UK’s best garden slides for toddlers to bigger kids that are 7ft to 12ft and large

Specification: Material: High quality polyethylene , Overall dimensions (LxWxH): 175 x 40 x 80 cm , Slide dimensions (LxW): 155 x 39 cm , Can withstand a load: 50 kg

Baby Vivo’s dolphin themed kid’s slide has a wonderful child pleasing aesthetic, no matter which of the two colours you choose to go with.

Both the pink and turquoise slides are very vibrant and are sure to entice your toddlers onto the toy to play. As soon as we had assembled ours, which didn’t take long at all, the neighbour’s little girl was completely obsessed with it, even talking to the dolphin’s face as she played.

Made from top quality polyethylene like most of the best kid’s garden slides, this model is as durable as they come, and also extremely sturdy. There was no sign of any wobbling or lifting, like we saw with some of the cheaper products, no matter how the child threw him or herself around on it.

This model has a lot of nice little touches that make the slide safer, such as hand rails that go all the way up to the top sliding point, high sides on the slide itself, and large, non-slip steps that get closer together as the child climbs higher. The whole product just gives a sense of being well-made and well thought out. The hand rails are something that are often forgotten by kid’s slide manufacturers and this can be seen on both the Little Tikes and Feber slides.

I also really liked the dimensions of this kid’s slide. With some models out there, the slide can be a little too short and so the actual sliding experience for the child is also very short. The baby Vivo stands 80cm high, but has a decent sized chute at 155cm, making this product more fun for your toddler than a lot of other slides in the same price and age bracket, although it can’t compete with the larger slides we reviewed.

At its current price, I think the Baby Vivo kid’s slide is really fairly priced. The quality of the materials used is excellent and the plastic moulding has been done to a very high standard. There are no sharp edges that sometimes come from cheaper manufacturing, everything has been designed well, and all parts fit together as they should.

All in all, this is a great buy for parents with toddlers. It looks fantastic, is really well built, and I think it’s very reasonably priced for the quality.

Pros

• Excellent build quality
• Has some wonderful safety features such as hand rails
• Very stable and no signs of rocking
• Dolphin theme is a winner with small children

Cons

• Toddlers might grow out of it after a few years due to smaller chute

Specification: Material: Durable Anti-uv Treated Plastic , Overall dimensions (LxWxH): 190 x 60 x 45 cm , Slide dimensions (L): 1.5m + 3.75m , Can withstand a load: N/A

This particular garden slide for kids impressed me for a number of reasons, but the one that struck me the most is its modular design, and the reason it struck me is because it makes an attempt, and a pretty good attempt at that, at tackling a common problem with younger kids’ toys.

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about buying a scooter, a garden swing, or in this case a kid’s slide, we always know that our son or daughter will inevitably grow too big to use it, and that usually happens faster than we thought!

This Smoby 2-in-1 kid’s garden slide offers us a solution to this problem by having a design that let’s the slide grow as your kid does, or makes it possible for children of different ages to play with the same slide, and that’s something that can’t be said of many children;s slides, including most of the others featured here.

How it works is actually really simple. There are two slides: one that is 1.5 metres, and another larger one that is 3.75 metres, making it the largest of all the slides in this article. Both have their own individual ladders with anti-slip steps and the grip on these are as good as the Baby Viva products for safety.

The smaller slide can be used independently as an excellent first slide for toddlers, while the larger part acts as an extension, making the slide taller and longer. They fit together quickly and easily, and are very sturdy and stable once connected:

Connect a hose to this bad boy, pop the end in a swimming pool, and you’ve got yourself a wave chute, water slide that is bound to keep older children, up to eight years old, happy for hours. The only hard thing will be keeping yourself off it.

One thing I will advise, is that you should always make your kids be fully clothed when playing on slides such as this to avoid any possible friction injuries, and the flat part of this slide, where the two pieces connect, make it even more important with this model as it just isn’t as smooth as either the Garden Games or Baby Viva slides.

The Smoby 2-in-1 kid’s garden slide can hold a maximum weight of 50 kilograms, less than the Baby Viva which was surprising, and comes with a ground fixing kit, so you can know that this thing is as solid and stable as a rock. The plastic used for the components is really high quality, thick, and strong, as you would expect from a long-established German toy company like Smoby.

Like most Smoby products, this one comes together without any hassle and can be done by just about anyone with a lick of common sense, and won’t require any special tools.

Yes, it costs more than a lot of other kid’s slides, but you will also get a lot more use out of it because your child will not grow out of it for years to come, and that will save you having to buy newer toys in the near future.

Pros

• Big enough for more than one child to use
• Excellent modular design gives you options
• Very strong and stable
• Can be used as a water slide

Cons

• Maximum weight load could have been better

Let me make something clear for the start. All of the slides featured in this article are well built and made from tough plastic, so the fact that we chose the Garden Games wavy slide as the best heavy-duty product should tell you something.

When I think of a garden toy that is going to take the kind of abuse that only kids can seem to dish out, and then the effects of the weather on top of that, HDPE is a perfect material. Very resistant to UV, and extremely tough, it’ll last you for years.

It’s the thickness and strength of the HDPE on this slide that stands out for me though. It just feels more substantial than the others. Don’t get me wrong, they are all durable in their own right, especially the Smoby slide, but this product is just that little bit better.

It’s really smooth too, and there weren’t any seams or rough edges to scratch your young ones or cause friction burns. I’d say it is on par with the finish on the Baby Vivo slides when it comes to the finish, which is high praise indeed.

Here’s the thing about this slide though. This isn’t like the other slides featured, where you can set it up out of the box and it’s ready to go. You have to understand that you get the slide only and not the frame or platform on which to mount it. This means that you’ll either have to already have a platform or be willing to build one, and it has to stand 1.2 metres above the ground so that the 7ft chute lines up right.

On the plus side, this does make the Garden Games slide quite flexible, and you could have it as an exit to a treehouse, or to slide down from raised decking. Basically, it’s up to you, your imagination, and your DIY skills.

Another thing you need to know is that there’s a drop of the end of the slide of around a foot high, so you’ll need some kind of soft surface under there just in case. Rubber mats are fairly cheap and will do just fine.

The Garden Games wavey slide is incredibly hard wearing and strong, and if you already have somewhere to hang it, it’s extremely easy to install. If not, you might be in for a little building project and that might put some people off.

Pros

• Extremely durable and strong
• Highly resistant to UV radiation
• Smooth finish and very safe
• 7ft long wavey chute is great fun

Cons

• Comes as the slide only with no supporting platform

Specification: Material: High quality polyethylene , Overall dimensions (LxWxH): 220 x 50 x 106 cm , Slide dimensions (LxW): 160 x 50 cm , Can withstand a load: 70 kg

Your kids will be over the moon with this space rocket themed garden slide from baby Vivo.

If your child is between two and six years old, they will surely find something to keep them occupied on this wonderful, multi-function, slide for kids.

It features a 160cm long chute to slide down, complete with wide anti-slip steps and a proper standing platform at the top, and although it isn’t the largest slide out there, and can’t compete with the Smoby slide, it will provide enough thrills to keep small children happy.

This kid’s slide also doubles up as a rocket ship playhouse, complete with a swinging front door, and even circular porthole windows that your little astronauts look out of and make believe they are seeing the stars around them. These little details are what I think makes this slide stand out, and products like the Little Tikes and Feber can’t compete in this category.

This space could also be used to store toys and help keep the garden a little tidier, even if it’s only until the little ‘angels’ inevitably drag everything out again.

And if that wasn’t enough, Baby Vivo has included a basketball hoop that connects to the outside of the top of the slide so your budding sports stars can practice their jump shots when they tire of sliding.

This product is incredibly stable despite being so straightforward to assemble. The slide screws directly into the frame, as do many other parts, and the overall result is a high-level sturdiness that can take weights of up to 70 kilograms. That’s really strong for a kid’s slide at this price.

Baby Vivo have not scrimped on the materials either, using top notch polyethylene to ensure that the product is durable and that you’ll definitely get your money’s worth when it comes to longevity. It’s not quite as heavy duty as the Garden Game product, but certainly tougher than it looks.

For the price, this garden slide for kids is going to be hard to beat. It just offers those extra little things that you know your children will love, and you don’t have to pay much extra for the privilege either. A great product.

Pros

• Very sturdy and can handle up to 70kg
• Space rocket theme is loved by kids
• Has excellent extras like a basketball hoop and swinging front door
• Easy to assemble

Cons

• chute isn’t largest out there

Specification: Material: Plastic , Overall dimensions (DxWxH): 49.53 x 121.92 x 69.85 cm , Slide dimensions (L): 110 cm , Can withstand a load: ‎27.2 kg

The Little Tikes first slide is probably the best model you will find for under fifty pounds, yet despite its low price, it is constructed of pretty heavy-duty plastic that look and feels like it is built to last, but don’t expect the same durability as the heavy duty HDPE slide from Garden Games.

It is perfect for really young children to get used to playing on kid’s slides on, and can be used in the garden or indoors due to its compact dimensions of 58.4 x 45.7 x 99.1 cm and the slide’s ‘folding’ design. This gives it an advantage over larger slide like the Smoby which take up too much space to be used inside.

Weighing just over 4 kilograms, it is a very lightweight slide, even when compared with other toddlers slides like the Dolphin Baby Vivo slide, and there were times when the front of it lifted slightly off the ground when my friend’s larger than average 3 year old was on the bottom step and pulling backwards hard on the handrails.

After a few times, we realised it wasn’t anything to worry about as the lifting was only a very little amount, and the slide remained stable all the time it was being played on However,I wouldn’t recommend buying this slide for anyone over the age of four. The steps are pretty sturdy for smaller kids:

Toolless assembly makes setting this product up a simple affair. You just click the components together for the most part, just make sure you get the handles on the right way around or you could break them, and once it’s been assembled there’s no real reason to take it apart again thanks to its small size. But, if you need more space, just detach the stairs from the slide and lean it against a wall or store it under a table. Probably the quickest and simplest to pack away out of all our featured slides.

This is a budget option, so don’t expect the sun, moon, and stars, and it isn’t without a minor flaw or two, but for the money you would have to search hard to find a slide for kids that has the same material and build quality. I’d even say that I’ve seen some products going for twice the price that were actually inferior to this one.

The little Tikes first slide is good for exactly that, a first slide for toddlers. It won’t cost you the earth and you’ll get a few years’ worth of fun out of it.

Pros

• Very good quality materials for a budget model
• Compact dimensions mean it can be used indoors and outdoors
• Toolless assembly makes things really easy
• Packing away for storage is extremely quick and easy

Cons

• Not the most stable of all our featured products and might need a little help anchoring down.

Specification: Material: Plastic , Overall dimensions: 105 x 160 x 75 cm , Slide dimensions (L): 150 cm , Can withstand a load: ‎ 30 kg

It has always amused and amazed me how much damage a young child can do to their toys, and for this reason I always look at the type of materials used, and also the durability of a product when I’m considering buying things like slides for young kids.

This Feber slide plus is definitely what I would call durable. The plastic components, including the specially made plastic screws, are all made of thick, high-quality stuff that isn’t just able to take a few knocks, but also resistant to UV. In fact, this particular slide ran a very close second to the Garden Games wavey slide for best heavy-duty product.

It has been engineered and manufactured well, and all the parts line up and click into place without any trouble, and feel sturdy once connected. The balance of weight between the steps and chute is on point too, and there’s no rocking or swaying like happened with the little tikes slide from time to time, even with your child going for the world record for number of successful rides in a minute.

The name of this kid’s slide is the faber slide plus. I’m guessing the plus part comes from this model’s twin function of being able to act as a dry slide or as a water slide.

As a normal dry slide, it does a great job of keeping the kids safe while playing thanks to the extra-large handle on the top and high sides on the chute that run all the way to the bottom.

If you really want to get the most fun out of this great slide for kids, you need to attach a hose to a specified place at the rear of the top of the slide and the water will be funnelled through a vent and onto the slide. It gives a nice even and wide flow of water for your children to slide on, and they absolutely love it, especially if the slide ends in a paddling pool with a few pool toys thrown in.

Children from 1.5 to 4 years would probably get the most out of this 105cm x 160cm x 75cm dual purpose slide, and it has a maximum recommended weight of 30 kilograms, much less than the 70kg that our best overall pick from Baby Vivo can handle, so mum and dad will have to stay off it.

Priced at a little over eighty pounds, it is certainly giving a lot of the competition a run for their money, and is well worth some consideration.

Pros

• Very solid and sturdy
• High quality materials that are UV resistant
• Can be used as a water slide
• High chute sides provide safety

Cons

• Low maximum load of 30kg makes it only good for younger kids