Landscaping For Childrens Play Areas
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. It may turn out that your area could become a favorite hangout of the neighborhood kids, which might be a mixed blessing. It’s generally quite simple to design a garden plan with at least a small amount of play area for the younger folks in 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. An area that can be seen from the kitchen window is ideal. There are a lot of toys that you can go out and buy for play areas. However, young kids can often have as much fun creating their own games using nothing more than rocks, dirt, and other natural objects. A simple sand pit or box, with cover when not being used to keep the neighbor’s critters out, will keep small children busy and playing for hours. Place some simple materials like small stones in the sandbox. (Later, you can change the sandbox to a garden.) An old log makes a good climbing frame, as can quite a small tree, especially if it has strong branches not too far from the ground.
Older children enjoy playing further away from the house, but they still need a safe area created in the front yard or backyard landscaping where they can enjoy imaginative play. Older children love to use their imagination, so don’t provide them with a treehouse immediately. Start with the simple stuff, using some board nailed to a tree as steps or even a piece of knotted rope to help climb into the trees. The tree can then be anything. A house, plane, ship, or anything the imagination can come up with.
An area of grass can be a good addition for playing as it is soft enough to fall down on. If this idea doesn’t quite go with the rest of your landscaping, give bark chunks or chips a try as a cushion under play equipment.
An patch of concrete slab will almost always be a favorite and well used spot as the children 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 those other skills may even include gardening, if you give them a small, sunny place of their very own.
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Tags: childrens play areas, landscaping for kids, landscaping ideas, recreational landscaping