To ask for your children’s garden play area ideas?

[Testhelppp]

We have a very large, flat garden and are wanting to turn an area into a children’s play area.

Some ideas below but would love other ideas from anyone who may have done the same!

Considering artificial grass or rubber chips for the flooring - any idea which is best?

What sort of age do DC stop bothering with outdoor play equipment like this?

We have transformed the garden into a big play area for the children, seperated into sections. We didn't have a large budget (or huge garden).

We opted for outdoor carpet with shock pad underlay for the climbing frame area instead of artificial grass( I had read up on artificial grass becoming hot in the summer and the plastic/ wooden chippings drag through the grass/ house) we opted to use sand for the water play area. My eldest is 10 and still uses the equipment!

Artificial grass is horrible - it's like an outdoor plastic carpet you cannot wash; it will be grim very quickly, and it's bad for the environment. If I had lots of space, I'd just have a swing set over grass, properly fastened into the ground so children can keep enjoying it when they're older. I think the little slides/climbing frames don't get much use after 5 or 6 (but lucky child to have them!).

FWIW I have a big garden and the things I've found had real longevity in terms of play have been more building-based - we had lots of log offcuts, we had long planks, we had various stuff that would make into dens. It seemed to work well and was very simple to add to/remove when no longer wanted.