Every kid loves playing in a castle. Kings and knights, princesses and damsels in distress, castles bring medieval romanticism into the back yard and into our kid’s imaginations. Dragons and all kinds of other threats are all in a day’s play with a great castle playhouse, and having the perfect setting for the playhouse can make it even more real and more fun for the kids, and the parents.

Having a large, clean area for the playhouse is important. A castle playhouse has a lot of realistic aspects like rocky feeling exteriors, turrets, and even hidden rooms and escape slides. This means having a "realistic" play area outside is important too. You can make walls to hide behind, get plastic boulders to play behind.

Another cool thing, if you’ve got the room for it and don’t mind a little landscaping modification for the sake of a cool play area is to cut a two foot wide groove around the castle that’s about six inches deep. Fill this with sand, and you’ve created a sand moat around the castle. And, of course, with kid’s imaginations, that moat becomes filled with lava or monsters even.

Creating that perfect castle playhouse setting has a lot more to do with setting the scene in your children’s mind than a lot of add-ons. Telling them the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, or even "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court" can do a lot to give kids that perfect scene in their minds. Having the toys and playhouses to fuel the imagination and the stories to fill in the blanks means kids have a lot of ways to truly enjoy a castle playhouse.

Kids enjoy being outside in the fresh air and sunshine once they’re pried away from the TV set. Having great stories and great outside toys to play with encourages them to go outside and play, expanding their imaginations and giving their bodies much needed exercise. Not only will the exercise help them be healthy, but will also ensure they eat well and sleep well . And with them playing in a safe environment in the back yard, that enables parents to accomplish some tasks around the house that are just impossible to do with a toddler underfoot. Take a look at the great playhouses available and see just how cool that castle playhouse is. You’ll be amazed at how cool they look, all the neat features and you may even want to go back and be a kid yourself so you can play in it too.