Need Garden Natural Playground Ideas!

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To keep it simple, what I have in mind is a mixture of the following ideas. But I don't know if they are practical in an average residential garden (smallish) and if the maintenance would be tricky.

If anyone has other ideas for small children's natural play in a garden, please share!

1. Mulch for base - But I'm worried that the mulch might attracts insects and let crawlies thrive underneath so probably not ok for residential garden with a young child?

1. Small pebbles / gravels laid above part of the mulch to create a pebble trailing for young child to mimic construction site - Would this pebble bed/trailing create any problem?

1. Sand pit mixed with the above pebble theme to give diversity of the scene for construction play. - But do sand attracts animals and have to be covered up when not in use?

1. A few larger rocks decoratively laid aside the pebble trailing to finish the theme.

Are these ideas practical at all? Anyone has experience with these ideas at home and can share?

If anyone has other ideas for small children's natural play in a garden, please share! (I can't use the fence as part of the play as they are shared with my neighbour.)

How old is the child?

I would think about an area for play at standing height i.e a table or a bench. Could be a mud kitchen, could be used for potting seeds etc

I have no idea about mulch 😂 but don't you want insects in the garden? What harm do you think they might do? All the better for mini beast hunts?

The local cat and fox population will turn it into toilet especially any sand if left uncovered.

@CorpusCallosum

How old is the child?

I would think about an area for play at standing height i.e a table or a bench. Could be a mud kitchen, could be used for potting seeds etc

I have no idea about mulch 😂 but don't you want insects in the garden? What harm do you think they might do? All the better for mini beast hunts?

He's turning two. So would be a few good years of use. About the insects, I know... Just even the sight of woodlice can make me shiver! But yes, I suppose kids love them!

Sounds a bit boring for ab2 year old. Follow the pebble trail once or twice then just some sand to play with.
How about a water and sand table that you can cover when not in use and a few simple toys like a pop up tent on the grass, a rocker and ride on and some ghastly brightly coloured little tikes stuff that all kids seem to love

😂 then maybe a natural play space isn't for you!

Second a sand and water table. He'll love that, easy to cover for cat/fox control and far fewer beasties 🙌

Stick a bird feeder in the corner and get them helping to weed and grow a few seeds to cover the nature bit then buy them a water and sand table and a little tykes cosy coupe for a bit more fun😈

My LO loves playing with gravel and sand, but mostly he likes to move them about with his trucks so I would think about how you are going to stop them all getting mixed up. You definitely need to cover a sandpit when not in use. What about balancing logs, mud kitchen, willow den or tunnel, some sort of water play.

My main thought is you'll end up with a mix of mulch, gravel and sand all together which might not be ideal! I've also been thinking of what to do for my DD. We have a water table which she loves, and may also add a sand pit. Would definitely need a cover though to keep the cats and foxes out. We have also considered a mud kitchen.

My 2 year old is constantly putting stones in their mouth.

May not fit your brief, but something that gets a lot of use in my garden and isn't too unsightly is an old tractor tyre a bit less that half buried upwards (so the arc of the tyre is above ground). My kids mountaineer over it, jump off it, crawl under it. It can be the basis of a camp, and also is a comfortable place for an adult to sit too. We have a sandpit which has a cover but I tend to leave it uncovered for much of the summer and the local cats leave it alone, but that's prob because it's above ground and right next to the house on the terrace.

@Imicola

My main thought is you'll end up with a mix of mulch, gravel and sand all together which might not be ideal! I've also been thinking of what to do for my DD. We have a water table which she loves, and may also add a sand pit. Would definitely need a cover though to keep the cats and foxes out. We have also considered a mud kitchen.

Yup, this. My 2 year old loves picking up gravel/small stones, putting them in pots or tubs (or down her clothes), carrying them around and dropping them wherever. Small plantpots have to be removed or they get used to dig.

The pebble trail and mulch will be mixed together in seconds IME!

I agree that sand needs to be covered to stop it becoming a cat toilet.

I think you'd be better off with grass and mud as a play area tbh and lots of natural resources (stones, sticks, plants etc) to be used in open ways. A mud kitchen is really good.

Thanks, everyone for the input. Now I realise I need to think a lot harder about this plan. At the moment, what he plays theost in the garden are a shallow plant tray for water play and two pieces of guttering half pipe as slides for stones and water.

All ideas are appreciated and I will give everything another thought...

Op, search for forest school
You will find lots of inspiration
In my nursery we have bark down and a mud kitchen
We also have a huge tractor tyre filled with bark fur digging, great fur finding worms
We also have logs and tree stumps, great for climbing and balancing

*for not fur

If you have space on a wall a chalkboard would be good - just paint some mdf with blackboard paint and hang up. Ours rotted at the top due to rainwater ingress after about 3 years but it was so cheap and easy to replace. It got lots of use for pictures, letters etc when our children were younger.

I'd keep things simple so no sand pit. Just a mud garden + plastic toy diggers

logs or tyres for a seat / thing to stand on would be great.

I'd also have something to hide behind - a trellis with a plant growing up or similar that can make a den that a child can peep out of.

Get some old drain pipes, large pebbles, cable reels. The children at nursery love rolling them down and into the cable reel. Obviously this needs supervising as they do put pebbles into mouths.

A mud kitchen set up is good, especially with a play house or den attached.

Children love sand. A sandpit with cover is a great idea.

Water, sand and mud are enjoyed by most toddlers. Mulch is fine and children love bug hunts. There isn’t much that will hurt them except bees or wasps.

Outside you need to keep sand on the ground or it fills with water even under a tarpaulin (condensation due to temperature differential). So keep the sand in a lidded, ground based sandpit even if you want to scoop into a play table during the day.

Have somewhere to stash boxes you can keep stocked with sticks, pinecones etc. You can get mini brick laying sets for building plus chalks, paints etc to go mad with outside. I kept our baby bath for messy play outdoors.

When they are a little older, wool to wind round sticks and make mazes on the ground is loads of fun (some supervision needed)