Best Way to Build a Children’s Garden



Practicality, value for money and safety are priorities in children’s garden, which is one in which children will play. It is important that children are safe and feel safe in their garden and that they learn to enjoy and respect their own environment. This garden is ideally suited to a family with children, and it is designed to make everyone feel welcome and to encourage the whole family to use it as a place to relax, play and enjoy themselves.

Features

This garden has lots of features to interest children, and is safe and practical for them to play in. The built objects are robust, there are no hard corners, and lifted is plenty of room for games on the lawn. The fences provide privacy and security, while the plants and shrubs form an attractive surround.

Childrens Garden Best Way to Build a Childrens Garden

The patio provides a hard area close to the house where children can ride their cycles, sit and relax or play. The sunken sand­pit has a 25cm (l0 in) wall built around it to contain the sand, and it is close enough to the house and patio for the children to be in view when they are playing in it. Later, when the children have grown out of it, the sandpit can easily be converted into a water feature because a pit has been excavated under it, which will later house an electric pump to operate a small fountain, and the pool can be readily installed, already complete with a surrounding wall.

The patio area itself is made from uni­form, square paving slabs in two contrasting colours. The advantage of using stones in a regular pattern is that four slabs can be lifted later and a pergola added to create a family sitting area when the children are older and no longer want to ride around this part of the garden on their bicycles.

The small store near the house is lockable and is a useful space to store both toys and garden tools when a quick tidy-up for guests is needed.

Childrens Garden 1 Best Way to Build a Childrens Garden

The swing and slide are easily seen from the house so that the adults can keep an eye on proceedings, while being far enough away to give the children a sense of freedom.

The stepping stones are set into the grass to make it easier to mow over them and offer access without treading on the grass too much when the weather is poor. The paths from the patio to the Wendy house are built from semicircular pavers, interlocked to give a hard surface that can be ridden on. The Wendy house itself is set in its own little area, surrounded by a green picket fence to give the children a sense of privacy without hiding it from view. The structure has been chosen so that in a few years, when the children have outgrown it, it can be turned into a very useful garden shed.

The play equipment is set on bark chip-pings, which provide a relatively safe surface and can be lifted easily when the play equip­ment is no longer needed so that the area can be turned into a border or put down to grass.

The birdtable and birdbath will attract birds into the garden, and the children can help to put food out and keep them clean for the visiting wildlife.

Planting

The natural hedge at the bottom of the gar­den will change colours throughout the year, giving a sense of the change of seasons and lovely autumn tones.

Under the trees the grass is allowed to grow longer, with just a mown path running through it. The path goes nowhere, but it creates the illusion that the garden continues, and it allows access without disturbing plants and wildlife.

Nothing gets children more interested in their environment than growing their own plants, getting grubby and generally doing all the things adults do. The children’s garden is near the house so their efforts at growing plants will be readily seen by family and visi­tors, giving the children a sense of pride and achievement. Allowing children to have their own special area of garden limits the impact they might have on the rest of the garden, giving father a chance to grow plants, too. A bright kite mural is painted on the wall behind the garden, declaring it to be the chil­dren’s own. Bulbs will appear each spring and the children could even sow wildflowers there if they liked.

Childrens Garden 2 Best Way to Build a Childrens Garden

A small collection of dwarf fruit trees will give the children lots of interest, and they can watch for the fruit growing and even help to harvest it. The tree seat will be a perfect place for picnics when the weather is warm.

The heather garden in the comer intro­duces a carpet of colour and a different level of ground cover.



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