Advice please - garden surface for young children

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We are planning to redo the rear garden. We live in a hilly area, so previous design has divided the garden into 3 sections due to elevation of the ground. 1) We plan to pave the front section right in front of the rear of the house so that we can sit down as a family to enjoy a barbecue in summer. 2) The middle section was done last year - we simply removed some low trees/bushes and laid grass. 3) Now the part in question is the far back section which is the longest (narrow though). It needs to be redone as it has been neglected by us for many years. The ground has roots of weeds and some grass with some dead bushes/low trees on the sides.

I can't make up my mind if I want to lay grass again and plant some flowers around or to pave at least half in the middle. I'm inclined to pave it mostly so that the kids can play freely without worrying about damaging the lawn (like the middle section). Obviously, if mostly paved, it would require less maintenance too. But DH seems to think it's natural that kids play on grassy area. I just can't imagine when they do water play or paint outside, how messy the grass would become. (The front section is the smallest area. So even it's paved, the kids might still want to venture to other area for messy play.)

Any advice please?

Grass. Children always naturally gravitate to grass. It’s also more forgiving when they fall over, pleasanter to sit on, and cooler in hot weather.

Paving isn’t completely maintenance free - you’ll still have to sweep it and weed between the slabs.

Grass is absolutely fine for water play etc, assuming the drainage isn't awful. If you get paint on it just chuck some water on it. You can put a large paddling pool on a lawn, which would probably be punctured by a hard surface. You could insert a sandpit and easily fill it in later - spilt sand on grass is no problem whatever.

It does depend on the size, of course - a tiny patch of grass might become a mudbath. Obviously you want a normal tough type of grass mix, not a fine bowling green standard.
If you have a lot of space then part grass and part hard standing is ideal - I wished we'd had enough of the latter to allow for scooter, roller skates etc.

I think the main use DD had for our hard standing was to use chalks on it - hopscotch etc or just drawing.

grass. Paving is hideous and needs maintenance and is an ecological disaster as well as being a horrible surfact to play on.

Paving gets really messy after water play, whereas the water just sinks into the ground if you have grass. Paint won't harm the grass - it has the capacity to regrow - whereas it could stain paving.

And there's the ecological argument. Your little patch of extra paving won't have much effect on its own, but added to all the other bits of paving, as well as reducing the area available to wildlife in all its forms it contributes to the severity of flash flooding, which is why you now have to obtain planning permission for more than 5sq m of non-porous driveway or paving in a front garden.

I would go grass. Your kids won't be tiny for long so sand and water play is quite short term. What would you like there in a few years - climbing frame? Flowers? Football goal? I would only pave it if you're thinking of a seating area in the longer term. Paving is expensive, if they trash the grass then easy enough to reseed.

We got artificial grass. It's comformtable to sit on and the children much prefer it over paving. We didn't have any lawn, and I would really recommend this to any family with small children. We now don't have muddy foot prints in the kitchen (linked to the garden). It's also never waterlogged and can be used all year round. We are in a very clay heavy area, and previously we couldn't use the lawn at all during winter.

Just to explain. We have half paving and half artificial grass. Paved area is for barbeque and we also had a sand table. We had raised beds for plants.

I wouldn't think mud would be too much of an issue in what the OP describes, as theres paving next to the house. We have turtle mats at all doors anyway because of the dog, and always take shoes off on them.

Grass for handstands, throwing, playing chase or parachute games. Do you have paved steps? Because they are a nightmare for A&E trips. However, as long as small children are always properly supervised and parents don't stupidly participate in a spectacularly dumb jumping game like we did they should be ok

artificial grass is plastic. Environmentally it's just as bad as paving the whole lot - it stops insect life, birds, plants that support them. Where's the joy in a lawn that your kids can't blow a dandelion clock? It's right up there in my Room 101 of Things That Should Be Banned (on taste grounds too)

I agree grass is best.

We also have a hilly garden and my big garden regret is that there's nowhere flat enough for a paddling pool.

I have two young children and when I redo my garden, I will have a patio, large section of grass, and a wide, smooth path all the way around the garden, for ride-ons. I reckon my oldest would happily go round and round on the ride-on car or tractor for ages!

Lots of grass because it's good to have space for a paddling pool, and I'm still in two minds about buying swings/slide/climbing frame but if I do it would be better to put them on grass.

We have a covered sand pit as well but I think that's better on a hard surface.

I advise strongly against decking because it's a slippery death trap, not that you mentioned decking but just in case you were considering it.

I'd go for grass too. It's a much more pleasant surface to play on.

Thanks to everyone for the wisdom. Some really good points!