After such long winter and bad weather it seemed like summer would never come. Instead like magic here it is. Days are long and bright and the outdoor is more appealing than ever. It is that time of the year again to get ready for garden parties and outdoor excursions. With this in mind I have put together a list of my favourite outdoor toys and games to entertain children who will need to release all that energy accumulated over the school year.  To start with little explorers will have hours of fun on excursions with favourite outdoor Terra Kids tools. The Sundial, which includes a compass and mini snap link to attach to either a rucksack or belt, is great to tell the time. It comes with easy to read instructions and only works this side of the equator! At 5.29, it is affordable and fun.

The Terra kids binocular is a cool tool for any aspiring explorer. It magnifies up to 10 times and comes in a case of synthetic, rubber coated, bag of neoprene with mini compass and aluminium snap link.

The Little Pals garden kit includes all the tools little gardeners will need to get on with planting their favourite plants in the garden this summer. Each set comes with a brightly coloured carry bag, hand trowel, watering can, a funky bucket, 2 plant markers, hand fork and hand rake. At £ 14.95 this is a great gift to get children into planting.

The inflatable

world globe is a fantastic beach ball that can also be used as fact finder or as a decorative accessory that hangs from the ceiling…provided it survives the summer. Featuring all national boundaries and major cities, this is the most educational beach ball I have ever seen. The inflatable world globe is available to buy at £ 1.95 from The Little Baby Company.   

Finally two outdoor games from the Great Little Trading Company are bound to provide hours of fun in the garden. The Silly Game includes 2 large inflatable die and 3 cones to set out your course. One dice tells you how many spaces you can move, then throw the other to find out how you have to do it; you may have to leapfrog, wheelbarrow, forward roll, or hop. It sounds like a lot of fun for £ 8. The giant snake and ladders is a little more expensive (£35), but it is worth every penny. In the life size version of the popular board game the players are the counters moving up and down the mat. It includes a colourful mat measuring 3m x 3m with 8 fixing pegs and a huge inflatable dice.