My 18 month old loves a slide we got as a second hand. This one he can walk up 2 steps, turn and go down the slide himself. We have a fold up Step 2 or Little Tikes slide, but it isn't as good because he can't go up it himself and its too steep.

He also loves his step 2 car that we push around the neighborhood - it has a parent handle. We also hung a swing on our front porch, it isn't as popular now but when he was a little younger he loved it. The water table he is starting to get into now.

Little Tykes red car

For paved areas - bucket or cup of water and paintbrush for painting the sidewalk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:jarts

HA! A lot of people on this thread probably don't even remember those.

I do because my DH threw a jart that hit his grandma in the head.

A tag on question to this thread ... any ideas for outdoor space that is lacking grass? We have an enclosed large patio with a parking space and then just flagstone path with mulch and shrubs. My 15month olds also love being outside and we are having safety fencing put in so they don't fall under the house but it still seems like an unforgiving surface for play.

Has anyone put down outdoor mats etc. to make a patio more kid friendly?

Buckets and/or cups of different sizes. My daughter is 3 and still can spend oodles of time pouring water from one cup to another to the furtherance of some game/project in her head.

Water table for sure.

balls are our #1 toy by far in the yard.

also - bucket, toy wheelbarrow, water table, inflatable pool, broom (my kid likes to clean), chalk. He likes to help with whatever I do - so he'll dig in the garden with me. He also likes to pick all of the dandelions in the yard and pick up the sticks that fell from the trees & put them in the yard trim bin.

Anonymous wrote:jarts

HA! A lot of people on this thread probably don't even remember those.

http://www.costco.com/Step2-Sail-Away-Adventure-Sand-%2526-Water-Table.product.100153175.html

Enjoying the second year with this already. We have never used sand, just water.

At that age I would bring a bunch of tupperware or pots outside, fill some with water, put a small cup or shovel in it and let her play. When all the water was gone I'd add more. If we didn't have such a mosquito problem we could have killed LOTS of time that way.

balls ours also loves the water table and yes he goes bonkers when we bring him in again.

make giant bubbles, big wheel, bike without peddles, sandbox, rainbow play system. sprinkler, earth ball

jarts

water tables are great at this age as we trucks to push around and things like toy lawn mowers. i have 2 boys though and at the end of they day they still gravitate towards sticks and rocks.

Our 15 month old DD LOVES LOVES LOVES to be outside, but we don't have anything in our back yard, so she spends her time toddling with pointy sticks or finding broken flower pots. It's time to invest in some outdoor toys - what did your toddler really like or not so much? Those little slides? Are water tables/toys too much of a pain (since she'll inevitably be out for a few minutes right before we need to leave for daycare, for example)? Play houses?