7 Awesome Open Ended Outdoor Toys

Our kids have a selection of commercially made outdoor toys. They ride bikes, play cricket and throw balls. They have a trampoline and a swing set. They have garden tools, and the toddler even has a hideously noisy lawnmower toy.

They love all those things but the toys that keep them outside for long periods, engrossed in their play, are the open ended outdoor toys that encourage their imagination. Some of them would not even really be considered toys, more un-toys!

Most of these were either free, recycled or really, really cheap. Isn’t it funny how it is the inexpensive play things that are often the best?

7 Best Open Ended Outdoor Toys

7 Awesome Open Ended Outdoor Toys

outdoor play - choosing outside toys

1. Logs and Planks
One of the best things about having to heat our house with wood is that we have an endless supply of stumps and logs. We rolled a few of the biggest logs into our backyard when we first moved here about eight years ago and they are still one of the most played with items. 

Over the years we have added a few longer logs and some wide planks of wood into the mix which makes for endless combinations and options for play.

They have become tables, chairs, a creative canvas, a place to practice hammering nails, a climbing frame, a test of balance, even a cubby house!

If you are not lucky enough to have lumps of wood delivered to your door, keep your eye out for people removing trees. Often council workers removing street trees are more than happy to load a few stumps into your boot to take home.

outside toys from recycled materials

2. Recycled Containers

Toy buckets never seem to last long at our house. They quickly become brittle when left in the sun, then the handles break or the buckets crack. So I’ve given up on buying official ‘sand pit toys’ and our sandpit is now stocked with containers from the recycle bin and pots and pans from the op shop (thrift store).

Large food grade buckets are great for transporting water, making huge sand castles or storing other items, and are often given away by food-related businesses. Our local ice cream shop periodically has a pile of ten litre buckets to give away.

Smaller containers are also loads of fun – ice cream tubs, yoghurt containers, oddly shaped plastic packaging – all of these items make their way to our outside toy box. And when they break they can go straight back into the recycling bin.

3. Pots and Pans

The op shop (thrift store) is a great place to find old pots and pans for the sandpit or your mud kitchen but also keep your eye out for sieves, wooden spoons, wooden bowls, trays, old fashioned hand beaters, ice cream scoops and other interesting items.

4. Loose Parts
We adore playing with loose parts inside and they are just as much fun outside as they are inside. Some of our favourite items include;

  • pine cones,
  • gum nuts,
  • sticks,
  • stones,
  • off cuts of plastic pipe,
  • old sheets or lengths of fabric, and
  • smaller off cuts of wood.

outside toys for preschoolers

5. Water
I can collect a pile of the most interesting recycled items to play with but what really sparks my children’s imaginations is water and sand. In fact, mixing the two together for some mud play is the ultimate in open ended outdoor toys in the opinion of my children!

Water is precious where we live so our kids don’t have access to endless amounts of it outside. We use a recycled, 10 litre drinking water container with an easy to use tap and the kids know they only get two fillings of the water container per water play session. In this way they have learned to value water, even in their play.

6. Sand/Dirt
We have a large homemade sandpit and it is one of the few places where all of our kids enjoy playing, regardless of age. The toddler is all about digging his hand into the sand, while the five year old is trying to dig to the lava underground and the nine year olds are making elaborate tunnels and castles for their fairies.

Even if you don’t have space for a big sand pit, perhaps you have space for a clam shell sand tub? Or even a small tub of sand? Or how about a digging patch? A little corner of the garden where your kids are free to dig and get dirty is a magical place.

7. Kid Friendly Plants
Our children will spend hours outside making ‘potions’. We’ve purposely planted lots of kid friendly plants (find our suggestions for Plants That Are Perfect for Play here) that can be picked and picked and picked and still not die. We’ve included plants with all sorts of interesting flowers, scents and leaves.

Continue your play outdoors with these fun articles;

20 Comments

  1. playmates. I remember an old Richie Rich comic (remember him or else I;m dating myself) He was fabulously wealthy and in one episode his mother was wearing herself out trying to find him the best and most fun toys to play with. He finally perked up when his friends came over

    1. Oh I remember that cartoon!!!
      And you are so right… I often forget that because with four kids my lot almost always have someone to play with. 🙂

  2. This is wonderful! Sticks, rocks and mud are my boys’ current faves. Great tip about using recycled containers over traditional plastic buckets. Not only is it cheaper, but the kids think it’s super cool to be using something something that mom uses. 🙂

    1. an you can get some really cool shaped and sized containers too!

  3. Stephanie says:

    Last summer my sons were picking dandelions and their leaves and grinding them up with big rocks then adding water to make yellow and green “paint” to paint our rock wall with. They got several neighbor kids involved and must have spent 3 hours just doing that.

    Rocks and sticks are the big things around here. All sizes, all types. Oh, and they took apart some of my PVC pipe agility jumps and played “spy”- they made weapons and shields and telescopes and “trumpets” (for alerting). It was hilarious.

    1. Oh I was thinking of getting my big boy a whole lot of PVC pipes and connectors for his 6th birthday… sounds like I should!

  4. Anna Donald says:

    My garden pots have become a favourite….helmets, shells to be turtles, targets for throwing balls into… Even planting mandarin pips in…

    A stick, though occasionally used for hitting is also a horse, sword, walking stick, planting cuttings, poking stick and the occasional fake fire. My kids even bring sticks to me in heir mouths and play fetch like a dog.

    A sheet has become a tent, lake, and even a screen for shadow play in the late summer afternoon.

  5. My kids love taking a little plastic container with a lid and a pair of big plastic tweezers so they can collect plant specimens on our walks!

    1. ooh that is a great idea! Must keep my eye out for some of those tweezers!

  6. Made by Joel has a sweet little collection pouch you can hand-sew without too much fuss for your kiddo’s walk trophies.

  7. Wonderful post Kate…I hope it inspires many to think a little outside the box and use some ‘untoys’ too. We use many of the things you mentioned too…so much opportunity for exploration! Already pinned!

  8. Oh I remember making potions! And also ‘soups’ for out lost-on-a-desert-island games 🙂 My daughter does a lot of potion making, here and with her cousins, I think it’s one of their favourite games. I am going to go look at the list of good plants for play next, because we are planning to ‘refurbish’ our sandpit and backyard play space this winter (ie we are going to fence it off from the dog!). We always have mint and parsley but I’ll be interested to see what else you suggest.

    As for my son, sticks of any kind keep him happy. Sticks for making into bow & arrows, sticks for sharpening, sticks for making spears (is there a theme here? He’s 11…), but also sticks for digging, making fences and making cubbies.

    One of the best outdoor play “untoys” we ever got them was a huge pile of mulch when we had an overgrown hedge of trees massively pruned. We thought we were going to use the chipped wood for mulch. Turns out it makes an awesome fort!

    1. ooh I remember playing on a pile of wood chips when I was a kid! So much fun!

  9. There is nothing better than getting lost in the power of imagination and play outdoors. This was a great post!

  10. Mud is our favorite! Thanks for sharing. I would love for you to link this up at Mom’s Library!

  11. Jackie Perrone says:

    Our children spent all their allowances at the Putt-Putt Golf Course before they figured out it is more fun to build one. A vacant lot, trowels and rakes – endless hours constructing ramps, holes, bridges, tunnels, etc etc…

    1. oooh a home made mini golf course! That is the coolest idea ever!!!

  12. Great post! Our kids favorite non-toys are the big trees in our yard, a pile of larger rocks, an old stone lamppost, our porch railing (they literally love to hang from it, climb on it, etc.)dirt, gravel, and sand. We also have an old swingset, but even the youngest are rapidly outgrowing it. We’re thinking of building a new one, but after reading this post, we may just let them enjoy the things they already play with outdoors. 🙂

  13. Toby Smith says:

    Encourage the kids to create their own toys, and guide them to do.Using the readily available toys just makes the kids mere0

  14. Very clever and educational! Your kids’ recycled toys are a great idea and a good way to show them how creative they can be by using simple things to play. My girls love creating their own games and toys out of old boxes. bottles, etc. and it’s always interesting to them when starting a new recycling project. Thanks for sharing!

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