What Are Some Fun Things You Have in Your Backyard for Your Kids?

Sand and water table (I used the old infant bathtub for a while), pedal tractors and cozy coupes, gardening tools and buckets that are continers we would have recycled anyway, playhouses, balls, melissa and doug sunny patch sprinkler, bubbles. The pricey items we bought from craigslist.

mud
wildflowers
sticks
rocks
trees tall as ones you'd find in a forest
insects
squirrels
birds and bird feeder
the cat looking out the window

toy basketball hoop
chalk
sand table
toy wheelbarrow
toy and real gardening tools
flower pots
riding toy with wheels
toy kitchen
balls of all sizes
rope to make pulleys
hammock
table and chairs
garden hose and sprinkler

SNOW!! (but that is from WI!!) It doesn't cost a cent! :-P

But, in TX, that might be hard to come by.

In the summer, my son enjoys his sand box, sprinklers, painting on the cement patio with water, his pool, little tikes fire truck (similar to cozy coupe), slide, lawn mower, bubbles, all balls (soccer, baseball, etc.).

He also enjoyed our garden - we grew tomatoes and pumpkins and zucchini. Next year he will be a bigger help in planting and caring for the plants.

You could use an old sheet as a "parachute". That would be fun, easy, and cheap!

Water table
Basketball hoop
ride on toys
chalk

Well I live in WI, so right now all that's in my backyard is SNOW and tons of it! But in the summer we have:
- Step2 Playhouse that 2yo daughter LOVES.
- Fischer price jungle gym with slide which is a big hit.
- Sprinkler!, which is fun in itself...but even MORE fun when combined with the slide.
- SWINGS will give entertainment for hours (and less running for mommy). Could buy a swing set...or just hang two from a tree if you have one.
- We also have a sandbox...which they love...but may want to wait until infant is older
- A lawn mower bubble blower...or bubbles in any form
- Sidewalk chalk (If you have a cement slab)
- Wagons or trikes
- Picnik table for tea parties
- Sand/water table...altho this isn't my favorite

I run a daycare so I have probably more than I would if I didn't have that...however, all the stuff I mentioned I got for $20 or less from craigslist and garage sales!

A gigantic chalkboard, balls, art easel, paint brushes for "painting" the fence with water, water table, climbing structure...

When they were little, just dirt, hose/sprinkler, garden tools for digging, cheap kiddie pool and a wiffle ball hanging on a string (from a tree branch) that they hit with a plastic bat.
As they got a little older we got a sandbox, a basketball hoop, big wheels, hula hoops and toy golf clubs/balls.
Eventually we bought a swing/climbing set and a rope ladder for our big oak tree. They also liked camping out in a real tent :-)

When my kids were little I had a Little Tikes wading pool with a sprinkler, a Mr. Turtle sandbox, a Little Tikes baby swing and regular swing hanging from the tree branch, a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe car, a Little Tikes ride on/push car, a Little Tikes slide, a Fisher Price tricyle with a push handle, a Little Tikes basketball hoop, a Little Tikes play house, an assortment of Tonka trucks, an assortment of balls, Little Tikes hockey sticks, golf clubs and baseball bats, a Little Tikes picnic table and couple of different sprinklers. I bought all of these items at yard sales and probably only spent $60 on everything in total. We used these things for a couple of years and were able to sell them for as much as we paid for them.

im not sure about a sandbox with an infant but that was always my favorite when i was younger, we even gave it to my neighbors kids once i stopped using it and i remember playing with them in it when they were little. kiddie pool, sidewalk chalk, plastic gardening tools, one of those small plastic basketball hoops.. the other day i saw a plastic T-ball set i thought was really cute

Balls! And a sandbox (we built)...kids spend HOURS in there!
Shallow pool. Sprinkler. Garden. Swings. Bikes.

Chalk
Garden hose:)