Every home with children should have an area somewhere outdoors for them to play. Providing an outdoor play area for children brings lots of rewards: the children love it, parents know the children are safe and happy, and the rest of the garden is (usually) left to grow without too much disturbance. You may find that if you create a nice area, all the kids in the neighborhood will be hanging out at your place, which may or may not be a good thing. 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 small kids, a play area should be closer to the home so the children can be visible but not feel too restricted. Somewhere that is in plain view of a kitchen window would be perfect. A lot of manmade toys like swings and slides are made for play areas. However, young kids are really good at coming up with their own games using nothing more than sticks, 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.) Old logs make a good climbing frames and so can a small tree, especially if it has strong branches that are closer to the ground.

Older kids like their play areas to be a little more away from the house. However, it should still be a highly visible spot 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. 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. Then the tree can be a house, a plane or a pirate ship, as the occasion demands.

An area of grass can be a good addition for playing as it is soft enough to fall down on. If this doesn’t fit the rest of your landscaping plans, consider using bark chunks or chips as a surface cushion under play equipment which can help ease the pain of those falls and tumbles that are bound to happen.

A hard concrete patch will also be invaluable as the children get older. This is where they’ll break in the rollerblades, learn to ride a bicycle, play jacks, jump rope, and learn and play many childhood games. And the kids may even discover gardening if you give them a nice little space of garden that’s all their own.

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Filed under: Landlord Property Management

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