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An Introduction To Child-Friendly Gardens
Gardens are a great place to keep your children healthy and entertained. A child friendly space can be a dream for any excitable child, and if the garden is safe and suitable, can give parents a much needed break for a few hours!
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This garden is great from anyone with kids, or are planning a community garden. You could put all of this in, or take some parts of it. The garden is based on recycled material such as rubber matting so it's safe if kids fall over on it, safe water features and some great play areas to help kids and adults let off some steam.
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This is an cove with a water feature that's safe for all. This is excavated ground with concrete added as a bowl, a sump and pump and the whole thing covered in cobbles. Most aquatic suppliers will help you build one of these and your child can just run though and enjoy themselves. This could be on your patio or a small area of your garden. Great movement and sound for all to enjoy.
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Remember that large bodies of standing water like ponds and children don't mix. If it's impractical to remove such a feature, you can buy protective pond grilles from specialist retailers.
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This "room" is enclosed by walls to catch footballs and so on. It's a great place for letting off steam. If a ball does hit a plant it's not the end of the world as these are hardy plants that can cope with being damaged or neglected.
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If you want to make a wall like this, you construct it out of breeze blocks, cut out the parts you don't want, and then plaster and paint it. If you've got some budding young artists, they can do some graffiti and not get told off for it. This is great for a low maintenance, fun garden.
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You may also consider a tough plant like a privet hedge for an enclosed play area. Constructions in a child friendly garden don't have to be purely practical. Building a den or fort for your children can also encourage them to play outside.
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In a garden where safety is paramount, what better than a floor made of recycled tractor tyres? They've been painted so there's some great colours. It's a secure pathway, but we're also using it as a mulch on our beds. If you want to make a path like this, you'll need edging supports to contain the path after constructing the foundations, a membrane to lay underneath to stop the weeds coming up and go to a good landscape supplier of specialist to get this kind of recycled rubber. Advice is available at all good garden centres.
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Artificial lawns also provide a hard-wearing alternative to traditional grass. It is possible to purchase longer bladed, padded turf specifically designed for children's play areas from specialist retailers.
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We've used plants with varied shapes and textures, like this Phormium (very hardy and robust), alongside this Rhus or Sumac which will lose it's leave but has great colour before it does so, to plants like this Eucalyptus. It has a fragrance and colour, and finally one of our hardiest palms. This is a Chusan Palm, it's common but it makes the garden exotic and is very hardy. These plants cope with being trampled and extreme weather
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This decking area is great for the sun or chilling out with your mates. Simply constructed out of decking material, timber and other materials available from even a family-run garden centre.
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