Play House – The Best Indoor and Outdoor Playhouses for Kids
Play House is a place for kids to engage in imaginative, creative open-ended play. This type of play fosters cognitive development and promotes lifelong well-being. Whether they’re hosting a tea party with friends or acting out a daily routine, kids use their imaginations to come up with a plan that they act out. This stimulates memory and procedural thinking, which helps prepare them for academic performance and career success later in life.
In addition, children practice social-emotional skills as they interact with their siblings and friends during playhouse activities. They may role play a variety of everyday and imagined events like visiting the dentist, shopping at a mall, playing on the playground, or going to the grocery store. When kids re-enact these experiences, they develop the ability to understand and respond to others’ needs and wants, as well as the capacity to organize and manage their own actions and behaviors.
Indoor playhouses are also an excellent choice for kids with limited outdoor space, as they offer a safe and creative way to engage in pretend play. These structures can be used to host a puppet show, tell stories, write or color, and more. Many of these playhouses feature additional toys or furnishings that can add a sense of real-life to the structure, such as kitchens, barbeques, cafés, and more. These add-ons can help kids feel more immersed in their imaginary play and make the space more authentic for them to experience.
During our evaluations of the best playhouses, we looked for sturdy construction, age ranges and weight limits, ease of assembly, and safety features. For outdoor structures, we also assessed weather resistance and durability. We found that the Radio Flyer Play & Fold Away Princess Castle and Little Tikes Deluxe Home & Garden Playhouse were our top picks. Both of these playhouses offer durable, weather-resistant materials, easy-to-open doors, and an open layout that provides a good line of sight for parents to supervise their kids while they’re playing. We also liked that these playhouses have rounded edges and lack pinch points, making them safer for toddlers to enter and exit on their own.
We also loved how the Aspen Playhouse was loaded onto a truck for delivery. This was a lot easier than unloading some of the other playhouses we’ve tested, which usually requires multiple adults and heavy lifting to get them off of a flatbed truck. The guys at the mall who were responsible for unloading this playhouse had no trouble getting it on the forklift and positioning it in a spot where it would fit. This is a huge selling point if you have limited space to set up a playhouse on your property.
