsets costing from a several thousand to over 20 thousand pounds. The other main thing is that boxed playcentres are manufactured to be put together by the home owner whereas modular sets are normally installed by professional installation teams approved by the company. With 10 or fifteen year guarantees you can be assured that whichever type you decide on your playset will definitely last beyond your kid's childhood years.

You needn't splurge thousands though to encourage your kids playing in the garden, there are a wide range of games and toys that can do just that for less than a fiver. On a warm day water pistols are a fantastic idea and will have children racing around after each other for the whole day burning off calories and gaining agile and healthy muscles to boot

This is merely the tip of the iceberg with a multitude of other toys to drive your children to play energectically outdoors that we don't have room to talk about. Hopefully though this feature will help to stimulate your interest in getting the kids off the Playstation and into the back yard and help make your child's future much happier and healthier