TP Activity Toys Twizzler Rope Swing > Reviews (1)

I'm all for kids playing outside as much as possible - for one thing it wears them out, and for another they really enjoy it. As outdoor toys go it doesn't get much simpler than this item - it's essentially a stick on a rope, with a twist - literally - the handle is on ball bearings and so can spin through 360 degrees.

The Twizzler Rope Swing is for designed to be used with TP climbing sets, details at the end of this review, but though the manufacturer says they don't advise hanging it from a tree it's hard to see why you couldn't safely attach it to a solid branch - a friend has one attached to a non-TP wooden frame and it works perfectly well.

Kids seem to really enjoy dangling from this and using it to swing and twirl with. You can either spin round and round at rather an impressive speed or swing with it back and forth whilst hanging on by your arms, or do a combination of the two! The handle, which is about the length of a ruler and has bumps on it so it can be gripped by little hands, swings round through a full 360 degrees really easily. A child can build up quite a speed twirling round on this swing. We have ours attached to a Sherwood Climbing frame along with a few other items, this is the cheapest (I paid £27.50 from Amazon) but one of the most popular of the different swings we have. As the rope is 235cm long (it's easily adjustable via a D-ring) there's plenty of scope for children of varying heights - we have found it works best if just at reachable on tiptoe height. I do think the age 3 guideline is spot on, as some upper body strength is really needed to get best use from this, you will need a bit of room around the swing for it to be used to its full advantage.

The handle part is made of very strong plastic, which is billed as UV resistant - I can confirm that this is true, ours looks pretty well good as new after quite considerable use and weathering. My one slight criticism of this item would be that when you get it in the box you have to assemble the handle with some screws and bolts, I can see no reason why you would have to do this and why it couldn't come fully assembled, though it does mean that before you put it all together you can see the strong metal inner core. It's a well made item, with the tiny exception of the TP stickers which came with it which were supposed to be fitted onto the handle and lasted all of about 2 minutes!

This is a minor criticism however, apart from this the rest of it is reassuringly solid, and the nylon rope looks fairly natural and stands up to rough play, and never gets twisted due to the way the handle is designed to spin. The manufacturer describes the rope as "rot resistant", and it's true that all of the ropes on our frame still look pretty good after 3 long winters under oak trees, they aren't frayed or yucky looking in the slightest. Our swing attaches via a D-ring on our frame, but if you don't have this on your frame there are instructions on how to attach the item safely. There's not really much to go wrong, and most importantly this swing set definitely gets the thumbs up from every child I've ever seen play with it - it's just great fun!

If you have, or are considering getting a TP frame, I fully recommend this item, ours has had literally hours of use and was an instant hit the moment we let them loose on it. Highly recommended.

Further info:

Expect to pay £20-30 for this, available from Amazon, John Lewis and all stockists on the manufacturer's website.

Suitable for use with "with the TP Challenger Steel Climbing Frame, the Sherwood Deck and with the Kingswood Accessory Arm when the Kingswood Tower is in its full height format" - manufacturer's info (the frames are of varying prices, with the Kingswood being the most expensive.

Link to manufacturers website with a video of a child using the swing:

http://www.tptoys.com/Outdoor-Toys/
outdoor-toy-accessories/Swinging-Accesso​ries/Twiz zler2/TP946