Outdoor equiptment

[SillyMillysMummy]

I have a smallish space that I am intending to put outdoor equiptment on. I already have a wooden play house, sandpit, tikes car and rocking horse but I was thinking of getting either something like a little tikes 8 in 1 playground or maybe some age 3-8 monkey bars. My mindees are only small at the moment but i wondered what others had, any suggestions? We are directly opposite a park so dont want for outside space, but i want to be able to use this everyday in the nicer weather

oh, or maybe a trampoline?

I use to have a big climbing frame, but it got very old , I now have a huge toy box full of balls, hoops, ride ons, scooters, paint brushes (for water painting , bubbles, ds is getting a basketball net for his birthday so I know my before and after schools will love that.

Have you got room for a sensory patch?veggie patch and stuff? I am more for the nature environment at the moment after going for a great course. Also I find the children enjoy going to the park more now I don;t have the climbing frame. We also make dens outside, with blankets, fabic ohh I love outside

don;t forget your sand and water play

alongside the playhouse, sandpit, trikes, frames etc, it sounds really silly, but my cm has a few hanging saucepans and wooden spoons. ds spends hours hitting them! and one of those big fabric tarpaulins that they all hold, float up and down and run underneath.

agree with berryred - a veg patch or for planting daffs would be great and kids would love it!

great ideas, keep them coming I dont have any grassed area as such, the open area is bark chipped, and if I created an open planting type area then my bunnies would demolish it but I like the idea of the pots and pans

copper piping makes great wind chimes! can do them in a row fixed different sizes for different sounds

chalk paint too, trying to think haha

I bought some Quadro last year which was a great success. Adabtable to different ages and comes apart for storage.

Oooh, SillyMillysMummy sorry to hijack your thread, but how do you find your bark chippings? I'm trying to decide what to do with our garden (8m x 5m) as has odd paving slabs with gravel in between and I was trying to decide whether to replace it with bark or lawn. Oh and what age are your mindees, as I expect that'd make a difference to what you need? (My LO is 5 months and I'll be minding from when he's 10 months).

Now - suggestions to answer your post... not sure how much you have to spend, but I'd suspect that you could get lots of small fun things for the cost of one big climbing frame - which there probably is in the park opposite? Could you have a raised bed (or deep builders tray) of some kind for the kids to dig in? Then they'd get to dig without trashing your garden/upsetting the bunnies. Also, maybe something to help develop balance - like posts/plank to walk along, or those stilts that are like upside-down pots with ropes to hold, or wobble boards? Then maybe different kinds of bats and balls? Oh and a shed to store it all in!

Moshie - Urrrrgh! i hate Quadro with a passion, although thats more to do with having to change it around in school (when heavily pregnant) when the instructions had been lost and the kids had used screw-drivers to gauge out the fixing bits, so not the easiest thing in the world... probably its fab in a smaller setting. ;)

climbing frames are a bit limiting in terms of imaginative play
we have one at the nursery where I work and it takes up a huge amount of space but the children prefer to play with the old tyres, milk and bread crates, planks of wood, bits of fabric and the old hoses from hoovers, they get more out of open ended resources.

hmm, what to do.... money is very limited so I think my intention is to buy a smaller plastic little tikes type slide/climber and then progress as time goes on to digging boxes etc. My space really is very small.

Leeloo1, my space is around 8ft square, the bark chipping has been really sucessful actually, needs topping up now but considering it was a jungle before I can live with that. Lawn was never really an option but if I hadnt had rabbits I would have thought about rubber chippings.

Thanks for that, glad to know its worked well, as it'd be easier to maintain than lawn (although possibly edible for small people?).

Sounds like you've decided on a really good compromise! Can you apply for an EYFS grant? Just I've been told that in our area there is no money towards setting up as a childminder but that you can apply for a grant to improve the outdoor area (no idea if it'd be easy/successful of course) - not sure if this is universal?!

Oh and you have a lot to answer for!! ;) I looked up the climbing frame you mentioned and that got me looking at oustide play equipment and I'm now obsessed by the idea of getting a swing for our garden as I'm really surprised by how cheap they are. lol, you've created a monster!

I am looking forward to this summer as it will be the 1st one without the swing in the garden as it broke last year

I had a run of mindees being hit in the face from them swinging it and it coming back too fast and them not moving out of the way!

I have a basic climbing frame that I have just brought some fabric for to make it into a den this summer, if the weather is nice.

Thanks for that, glad to know its worked well, as it'd be easier to maintain than lawn (although possibly edible for small people?).

Sounds like you've decided on a really good compromise! Can you apply for an EYFS grant? Just I've been told that in our area there is no money towards setting up as a childminder but that you can apply for a grant to improve the outdoor area (no idea if it'd be easy/successful of course) - not sure if this is universal?!

Oh and you have a lot to answer for!! ;) I looked up the climbing frame you mentioned and that got me looking at oustide play equipment and I'm now obsessed by the idea of getting a swing for our garden as I'm really surprised by how cheap they are. lol, you've created a monster!

sorry, not sure what happened there?!?