Best outdoor playhouses for kids of all ages in 2025

To help you find the perfect playhouse for your family, whether you're looking for a toddler or a big kid, we've spoken to parents who've already made the investment, tested playhouses for ourselves, and taken a look at all the different products on offer: from compact designs for around £150 to luxury wooden tree houses that'll become a permanent fixture in your garden. We've considered longevity, features and – of course – how long they take to put together. Here are the 8 that made the grade for 2025.

Jump to:

• Best outdoor playhouses for kids of all ages in 2025
• What to consider when buying an outdoor playhouse

Best children’s outdoor playhouses at a glance

• Best playhouse for nature lovers: Smoby Garden Playhouse, £300
• Best quick-assembly static plastic playhouse: Little Tikes Cape Cottage, £154.99
• Best wooden playhouse with slide: Plum Discovery Woodland Tree House, £699.99
• Best playhouse for little cooks: Smoby Chef House, £365
• Best playhouse for little climbers: TP Toys Treehouse Play Tower, £279.99
• Best plastic playhouse with slide: Smoby My House on Stilts with Slide, £348
• Best princess castle playhouse: Feber Super Palace Playhouse, £459
• Best pirate ship playhouse: TP Pirate Galleon Playhouse, £421

Best children’s outdoor playhouses to buy in 2025

1. Smoby Life Garden Playhouse, £300

Best playhouse for nature lovers

Available from: Amazon and Selfridges

Age suitability: 2+ | Size: L132cm x W128cm x H135 cm | Main material: Plastic | Assembly time: 2 to 3 hours | Accessories included: Trowel, rake, dibble, 6 pots and holders, gardener’s booklet, slate and chalk, watering can

Pros:

• Sturdy
• UV-treated plastic
• Lots of accessories
• Great features

Cons:

• Long assembly time
• Expensive

This sweet, blue, grey, beige and green gardening-themed playhouse has a half-door, 2 porthole windows and 2 shutter windows. There's also a planter that is suitable for planting proper plants in, a trellis that holds flowerpots, a bird feeder, and a working water butt with tap to keep your tiny gardeners occupied for hours. It comes with a little under-window workbench and a lovely collection of gardening accessories too, including flower pots for the trellis, a teeny watering can and a mini rake and trowel.

The plastic is UV-treated to stop it fading in the sun and it's a good, robust structure. However, our parent tester did find it takes a good few hours to assemble – with a few fiddly little parts to fit together. Also note our tester tried an earlier model in a brighter colour scheme. The playhouse is now sold in a more muted colourway (pictured right) but is otherwise the same.

It's sturdy, it looks stunning and she absolutely loves it! She can play with it for hours on end, peeking out of the windows – and the water butt is a huge hit. We've planted some flowers in the planter and she loves watering them. The little accessories are cute too. The level of detail is second to none.

2. Little Tikes Cape Cottage, £154.99

Best quick-assembly static plastic playhouse

Available at: JD Williams, Very and Amazon

Age suitability: 2+ | Size: L93 x W122cm x H120cm | Main material: Weather-treated plastic | Assembly time: 30 minutes | Accessories included: None

Pros:

• Weather-treated plastic
• Good value
• Good for small gardens
• Letterbox feature
• Easy to assemble

Cons:

• Plastic a little flimsy
• No accessories included

This compact playhouse has a brick-style exterior, 2 doors, multiple windows (including some with shutters) and even a little letterbox. It doesn't come with accessories, but given its lower price point, this can probably be forgiven. lYou can buy it in a number of colours to suit your child's taste or your garden decor, including a more muted tan.

The plastic has been weather-treated for longevity, but is thinner than you'd get with other more expensive playhouses. However, the whole thing is very easy to assemble, with a simple snap-and-click system.

Its shape makes it a good buy for a smaller garden and, though it's a shade smaller in height that many in our selection, it's not too short for bigger preschoolers.

We bought the Cape Cottage 2 years ago now and it's lasting really well. My twins are 4 years old now and still love playing in it.

3. Plum Discovery Woodland Tree House, £699.99

Best wooden playhouse with slide

Available at: JD Williams

Age suitability: 3+ | Size: L270 x W240 x H193cm | Main material: Painted FSC-certified wood |

Pros:

• Sturdy
• Slide and ladder features
• Ventilated
• Made from sustainably sourced wood

Cons:

• Pricey

The playground-like equipment is very much the star of the show when it comes to this playhouse, with a swing and slide adorning the climbing frame-style structure, and cute wind chimes attached to the upper level. Below, there is plenty of space for a toddler or preschooler (or two) to get cosy inside, and it even includes an easy-clean painting screen so your kids can get creative with water-based paints.

The FSC-certified wood is lovely quality and the finished structure is sturdy and showerproof – if you add a couple of coats of varnish, it should be able to weather more heavy rain.

It's straightforward to assemble but it will take time and require a number of tools.

4. Smoby Life Chef House, £365

Best playhouse for little cooks

Available at: Amazon and Argos

Age suitability: 3+ | Size: L124cm x W132cm x H136cm | Main material: UV-treated plastic | Assembly time: 2 to 3 hours | Accessories included: Play food and drink, cutlery, cooking utensils, credit card and play money, salt and pepper shaker, frying pan, 2 removable slates for writing menus

Pros:

• Sturdy
• UV-treated plastic
• Lots of accessories
• Great features

Cons:

• Pricey
• Long assembly time

This playhouse is similar in structure to the Smoby Garden House (number 1 in our list) but this one is designed to be a play café, with an open hatch window for serving up orders and sharing the day's specials.

Inside, there's a fridge, oven, pretend gas stove with flames, a sink and tap, a cash register (including a sweet cash drawer and credit card reader) and storage shelves. The outside has 2 porthole windows, an opening half-door and another shutter window.

We're impressed by how many play accessories are included, and you can also extend it with other elements of the Smoby range.

The built-in kitchen is brilliant, and we liked the option to purchase add-ons – we added a doorbell, which the kids love.

5. TP Treehouse Wooden Play Tower, £279.99

Best playhouse for little climbers

Available from: TP Toys

Age suitability: 3+ | Size: L137cm x W90cm x H213cm | Main material: FSC certified wood | Assembly time: 3 hours | Accessories included: Climbing wall, fireman's pole

Pros:

• Good for narrow spaces
• Good quality construction
• Encourages gross motor skills

Cons:

• Long assembly time
• 50kg maximum weight

If your children love to climb, this tall, narrow playhouse gives them ample opportunity to hone their skills. With a climbing wall on one side and a fireman's pole fastened to the other for a quick exit, this design will definitely get them moving.

TP's range of wooden playhouses and treehouses are designed to be customisable, so you can swap and add different elements to expand or change this playhouse as your child grows. Add a slide or a swing arm, swap the climbing wall for a cargo net, or even add a sand pit underneath to give it a new lease of life.

Although small, there are a lot of pieces in this playhouse and it will take a few hours (and a couple of grown-ups) to build it. Once constructed, the FSC-certified wood feels solid and sturdy. Treat it to ensure it stands the test of time.

6. Smoby My House on Stilts with Slide, £375

Best plastic playhouse with a slide

Available from: Amazon and The Entertainer

Age suitability: 2+ | Size: L243cm x W160cm x H197cm | Main material: UV-treated plastic | Assembly time: 1 to 2 hours | Accessories included: None

Pros:

• Sturdy
• UV-treated plastic
• Great features

Cons:

• House quite small
• Rain collects on platform
• No accessories included

This colourful playhouse on stilts has a little deck, a 4-rung ladder and a 1.5m slide to get down from the top level. It features moulded animal and plant designs on the exterior walls, a half door, a porthole window and 2 windows with shutters – perfect for a game of peek-a-boo!

The plastic is sturdy and has been treated with an anti-UV finish, so the colours won’t fade in the sun. But the platform does collect water when it rains: the solution, according to one parent of our child testers, is to drill some holes in the floor. Assembly is reasonably easy but the instructions could be a little clearer.

It's big enough for my daughters to play alongside each other – I often find them sat in the playhouse having little tea parties together, which is so cute! You can also sit underneath it in the shade, which is lovely when it's hot.

7. Feber Super Palace Playhouse, £500

Best princess castle playhouse

Age suitability: 3+ | Size: L198cm x W147cm x H250cm | Main material: UV-treated plastic | Assembly time: 2 to 3 hours | Accessories included: None

Pros:

• Sturdy
• Tall and roomy
• Working doorbell

Cons:

• Pricey
• Long assembly time
• Door doesn’t always stay closed

This pink palace has 9 towers, 5 windows in the walls and pretend windows in the towers and a door with an electronic door knocker that makes both knocking and bell sounds. There's also a clock above the door.

Inside, the castle has lots of space – and impressive height – for royal role-playing. The only gripe we have is that the door doesn't always close properly.

The plastic is UV-treated and feels very thick and sturdy. Assembly isn't quick but is pretty straightforward, with just the odd issue lining up holes. You'll need 3 x AA batteries for the doorbell.

Available at: Very

8. TP Pirate Galleon Playhouse, £421

Best pirate ship playhouse

Available from: Tesco

Age suitability: 3+ | Size: L171 x W272 x H206cm | Main material: FSC certified wood | Assembly time: 5 hours | Accessories included: None

Pros:

• Really impressive design
• Huge size, holds multiple kids
• Sturdy build
• 5-year guarantee

Cons:

• Very long assembly time
• Only works in very big gardens

Ahoy there! Pirate fans will absolutely love this brilliantly-designed pirate ship playhouse, which encourages them to walk the plank and take the helm of their very own (static) pirate galleon. Amazing for encouraging creative role play, kids can crawl in and around the decks of the ship to explore and learn.

This is a big piece of outdoor furniture at almost 3 metres in length, so it won't surprise to you know that it takes a while to assemble: an estimated 5 hours for two adults, in fact. Once done, however, there's a 5-year guarantee on the wood, which has been treated with an environmentally-friendly preservative to prolong its life.

What to consider when buying an outdoor playhouse

• Space – As obvious as it sounds, you do need to make sure the playhouse you're buying will fit in your garden, so check the measurements carefully (and make sure they're not the measurements of the packaging but of the finished structure).
• Wooden or plastic – Wooden playhouses look lovely but they do tend to be pricier, harder to assemble and the wood will require yearly maintenance treatment. Plastic playhouses are easier to build (and move), generally cheaper and often come in more imaginative shapes and themes.
• Durability – Think about the material the playhouse is made from. If plastic, is it sturdy or flimsy? Has it been treated to stop the colours fading in the sun? If wood, does it come ready treated or ready painted?
• Assembly time – Although this might not be everyone’s first question, it's definitely one of ours! Most playhouses are easy enough to set up but instructions and assembly time vary wildly. Plastic models are normally easier to build, while wooden versions need a bit more skill and often a fair few tools.
• Features, themes and extras – Some outdoor playhouses are just the basic 4 walls and a roof but more and more come with added features such as slides, balconies, opening and closing shutters, play sinks, play cookers or flower planters. Some are even built to a special theme, such as a cafe or fairytale palace, and come with play accessories included. Generally speaking, you'll pay a little more for extra features – but not always.

Pic: Product websites/MadeForMums testers

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