Let’s take a look at the differences between Kidkraft and Backyard discovery. I want to show you both brands play sets, playhouses and swing sets and help you choose which brands play equipment your kids will enjoy playing on the most.
First let’s take a look at the two brands and then below these summaries I will compare Kidkraft vs Backyard discovery products so you can decide which is the best brand for your outdoor playhouses.
If you are looking for the best products from Kidkraft and Backyard Discovery take a look at this comparison table showing some of the most popular and fun play equipment or scroll down the page to view my favourite playhouses and swingsets.
Backyard Discovery vs Kidkraft comparison table
KidKraft
Kidkraft started out as a humble and small start-up company about 50 years ago, with a mission to inspire imaginative play for children with toys and kids’ furniture. Since then, KidKraft has expanded into a global industry-leading business popular for their exceptional dollhouses and play sets.
They have even expanded to providing products that go beyond the playroom. Backyard playsets and larger scale playhouses offer parents a chance to provide their children with impressive play areas inside or outside the home. Above all, quality and design are at the forefront of these products.
At the heart of this brand is the desire to allow children to explore and discover the world around them, to create a space where creativity and imagination thrive without judgement or barriers.
One of their most famous and beloved products are their dollhouses, which come in all shapes and sizes. Princess dollhouses to explore prestige and royalty, mansion dollhouses to explore the lavish life, KidKraft’s dollhouses offer a variety of exciting and inspiring experiences.
There are massive dollhouses dawning multiple rooms and sections, as well as smaller more portable dollhouses with plenty of furniture and dolls to purchase additionally.
KidKraft is not a bougie brand, their prices vary wildly and suit a variety of budgets without compromising quality or experience. Their cheapest dollhouse is the Charlie Dollhouse, a cute little 63 x 31x 81cm structure and the companies most expensive dollhouse is the 68 x 59 x 109cm So Stylish Mansion.
This massive structure will cost you a few hundred dollars. My favourite Kidkraft dollhouse is the Charlotte dollhouse with 14 pieces of furniture, 4 levels and two balconies, it’s a beautifully structured dollhouse.
KidKraft’s products suit a range of ages and also vary in how easily they are to put together, guaranteeing a lovely challenge and fun for the whole family.
Backyard Discovery
For over 30 years Backyard Discovery has been manufacturing impressive playsets and backyard leisure structures from outdoor playhouses to wooden swing sets.
The company comprises of parents who understand the importance of outdoor play, creative imagination, and boundless fun when it comes to raising kids, and use their expert craftsmanship to provide this to other parents around the world.
Backyard Discovery remember the days before technology, the simple joy of running around outside, and have put their creative minds to work by creating various massive playsets sure to entice adults and kids alike.
Their beautiful playsets can come with slides, swings, and can be accessorised with extras such as telescopes, captain wheels, and tic tac toe structures. Who needs playgrounds anymore when the fun is right in your backyard? Children can spend hours pretending to be pirates looking for buried treasure, or spies tracking their latest case.
Backyard Discovery’s cheapest swing set is a wooden one, complete with swings, monkey bars, and a slide. Their most expensive set comes in at more than one thousand dollars and is equipped with a 5 ft rock climbing wall, three swings, two slides, one spiral and tubed, and the other one is wavy.
Other than playsets, Backyard Discovery also offers a colourful array of playhouses ready to bring any fantasy to life.
Kidkraft vs Backyard Discovery playhouse comparison
Let’s compare some of the similar playhouse designs each company has created so we can see the differences and you can choose which you like best. First Let’s take a trip to the countryside and find out about the KidKraft Greystone Cottage playhouse and the Backyard discovery Sweetwater all Cedar wooden playhouse.
These are two lovely cottages with lots of accessories. I personally like the style of the Cedar summit Greystone cottage the most but both are high quality and functional.
After looking at these two designs i’m going to show you the amazing Backyard Discovery Victorian style inn, with magnificent paintwork and design. Last of all I’ll show you the Kidkraft wooden hut that’s perfect for pretend barbecues and woodland expeditions.
KidKraft Cedar summit Greystone Cottage
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The kidkraft Greystone cottage is one of my favourite wooden cottage style playhouses.
Everything about this cottage reminds me of walking in the countryside seeing this style of rustic cottage in real life. The sloped tiled roof, beautiful white framed bay windows and the cute chimney make this a realistic looking playhouse.
The finest details have been thought about carefully by Kidkraft and they have taken the opportunity to add an element of play and fun to every part of the cottage.
The door has a cute mailbox attached on the front which is also a chalk board for your kids to draw on. Open the door and enter the cosy cottage and you’ll see there is a play kitchen and accessories included. It’s time for your kids to cook dinner, but what makes the chance to do some pretend cooking, even more enticing for children is the serving window and shelf at the end of the cottage structure.
The serving window is where you’ll be expected to read the chalk board menu beside the window, look at the cute little clock and be ready and waiting for your pretend meal to be served. Above the serving window are some pegs where you can hang the included pans and there is even a telephone wall holder and colourful cordless telephone.
This is why I love this Kidkraft cottage so much, it’s not only gorgeous looking and cosy but it has so many extra fun accessories like the phone, play kitchen and chalkboards. Assembly is made straightforward because the side walls of the cottage have been flattened and can fold up into place when positioned in your garden, it’s quite heavy though, so you might need a few hands.
Read the instructions carefully and try to enjoy screwing in the many screws, it’s worth the little bit of effort it takes when you see the constructed cottage in your yard you’ll feel just as great a sense of achievement as your kids do when they serve you their first pretend meal in their very own cottage.
Backyard discovery Sweetwater playhouse
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Backyard discoveries is currently the manufacturers closest product design to the Kidcraft Cedar summit cottage. On first inspection this wooden playhouse does remind me of a small garden shed and doesn’t have the elaborately shaped roof like the Cedar cottage.
After looking at the design more closely you’ll see that the wide windows, stable style waist height door and the lovely wooden construction with contrasting roof and main frame colours are detailed and high quality.
There are some cute flower pot holders on the front wall beside the door and a side snack / serving window. Inside your kids while find a number of exciting play accessories. There is a sink, stove, phone, pots pans and kitchen utensils. This isn’t only a play cottage but also an exciting kitchen.
Children love to pretend the Sweetwater playhouse is there very own restaurant. One child might be the waiter or waitress and use the phone to take orders while the other children can be chefs or customers.
Assembly of the high quality wooden panels is easy if you download the app that Backyard discoveries have uploaded a set of virtual 36 instructions on to.
This is a really clever idea that I haven’t seen used before and really speed up assembly time and is easier to understand if you don’t like the challenge of figuring out regular 2D instructions.
Each section of the play house comes in modules and you’ll have to screw them together carefully. It can take up to an hour or two if you aren’t experienced building garden play equipment but once it’s up and ready for the kids to play in, I’m sure you’ll love the design and quality of the wood and overall look of the playhouse.
Now let’s take a look at some unique outdoor playhouse designs from Kidkraft and Backyard Discoveries. The playhouse made by Backyard Discoveries is a Victorian style property and the Kidkraft offering is a modern picnic style playhouse.
Backyard Discoveries Victorian Inn Playhouse
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Backyard discoveries are sending your children back in time with this creation. There is so much that impressed me with this playhouse that has been designed with an epic attention to detail, style and colour tones. Before I tell you about the best bits, let me tell you what accessories are included in this set. There is a play kitchen, telephone, cutting board, knife, fruit, vegetables, pretend food and more!.
Okay, these accessories are a lot of fun and there is a big enough selection to keep your kids minds wandering and imagining all sorts of exciting play scenarios they can act out, but I really want to tell you about the house itself. I love it! and i’m considering moving in myself.
The cedar wood is absolutely stunning quality and the paintwork with tones of rustic green, brown and red is devine. Not only do the wooden panels and steep roof look homely but there is also a bay window, English style garden bench and a half door entrance way in the style of a gate or stable door with hinges.
Once assembled this playhouse is spectacular, but you must take care to build it slowly and be careful not to stand on any panels as they can break if you trod on them during construction. The completed structure is stable and solid but can take 3 or 4 hours to put together. If you place the playhouse on grass be sure to find a level area of grass.
KidKraft Modern wood playhouse
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The Kidkraft modern wood play house offers a very different play experience from the other Kidkraft and backyard discovery playhouses above. Now it’s time to take a hike in the woods and stop off at this wooden cabin where you can eat a picnic on the picnic bench attached to the hut.
The Kidkraft Modern wood play house is much more of a secret den style hideaway with smaller windows and a large wooden door that closes fully. There is an outdoor grill where kids can pretend to barbecue your lunch for you. The open window ledge provides you with a nice platform to put the barbecue food onto and there is even a chalk board outside for writing out your menu or any other fun drawings and messages your children can think of.
On the other side of the wooden hut is the bench and seats. You can order food at the other side of the play hut and then walk around and sit down on the bench next to a red curtain. This cute red curtain opens up and your children can place the food onto the bench table from inside the hut.
One of the best features of this hut is that it is more enclosed and children will feel like it is a secret hideaway for them where they can open the door and curtain when they want to interact with people outside.
The wood is a light colour, smooth texture and is reinforced and weather resistant, although i don’t know how well the roof will hold up in the long term when exposed to harsh weather conditions you may need to add some additional protection to it.
Comparing Backyard Discovery vs Kidkraft Swingsets
Both backyard Discovery and Kidkraft sell some exciting swing sets. Backyard discovery definitely have the wider selection of large swing sets though, with some amazing playgrounds that wouldn’t look out of place at your local park. I want to show you the Kidkraft Brooksville Swingset made of cedar wood and the absolutely massive and amazing Backyard Discovery Skyfort II.
Kidkraft Brooksville Swingset
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So far you’ve seen how Kidkraft have sculpted some lovely wooden play structures and now it’s time to see how they combine a play house structure with swings and a slide in their popular 2 storey Brooksville swing set product. The main structure is a 2 storey clubhouse with a colourful climbing wall leading up from the ground to 1st floor. Once upstairs children can play in the house or slide down the big wavy green slide.
Downstairs is another indoor play house area and a large window shaded by a cute window shade. Below this window is a bench so you can sit on the bench and talk through the window to anybody inside, creating the possibility of making it into a mini restaurant or cafe and playing all sorts of fun role play games.
Connected to the clubhouse structure is a large frame which supports three swings. Two of the swings are regular bucket style swings and the other is a premium glider swing for 2 kids to swing together. The glider swing is by far the most fun if you have 2 children playing together they can laugh and swing back and forth at the same time.
Make sure you have plenty of room in your garden and lots of patience for constructing this swing set as its 163 inches long, 137″ wide and 114 inches tall.
Backyard Discovery skyfort II swingset
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I don’t know where to start with this summary, because the Backyard Discovery SkyFort swingset is absolutely incredible. You are definitely going to have to splash some cash to see your children playing on this big beast of a playground in your back yard.
At 21 ft long this play structure has a whole load of exciting things for kids to do, it is even big enough to play on as an obstacle course.
Your children can start by climbing the ladders at the far end of the skyfort structure. At the top there is a set of monkey bars so they can swing their way to the centre cedar wood fort. This fort is awesome because it has 2 floors. On the ground floor is a picnic bench, where your children can sit and fuel up with some tasty lunch before another play session.
From the ground floor you can either swing across the monkey bars, climb up the climbing wall or use the step ladder to climb up into the fort and access the playhouse area.
What makes the playhouse really cool is the outdoor balcony look out tower you can climb up onto from the playhouse through a small opening. From this crows nest area there is a telescope you can use to look down into your garden and beyond. When you are up in the fort you can slide down a big green 10 ft long wavy slide back down to the ground.
Walk a short distance and under the crows nest lookout tower you’ll see the swing section. There is a flyer swing for 2 people and 2 bucket swings, just like the Kidskraft swingset above.
Figuring out how to assemble the Skyfort can take some time, which is why you must use the 3D virtual app Backyard Discovery recommend. You can point the camera and see an outline of where everything should be. This doesn’t make the screwing and bolting any less time consuming but it will ensure you don’t make mistakes and spend hours trying to figure out where all the wood and metal parts go.
Final thoughts about Backyard Discovery and Kidkraft
Now you’ve seen a selection of some of my favourite backyard playhouses made by Backyard Discovery and Kidkraft I hope you have a better idea which one your kids will enjoy the most.
These playhouses and swing sets can be big investments and take time to build, but with loving care during assembly and after you’ll have an exciting playground or house your children will be able to play in all summer long for many years.
Some toys are for short term use but both Kidkraft and Backyard Discovery have created some wonderful play equipment that is very high quality and will give your children lots of exciting experiences and large structures they can use their imagination to go on lots of adventures on.
