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Planning A Play Area In Your Landscaping
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Every home with children needs somewhere outdoors for the children to play. For those with children, making an outdoor play area part of the landscaping is always a good idea: the children are happy with a place to play, parents are happy because they know the kids are safe, and it keeps the kids out of the rest of the garden. In fact, you may find that if you provide a very attractive spot, all the neighborhood kids will end up at your place, which can be a mixed blessing. It is usually reasonably easy to adapt landscape plans so that at least a small play area can be provided for the younger members of the family.
For very small children, the area needs to be close to the house so the children can be closely supervised, but not feel too restrained. Somewhere that is in plain view of a kitchen window would be perfect. While there are a lot of toys like swings, slides, and such available for an area like this, young children still like to think up their own games and can be very creative with natural materials. A basic simple sandbox, with cover when not being used to keep neighborhood critters out, will keep small children busy for hours. Place some natural materials like rocks or sea shells in the sandbox. (When the kids are grown, you can change the sandbox into a raised garden bed.) Small trees with strong branches close to the ground and old logs works good as climbing frames.
The older kids will prefer their play areas be a little further away from the house. Still, they should always be in a very visible place that has been specifically planned into the front yard design or backyard landscaping ideas. Older kids love to use their imaginations so don’t give them a treehouse right away. Begin with the simple, possibly using some boards nailed to a tree as steps or even a piece of rope to climb up into the trees. Then the tree can be anything from a house to a plane to anything of the imagination.
A patch of grass in the garden area can be great for everyday play – soft enough to fall down on and possibly even long enough to hide in. If this just doesn’t seem to go with your landscaping ideas, consider bark mulch as a good surface underneath play areas, and especially those with a trampoline, as a cushion from falls.
A concrete pad will also serve many uses and purposes as the kids grow up. This is where they will wheel dolls in prams, try out the rollerblades, learn to ride a tricycle and, later, a bike, and practice various other skills. And if you give the kids a sunny place in the yard that’s all their own, who knows, they may even take up gardening.
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