child friendly garden ideas please?

[REIDmylips]

WE have a 20 month old ds. We have a bigish garden. It is currently mainly grass, with a small patio area. We are thinking of replacing some of the grass to make more of a play space for DS. I know grass is a good covering already for a child but it gets quite wet and we would like to put sand pit etc out for him.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

Thankyou x

I'd keep mostly grass if I were you. You coulddo a sand pit but make sure you keep it tightly covered when not in use and be prepared for it to get rank after a few months and need replacing. After 6 years of trying child-friendly ideas out in our garden, I've settled for:
Lots of grass
No bark - it stank and cats shitted in it
Sand in a small sand and water table (easy to control and replace)
A climbing frame with slide that started off as a toddler-friendly height and then extended to bigger-kid height
No swing (unless you can concrete/secure the legs properly)
A small trampoline on the grass
Along one of the beds at the side of the garden I laid some turf and some artificial grass, little pots, lots of coloured (safe) glass and stones; put round mirrors on the wall and made a fairy garden with ornaments and stone figures, plastic animals and a little pond (you could do one with a theme your ds is keen on)

thankyou moomin, we will still have loads og grass for climbing frame, slide trampoline et. i just wanted somewhere for the sand/water table, chalk paints etc

I think then I'd go a for a paved or ridged deck area then for the table and easels and all that. You could also get nice rubber inlocking mats from elc that can be put down on the concrete area as long as they don't get left out all summer! I'm thinking about doing this too.

thats a brilliant idea, i didnt think of that - the interlocking mats i mean. We were toying with the idea of decking but think we are swaying towards the idea of flagging it.

bump

I'd go for paving rather than decking, which has a tendency to go mossy and slimy sometimes but I suppose that depends on how it's maintained.

If paved then you can use for chalks, ball bouncing, car racing etc more effectively than on decking

definately paving decking can get slippy when wet.

never thought of the chalk and car racing on decking! good point.

My two are keen on stones! They collect them from where I have placed them artistically and transport them round the garden in their buckets and push along cars creating their own private stashes around the garden. They also like the area of one flower bed where they are allowed to dig.

Before you lag flags you should remember that water needs somewhere to drain off. If your current grass can't come with it, paving may cause more problems. Putting down bark isn't a bad idea but I wouldn't recommend this at the expense of the lawn. Your ds is only little now but if he's anything like my two it won't be long before he wants to play football/rugby/cricket in the garden. They grow up really fast!

Cope, not come!

Another good piece of advice I was given when we first planned our garden was to build a path for as long as the garden would allow and make it straightish if possible, for little ones when they first ride trikes, scooters, bikes etc. We've got a long thin garden and the path has been great for just this purpose.

Second the advice about stones as well - a never-ending source of delight for the kids(!)

Thankyou, good point about the water on the flagging! we are hoping at will drain into the corner. DS is already into pebbles, he's constantly taking the pebbles from our fireplace, GRR!