Want garden bouncing to be a bit safer for your little ones? Here’s what to check before you buy a trampoline for a child in nursery or reception, plus a rules poster you can print and pin up by the net.
Four to seven is an awkward age on a trampoline. Kids have bags of energy and very little idea where the edge is. Sort out the right frame and a short set of rules early on and you’ll deal with far fewer grazed knees.
Measure your garden first
Find a tape measure before you start browsing. You need the trampoline’s footprint plus clear space on every side, so measure the flattest bit of lawn you’ve got. Then look up. Low branches and washing lines are easy to miss until someone is bouncing under them.
Bigger isn’t always better with small children. A four-year-old has no use for a 15ft mat, and a smaller frame leaves room for the sandpit and the bikes. Size up if older brothers or sisters will be jumping as well.
Round trampolines are the usual pick for young families. The shape tends to send jumpers back towards the middle. That helps while they’re still learning to control a bounce.
What to look for in a trampoline for 4 to 7 year olds
Check the age rating first. It tells you whether the bounce and the net height were designed with small children in mind. A trampoline built for teenagers can be far too springy for a five-year-old.
Then think about getting on and off. Kids this age insist on climbing in by themselves. How high does the mat sit? Is there a ladder in the box? One you can lift away afterwards also stops a toddler sibling wandering in alone.
Assembly will probably be your job on a Saturday afternoon. Some newer designs do away with nuts and bolts, so there are fewer small parts to lose in the grass.
At this age the net matters more than anything else. Younger children lose their footing near the edge far more often than older ones, so look for a tall enclosure with an entrance that closes behind them. As an example, the Ultra 2 garden trampoline is a spring model that suits ages 4 to 7, and its net stands 191 cm tall all the way round. Vuly is an Australian company. It has its trampolines certified to EN 71-14, the European safety standard for home trampolines, as well as the Australian standard AS4989. In the UK, EN 71-14 is the one to look for on the box (it’s published here as BS EN 71-14).
Wherever it goes, keep roughly 2 metres of open ground on every side. Peg the frame down if your garden catches the wind.
A net keeps children on the mat. It does nothing about two of them clashing heads mid-bounce, so an adult in the garden still matters. RoSPA’s advice is one person on the trampoline at a time. That’s also the rule kids argue with most, which is where the poster comes in.
Free printable trampoline rules poster
Each rule is a few words long with a simple picture next to it, so children who can’t read yet can still follow it. There’s nothing to cut out. It fits on a single sheet of A4 and prints fine in colour or black and white.
The rules are:
- One jumper at a time.
- Take your shoes off before you climb in.
- Close the net door before you bounce.
- Jump in the middle of the mat.
- No flips or somersaults.
- Climb out slowly. Never jump off.
- Only jump when a grown-up says yes.
Cross one out if it doesn’t suit your family, or add your own. Plenty of parents write in “Wait your turn on the ladder” once friends start coming round.
No printer? Copy the list onto A4 with a thick marker and let your child draw the pictures.
How to use the poster with your kids
Go through the rules together before the first bounce. Then ask your child to show you a couple of them on the trampoline itself, like pointing to the middle of the mat or zipping the net door shut. Five-year-olds remember what they’ve done far better than what they’ve been told.
Pin the poster at your child’s eye level by the entrance. A fence post works. So does the back door. Slide it into a plastic wallet or laminate it, because it will get rained on.
Before it goes up, hand over the felt tips and let your child colour in the pictures. Children stick to rules they helped make. A five-year-old who coloured in “one jumper at a time” will happily remind a visiting cousin of it.
The rules will start slipping once the novelty wears off. When that happens, take the poster down and go through it again. Do the same in early spring, after the trampoline has sat under wet leaves all winter.
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