Glorious sunshine means more time spent outside and Amelia loves going to parks to play on the swings and slides. One issue with going to the park though is that it takes us so long to get there that she only plays for a couple of minutes on each activity then is either bored or tired and wants to go home again.
So we decided to create our own mini-park in the garden; we bought a small slide and a proper swing for her to play with. We chose the Hedstrom 2in1 swing because it comes with both a child seat and a junior seat for when they get older to save you having to buy again.
We were lucky to find this swing in T K Maxx on offer but it’s also available on Amazon and in other toy stores as well. It does take quite some assembly which can be tricky when you have a curious toddler running around who is desperate to play on th swing you haven’t even built yet.
Things I like about it:
- Once the swing has been fully assembled and secured into the ground it is very sturdy. It doesn’t wobble or shake and I don’t have any worry that it will be damaged if left outside in bad weather.
- You can increase the height of the frame by adding additional legs (included) for when you convert to the junior swing seat to ensure your child’s feet don’t hit the floor.
- It comes with both the baby seat and the junior seat set up on their own ropes so all you have to do it unscrew them and swap it over when your child is old enough to sit on the seat without falling off.
- As well as the tray on the baby seat it also has a 5 point safety harness to make sure your toddler is strapped in securely.
Things I don’t like about it:
- It was so difficult to secure it into the ground; hammering the metal pegs into the soil was almost impossible, some of the screws snapped and we had to find alternative screws from our own collection to make it work.
- The knots in the ropes of our swing are not evenly tied which makes the seat sit a little lopsided. It’s not too bad when Amelia’s weight is in it but it’s very noticeable when it’s empty.
- The tray of the baby seat is too high at the moment, Amelia isn’t tall enough to really be able to see over it when she is swinging and it blocks her view.
- There is no bar or strap between the child’s legs which means if you don’t put the harness on they will definitely fall through under the tray. I know this because Amelia almost fell through but we caught her, she’s not full size for moving to the next seat by any stretch so she will grow into the baby seat but she’s also not the tiniest baby so it would very easy for a smaller child to fall out if not strapped in.
So, would I recommend this swing? This is a difficult one because it has the potential to be a great investment with the option of changing the seat later on. At the moment, Amelia isn’t keen on it and will only sit in it for a couple of minutes at a time, I think she will enjoy it more when she gets bigger and it’s nice to have a swing in the garden so that we can just play outside whenever she wants to and go back in when she’s had enough.
I think it is worth the price that we paid for it in T K Maxx but I don’t think it is worth the full price charged by other shops. As it stands, it took my husband longer to assemble and dig it into the ground than Amelia has actually spent playing with it but I’m hopeful it will be worth the effort by the time we reach the end of summer.
What toys do you have in your garden for your kids? Please share your garden tips to help make it a fun place for her to play.
Rachel xx
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