This Trampoline Can Withstand Your Most Adventurous Bouncer
When my kids each started pulling themselves up, they immediately started bouncing. They’d hold the side of their cribs and jump up and down in the morning, either with joy or rage, until someone came. They each started walking at 10 months and were big on gross motor skills overall. They are what their occupational therapists would call “sensory seekers” when it comes to big body movement, enjoying the sensation on their joints of hanging from bars, flipping around in space, and, yes, jumping as high as they can.
Why My Kids Love the Little Tikes 3′ Trampoline
This trampoline from Little Tikes is one of the most important products I ever purchased for my energetic adventurers. It was perfect not only because the handlebar helped them bounce before they could walk, but also because it was right in the middle of the trampoline itself — even if my kids pulled on it really hard, they wouldn’t flip the whole trampoline.
It’s the sturdiest trampoline we’ve ever used. I even have to make sure I carefully show when we go to someone’s house and they have a different trampoline, that they can’t exert as much force on the bar or else they’ll topple the whole thing — and themselves with it.
The total frame size is three feet, so it’s best suited for little kids. When my kids got older, we removed the handlebar so they could jump with less restriction and eventually, we got a different product when they surpassed the weight limit.
There’s a cover for the springs to prevent injury and a large jumping surface compared to some other toddler jumping toys. It’s not necessarily its original intended use, but my daughter loved to do flips on the middle bar. She’d jump, pull herself up on the bar, and then whip herself over it and back onto her feet, where she’d resume bouncing.
I used the trampoline during many snowy, smoky, rainy, or pandemic-y days inside these last few years to enliven obstacle courses or “The Floor Is Lava” games. The trampoline usually stayed in the center of the living room, sometimes in place of a coffee table, because it was the center fixture of our lives for many years.
The maximum weight recommendation is 55 pounds and the recommended age range is 36 months to six years, so it’s not meant for pre-walkers or adults. The whole thing weighs 13 pounds, though, so it is easy to move from room to room.
Definitely supervise kids closely when using this toy, as it’s easy for them to get over-excited and bounce off or potentially bonk a head if people aren’t paying attention, although the bar is slightly padded. I wouldn’t recommend letting more than one kid use this at a time.
Given the more than 30,000 Amazon reviews, I know we’re not the only family who loves this product.
Buy: Little Tikes 3′ Trampoline, $74.99