CREATING A TODDLER FUN GARDEN WITH WICKEY

We are well and truly locked down for the foreseeable future over here in the UK in Lockdown 0.3. So, having to keep an extremely energetic, full of beans 2.5 year old stimulated and making sure he gets exercise, spending plenty of time outdoors in the fresh air is a challenge. But a challenge is there to be met and knocked out of the park right?

Thanks to our friends over at Wickey, that challenge is no longer as challenging and life in lockdown with an energetic toddler is making us feel like we’re smashing this lockdown parenting lark- and its all thanks to a treasure island / pirate ship inspired adventure climbing frame, also known as the Wickey MultiFlyer with Wooden roof.

The Wickey MultifFyer climbing frame with wooden roof in our garden.

We as a family have decided to keep a wide berth from the local playgrounds and play areas as much as possible and I know in some parts of the UK, recreation play areas have been closed to the public. We are fortunate that our house came with a fair sized garden and outside space enabling us to have a designated, safe area for Otis to play. It took some imagination and picture building to get there but we have come up with a flat space of lawn that accommodates a play area for him to play and run about in. This is in stark contrast to the day we completed on the house. The garden area was more like a deep dark woodland area. The garden had been left to its own devices for a long period of time and was not a usable space at all. We loved the appeal of the woodland and the environment it created was beautiful. It was a picture perfect woodland landscape from the back of the house and it was home to the local wildlife. We fully intend to restore that woodland feel to the garden in the future, both my husband and I are committed to planting trees and foliage to encourage further wildlife back to the garden. At the moment it is all about practicality and necessity and the priority is for Otis to have somewhere he can play outside so he gets plenty of contact with nature, plenty of fresh air in his lungs and most importantly for me and the husband - that he runs, climbs, swings and slides about to his hearts content, gets tired and is happy and safe.

The Wickey MultifFyer climbing frame with wooden roof in our garden.

The Wickey MultiFlyer climbing frame with wooden roof

Weeeeee…. Otis on the Wickey MultifFyer climbing frame with wooden roof in our garden.

The play frame itself is aesthetically pleasing to the eye as kids play equipment goes. It’s made of pressure treated natural wood and Wickey provide a 10 – year guarantee on all of their wooden products and 2 – year guarantee on all of the fun accessories they create and come up with.

The Wickey MultifFyer comes with a red steering wheel (life in the fast lane), a little yellow telescope (so Otis can spot all the birds, squirrels and foxes that visit the garden), a climbing wall (inspiring Otis to be an outdoorsy type), a 220cm slide with a water connection (hello Summer fun), two swings - which will be super fun when we’re allowed to invite his friends over - or better yet, if we have another child for Otis to play with. It’s all about future proofing, right?

Climb it! "Otis climbing up the Wickey MultifFyer climbing frame with wooden roof in our garden.

It also also has a gorgeous wooden roof which is perfect for sheltering under if the weather turns, plus it gives Otis the feeling of being in a den and has even eaten his lunch up there, whilst he’s playing. What’s even better is Wickey offers a whole range of other cool accessories which you can mix and match and add to the climbing frame including different swing seats from baby to double swing seats, rope ladders, a bell, a mail box, or even a nest swing. You can mix and match as many accessories you want which will also enable the MultiFlyer climbing frame to grow with Otis as he gets older or adapt if our family gets bigger.

Bird Spotting: Otis using the telescope which comes with the Wickey MultifFyer climbing frame with wooden roof in our garden.

Otis’ favourite activity when we visit our local play area is the swing. Typically we spend the majority of our time either queuing up for the swing (we are still coming to grips with the nature of being patient), or sweet talking Otis to stand down from the swing and let another child have ago, usually resulting in him negotiating ‘another 5 minutes mummy.’ So the combo we plumped for from the Wickey Multiflyer range was ‘swing heavy’ - a double swing, tower, ladder, climbing wall, slide, steering wheel and telescope set up. He loves it. Even better my husband, who will be the first to admit isn’t a lover of building anything, not even a lego set – managed to assemble the climbing frame together with my help. It took us about 6 hours all in all with hubby leading the build- and we did not row once …. lol. The end result is Otis is happy, which means we are happy which means the family is happy and that is something certainly now more than ever we really appreciate and truly value. Thank you Wickey for helping us through lockdown parenting with a toddler at home.

Turn that wheel baby! Otis playing on the Wickey MultifFyer climbing frame with wooden roof in our garden.

Wickey kindly gifted us the MultiFlyer climbing frame with Wooden roof with no obligation to post. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. I wouldn’t write about anything that I wouldn’t recommend. I can whole heartily say that this climbing frame has been a game changer for us and is helping us through lockdown and will continue to be a help with hours of safe and enjoyable entertainment. Do check out their other Swing and slide sets.

BABY PROOFING IN STYLE WITH FRED SAFETY

Stylish baby proofing. Now there’s three words you rarely see together.

Do you remember those days when you couldn’t wait for your baby to crawl? I look back on those earlier, much easier days and wonder now what was the big rush. The ease of leaving a door open, stairs in sight, or a cooker on, knowing that the only person in danger was me.

Fast forward nine months, and we have a determined, energetic little boy who sees everything as a challenge. So where to start with baby proofing? Well you can start with cushions, padded edges and corner softeners, but these are all only quick fixes and aren’t going to stop the inevitable. Playpens are pretty handy too, but I’ve been told the novelty of being placed in a hexangle baby prison doesn’t last long before they realise they need to be free to roam wild.

So what’s out there? The classic bar stair gate aka the baby prison in two variations; screw in ones and pressure fit. The pressure fit ones have bars at the bottom which can be trip hazards and aren’t meant to be used at the top of the stairs. The only downside with most of these are the sizes don’t always fit narrow old fashioned doorways in victorian houses.

Then there’s retractable ones which definitely appeal due to their compact, clutter free nature.

After researching and reading about what felt like every safety gate out there I had almost given up on trying to find something that didn’t hinder our homes aesthetics, which I know sounds ridiculous as our child’s safety is what’s at stake here. But if you can find something that’s stylish and practical and does the same job, then why not choose this. This is when I discovered Cheeky Rascals and a brand called Fred Safety and their clear view safety gate.

For the record this safety gate is made of hardened plastic. Not glass as someone in my family asked. Its clear plastic is exactly what it says on the tin. Clear. So you can see your baby through it.

It’s also super easy to clean as its one smooth surface to wipe down. We opted for the screw fit for two reasons. First we didn’t think it would fit our narrow door frame, and this clear view gate is actually extendable from door ways of 75cm-100cm wide and you can fit them on the outside of your doorframe over the skirting boards. In the end we were able to fit it within our door frame as our doorway measures 75cm exactly. The screw fit design also appealed due to our hefty baby’s ridiculous strength at possibly being able to pull down a pressure fit safety gate. I know that sounds bonkers, but he’s super strong. But the third reason was its clear and looks great to the point that I forget it’s actually there.

I love how the clear view fred safety gate looks, and what I love most is how I can see Otis while I run the bath, nip to the toilet or cook the dinner. It was also super easy to fit too.

I’ve added a video to show you just how easy it was to fit, and also how great its been to keep our baby contained.

And don’t let anyone ever tell you that baby equipment will ruin your house, because they obviously haven’t seen these Fred safety gates.

This post was sponsored by Cheeky Rascals. All opinions and comments are 100% my own. I wouldn’t recommend something I didn’t love.