• The outdoor toy category has been booming in the UK, with 29.3% of sales and a £7.7M spend in April 2020.
• Ride-ons, sports toys, splash pools, water balloons, bubble toys, and Nerf blasters from manufacturers such as Wilton Bradley, Zuru, Hasbro, and Simba were among the top 10 best-selling outdoor toys in April.
• One global toy market expert for The NPD Group noted that "leisure and play activities have taken a central place in family life" since the lockdown and "parents want to see their children play outside and get fresh air where they can, especially if they have a garden."

• Parents are making an effort to balance their children's screen-time with outdoor play options as they are also concerned that their children are becoming disconnected from the natural world.
• Both parents and teachers believe that outside hands-on play is important, as this is where "children physically explore, experiment, and practice new skills that are important for them to thrive and learn." They both try to include more physical play and find creative ways for children to learn more about the natural world through real-life experiences.
• In 2019, unpredictable weather in the UK, such as heatwaves, as well as getting consumers to invest in high ticket items (such as electric ride-ons) were some challenges that outdoor toy suppliers and retailers experienced.
• Children who want adult versions of vehicles is also trending. Rollplay, for example, has based its new outdoor toys on this trend, with their Flower Power VW Beetle and Buslines.

Residential Gardens in the UK

• "Approximately 520 thousand hectares of residential gardens exist in urban areas in Great Britain, accounting for 29.5% of the total urban area. England has the largest proportion of urban area attributed to residential gardens (30.1%). Scotland, has the smallest proportion of residential garden area (24.9%)."

Summary

• For the initial hour, we tried identifying as much of the requested information as possible. We were able to identify some early insights into the outdoor toy industry.
• We mainly found that parents and educators appear to be among those who purchase outdoor toys. We also found some trends and challenges for the UK outdoor toy market. However, other trends did not appear immediately available. We also found that most parents are concerned that their children are becoming disconnected from the natural world, which is likely why there has been an interest in outdoor toys.
• Insights specific to the size of family gardens in urban areas and the propensity of urban dwellers to engage with the outdoor toy market did not appear immediately available. However, we were able to find some general statistics on the overall size of residential gardens in the UK, which might also be helpful.
• In the course of our research, we also found some general insights on how people in the UK engage with the outdoors and some of the top-selling outdoor toys in the UK, which might also be of interest.
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