Best outdoor features for fun and learning

[slowlyburningcalories]

we are about to move to a house with an amazing derelict garden. I want to make the garden into 'rooms' or spaces through which you walk to get to the next area. There will be so so much work involved but I would like to have as much child focused areas as I can.

DD is 2 and attends a forest school nursery, she is not happy unless outdoors, she has some additional needs, so I want to ensure that the garden is very much a safe haven for her to explore within. I may or may not HE, I would like to flexi school but until she is a few years older I am not sure what setting will benefit her learning the most. But I do embrace non curricular learning so we shall see, I feel you learn all the time and school disengages rather than engages.

I would be really really grateful if you could tell me the things in your garden your children love the most and what spaces they enjoy to learn from. The derelict garden will be totally re landscaped in places and so I have a clean slate. Ideas I have so far are;

• have a small fun veg patch
• some willow tunnels - some child sized a la Alice in Wonderland
• path will be flat but windy to cycle and run along with some dead ends.
• an all year summerhouse
• a fairy den or tipi
• wooden mushrooms or seating in a circle for story/reading
• a space for reallly muddy and messy play
• a seasonal raised platform (like a bench or outdoor low table) to draw, paint, collect items, put insects under a microscope or make plant dyes
• a safe area to play with water, solar powered cobble water feature maybe
• area for swing and slide
• bird houses and bird table
• a large area which can be shaded by canvas to play outdoors in the summer sun

In addition the garden will have our large vegetable patch, chickens, a pollinator garden, a meadow area cut less frequently and some places to hang musical tubes, there will be a sensory bed too with plants for texture and scent.

What have I missed?

No suggestions but that sounds utterly amazing! My sons both love being outdoors. Something which they both like is a kind of free for all destruction zone (possibly because they are boys!) and it would involve mud/destroying things at will and unlimited water to throw around and over themselves whilst making 'potions'. Basically somewhere where no one would shout at them for doing whatever they wanted!

All you've missed is the very high fence for keeping all of us out

Got any climbable trees?

What a fabulous project! Good luck with it.

Not sure if anyone else has had issues but years ago we had a willow arch and for some reason it really attracted wasps, so much so that in the end we got rid of it. Otherwise it sounds amazing!

A climbable tree would be great but they take years to grow; but natural climbing frames are great - climbing is important imo

Have you thought about cob?

You will also need to think about storage for wellie boots and waterproofs just inside/outside your back door; plus spares for children that come to play

Thank you all, intend to have hard wood floors in rooms leading to garden and so a boot box is a great idea. Off yo google natural climbing frames as the only trees are a silver birch and a eucalyptus, I'll plant some dwarf fruit trees but those won't be in the child friendly area of the garden

(since meeting the cob designer I have had a postcard of this on my wall for nigh on five years, one day... One day..... dream cob

Our garden is tiny and unkempt but we have found that this is great for playing and exploration, we have snail hunts and find ants nests under stones. So I would say don't civilise it all too much!

Assuming this is a forever house, how about planting a couple of trees that will be sturdy enough to take a hammock by the time your DD is a teen.

Wow that sounds amazing - will you sell tickets?! The only different thing we have in our garden is a 'marsh' - basically like a mini pond with lots of marsh plants. Our garden is tiny and so is the marsh so no danger in drowning (I hope!). Log piles are also good for attracting mini beasts and I would make sure I planted wildlife-attracting plants and flowers. Also, how about a weather station and sundial?
C x

weather station - brilliant - I was thinking some kind of exploring station where they could kneel and explore of draw up dome cut logs to sit on. I was going to have a sundial in the 'fire' corner, thinking of having earth/air/wind/fire zones - perhaps

this is a wildlife friendly garden all over - there will be areas dotted all over of places for small creepy things and hedgehogs. The only area where I am less keen on those is in my raised bed area as many slugs and snails like damp rotting places

That sounds lovely. I like the sound of the wooden toadstools.

We have a wooden playhouse with wooden weathervane on top. A ladybird house (inexpensive wooden habitat on a stake). I've also seen willow shelters which look very appealing, here

Not sure if chickens count as features, but my dc have learnt so much since we've had chickens.