Checking out Outdoor Toys

Following a fantastic summer filled with sunshine and heat, the Outdoor Toys category has been enjoying positive results, ending the season on a high note. Toy World’s Gabriela Jiménez García spoke with several leading Outdoor Toys suppliers to discuss how the warm weather helped boost sales and what the upcoming months have in store for the category.

At the end of August, the Met Office confirmed that summer 2025 was officially the hottest on record for the United Kingdom. The widespread and sustained warmth brought families outside to enjoy the sunny weather, positively impacting sales in the Outdoor Toys category, according to several leading suppliers.

Reydon Sports is one of the suppliers that have benefitted from the prolonged warm spells, with Marketing manager Andy Griffin telling Toy World: “The improved weather for this year helped trade tremendously, both from a sales perspective and in terms of retail confidence. The outdoor games category was significantly more buoyant in 2025 compared to 2024, with retailers exhibiting newfound optimism, particularly when our price points proved to be very reasonable.”

Scott Eden, Design director of Wilton Bradley, affirms that this summer’s prolonged spell of sunshine has been a real boost for the category, as the team experienced strong demand for the company’s pool ranges. “Families have been keen to make the most of their gardens, and we’ve seen that reflected in consistently strong sales,” he says. “At the same time, what’s been equally encouraging is the appetite for versatile, year-round products such as our Play Tray activity table. Parents are increasingly seeking items that can keep children entertained both indoors and outdoors, regardless of the weather, so while summer has given outdoor sales a boost, our broader portfolio continues to perform well across the seasons.”

Ben Hogg, head of Marketing at Simba Smoby, reports that the good weather this summer was a huge boost to the re-launch of the Smoby Life playhouses. “If you miss the good weather at the start of the season, it's really difficult to get those sales back later,” he says. “It was an excellent year for us to re-launch our playhouses under the Smoby Life banner, where we now produce our range of Outdoor lines with high percentages of recycled plastics. The launch of Smoby Life gave us the ideal opportunity to refresh the colours of our playhouses, and we've been really pleased with the reaction we've received on this front. Our Nature Playhouse and Kitchen performed exceptionally well in this new styling, cementing its place as the No.1 selling playhouse.”

Ben Gibson, MD of Micro Scooters, believes that a sunny summer is the ultimate test for any outdoor brand, as it determines the quality and durability of the products put to good use by excited families looking to make the most of the sunshine. Micro Scooters rose to the occasion by delivering sturdy and reliable products that withstood high activity levels throughout the season. He tells us: “Families were outside for hours on end, which meant our scooters, balance bikes and ride-ons took a daily hammering, and they held up; robust, reliable and still fun on the thousandth ride. That’s when parents really see the difference in something high quality that’s built to last. The weather didn’t just boost sales; it gave us the perfect stage to prove the quality of our products in real life.”

Wheeled Toys remains one of the strongest evergreen sub-categories in Outdoor Toys, with several suppliers highlighting it as an area of growth worth looking out for.

United Wheels’ Marketing manager, Glenn McGrath, tells Toy World that he has seen increased sales in performance bikes, lightweight designs and ride-ons that keep outdoor play fun and accessible for all ages. The company has recently unveiled an array of innovative wheeled toys, including new additions to its Huffy range, with a strong focus on kids’ BMX, and the launch of the Huffy LiteRiders series of lightweight aluminium bikes, which come in various sizes to cater to kids of all ages.

MV Sports has expanded its range of wheeled toys with a brand-new Hot Wheels lineup. A hero line in the collection is the Racer Ride-On, which comes packed with features including a large steering wheel, smooth wheel motion, realistic horn sounds and Hot Wheels flame decals across a striking blue frame. The range also includes the Hot Wheels Inline Scooter with Light-Up Wheels and Revver, and the Hot Wheels 12” Bike, both perfect for Hot Wheels fans eager to race in playgrounds and parks.

Scott Eden says that Wilton Bradley continues to see a steady interest in electric wheeled toys, with products such as hoverboards, electric scooters and go karts remaining popular choices for families. “Parents and kids alike are looking for outdoor toys that combine fun with a sense of excitement, and electric ride-ons deliver just that. At Xootz, we’ve developed a strong and growing range of outdoor electric toys that offer equal amounts of thrills and play value, and we only see that trend building further as families look for fresh ways to enjoy active play together.”

Meanwhile, Reydon Sports’ Andy Griffin is pleased that outdoor games are all the rage this year, and a focus area for the company, with its 18-piece collection of Junior Training Aids for kids under the PrecisionPlay brand receiving fantastic sell-through. “Our PrecisionPlay Junior Games range and Franklin Sports exclusive outdoor games have all had a huge amount of interest at various trade shows as well as at general trade, mainly down to competitive price points, strong USPs and a much-improved streak of positive weather,” he explains.

The outdoor games portfolios have also expanded at Trends UK and Vivid Goliath with new ranges. As the UK distributor for the Original Stomp Rocket brand, Trends UK has announced the addition of a host of new kits. A key line in the range is the Jr. Glow Rocket, which comes with four foam rockets that can soar up to 100 feet. Meanwhile, the High Performance 3 X-Treme Rocket Launcher comes with three rockets that can fly as high as 120 metres, so friends can compete to see who can launch their rocket the highest. Vivid Goliath is getting behind its Wahu outdoor range, which spans both Sports and Garden outdoor play categories, with a comprehensive suite of marketing campaigns designed to support the launch.

With the Golden Quarter in full swing, more marketing activations are already underway as suppliers capitalise on the season presenting yet another brilliant opportunity to sell outdoor products for Christmas. “The demand for outdoor toys in the run-up to Christmas is huge, as families are looking for gifts that bring fun and activity into the home and garden,” says Scott Eden of Wilton Bradley. “With the return of our Fun Unleashed campaign – incorporating TV advertising, YouTube, celebrity content and more – we expect this interest to continue growing. The campaign helps showcase our standout products and inspires families with ideas for active play, making the festive season an exciting period for outdoor toy sales.”

Ben Gibson of Micro Scooters also believes that Q4 is an essential period for selling outdoor toys, as parents seek ‘big’ presents – and practical toys that will grow with their children and keep them engaged in the long run. “Parents are shopping for gifts that last beyond Boxing Day,” he says. “Our scooters and ride-ons are the opposite of plastic throwaways; they’re engineered, repairable and designed for years of use. That durability makes them the Christmas gift that keeps families active and having fun well into January and beyond.”

Over the following few pages of editorial, Toy World covers a wide selection of products from suppliers in the Outdoor Toys category.