Child friendly garden

[Mookamoo]

Any suggestions on doing a child friendly garden. I want ti do something a bit more imaginative than paving slabs, but still have a tight budget.

Help would be appreciated

Cheers

Steve

[NoSpamThanks]

In message , Mookamoo writes

X-posted to urg as they will probably have something to offer :)

[NB uk.d-i-y not deleted]

[JennyC]

Well grass is nice to play on but can be 'messy' Bark is very soft and very messy (blackbirds LOVE to chuck it all over the place) Hard landscaping is handy for tricycles etc but can cause scraped knees There are rubber tiles to put under swings etc Kids love to climb - so a treehouse or somesuch is good Ponds are fun but can be dangerous

this looks interesting :

[Jane Ransom]

In article , dave @ stejonda writes

Paving slabs is child friendly? Round here they are digging them all up and replacing them by nice 'soft' bark. I should stick to grass if I were you!!

The only child 'friendly' garden I can think of is one that is flat and covered with a deep layer of sponge:

- You can't have a slope because they might lose their balance and fall over.

- You can't have any flowers because they attract bees that might sting.

- You can't have any plants of any sort because most plants seem to have: poisonous, prickly or irritative properties.

- You can't have any trees because a child might climb one and fall out of it.

- You can't have any structures or they might swing upside down on them, fall off and split their skulls open.

- You can't have any soil because the neighbours' cats crap in it and a child might eat it.

- You can't have a pond because they might fall in and drown.

- ad infinitum

And a child would hate a garden like that anyway :(

For heaven's sake, children like a wilderness that they can play cowboys and indians in, and Robinson Crusoe and hide and seek and stuff like that. Don't, what ever you do, make your garden 'safe' or your children will never develop an instinct for danger. If it never hurts a child to fall over, it will never develop a proper sense of balance. If they never fall in a pond they will never learn that ponds are contain horrid smelly water and contain creepy crawlies like leeches. If they never climb a tree they will never learn the danger of heights!!!!!!!

When I think of some of the things I did as a child (including catching snakes in Singapore) I go sweaty all over but I never suffered more than a few cuts and bruises - children have more sense and resilience than we give them credit for :))

[usenet]

To my mind paving slabs sound distinctly "child unfriendly", they're very hard to fall on.

What's specifically unfriendly about an ordinary garden? Don't plant poisonous plants and have lots of lawns.

[Tim Mitchell]

Make it interesting with lots of places to hide. Little pathways that go different places. (even just stepping stones across a lawn can provide hours of fun).

[Victoria Clare]

"dave @ stejonda" wrote in news:1odimzAdGOiAFA+ [e-mail]:

How old are the children? They will probably have their own ideas.

Something I always fancied as a kid: a den right inside a big blackberry bush.

No-one knows you're in there, if they do they can't get you out without getting seriously scratched, and you can eat it. What more could one ask!

OK, it's not 'safe', it's not sensible, it's not clean or neat. But it WOULD be cool...

Victoria

[Sacha]

Victoria Clare23/4/04 1:39 [e-mail]94D48AF5097B6victoriamarkpolesorg@217.158.240.

24

We're doing something similar for my step daughter's garden. It's very small and she has a 3 yo daughter. So it's all going to lawn, except that her brother has built a marvellous sort of snail's shell shaped path from one end, which is a flat terrace, into the middle of the lawn for tricycle riding and beside that we are planting a Kilmarnock willow, or similar, for 'den' making. All planting will be confined to the edges of the lawn and be mainly climbers going up wires attached to the fencing. Any other planting will be at the front of the house, which will also be partly to lawn and partly to parking. Step daughter isn't remotely interested in gardening, so for her and her daughter this is the ideal solution in terms of both 'pretty' and 'play area'. The back garden is entirely enclosed with fencing and a sturdy gate and also has Roger and Rita, the two chickens in there, plus their run! Grass might get muddy but it's the safest thing for children to fall onto, while a paved area to act as a race track certainly seems desirable. As to the den, I couldn't agree more. I remember an early garden of my childhood where the gaps in the shrubbery were where we escaped to, certain our parents had no idea we were there. ;-)

[klara King]

Sacha writes

We had a wonderful den inside a shrubbery, mostly of box. Inside there someone had made a small village, with a little brook (about a foot wide and deep) with an arched bridge over it, houses, a church (all out of cement) ... for a much earlier generation of children. In those days (the turn of the - last - century) the box must have been small, to make little trees, but by the time we got to it, it was a jungle that his us all and was magic! I have loved the smell of box ever since!

[Saffy]

Definitely leave some paving slabs or hard surfacing for them to use their ride-ons. Young kids get very frustrated trying to pedal on a lawn. We used bark under the swings and things but it does tend to get dug up and spread everywhere it shouldn't. Its also very messy when it gets wet.

Saffy.

[Sacha]

Saffy23/4/04 3:35 [e-mail]$a3aaa$ [e-mail]

All this makes me think of a little story I read about someone looking at their lawn and wishing back the days when there were still scuffed patches underneath the swing.........made me quite sentimental!

[NoSpamThanks]

In message , Victoria Clare writes

I like that sentiment, which also suggests that anything you do shouldn't necessarily be permanent - children change quickly as they grow up and their needs change too. An adult's idea of a garden for a child may not match what a child might enjoy, and simply providing opportunities for creative play can be best - a pile of sand which can be dug in and built with; a clear patch of soil...

I grew something similar with runner beans - will grow within a year and be edible too (and no prickles).

second childhood beckons Victoria :)

[Victoria Clare]

"dave @ stejonda" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I guess, but it would only be really properly covered for a few months, then you have to start again.

I feel a den should be usable in the Easter holidays, and should become a sort of igloo if it snows sufficiently.

It's now occurred to me that I now have a pergola with beans at one end and am planting fruit trees from the other, and I just planted a grapevine to grow over an arch with a seat underneath...

Victoria

[The Natural Philosopher]

We had better than that. We lived in three or four houses that bordered an open field that was at that time in use.

A fox track down the hedge center became a series of rooms and tunnels,

allowing secret access from garden to garden.

Sadly, by the tome we all grew up, the outer hedge had become so bare that the farmer removed it, or track becming his new boundary.

The field is now owned by the doctor who ministered to the dying owner, and is the subject of inntense anger amongst the residents, who object to the floodlights and soccer goalposts he has erected...

[The Natural Philosopher]

We didn't. I learnt the basic rudiments of skid control falling off my bike on a succession of lawns, much to the anger of parents.

Falling onto grass will put grass stains and bruises on you: On hard paving a broken bone and sever abrasions is likley.

Any child that falls off a swing should be put down. How CAN you fall off a swing?

[Frogleg]

Define your terms. "Child-friendly" in what way? Gardening children can participate in? Garden projects designed for the amusement of children (sandbox, playhouse)? Does mention of paving slabs mean you're asking for just surface suggestions? (Grass is surely the most 'friendly' of surfaces, 'though it will take a beating.) What age children? Interested in what activities?

[Bob Hobden]

Steve wrote............

Children like to hide away from parents, they like to climb, play ball, watch insects, have fun. So an parents version of a "child friendly" garden is a garden that excludes children enjoying it. Stick to grass, it's quite resilient, and softer to fall on that paving. Flowers are probably difficult as they will get trashed by the wayward ball so stick to strong shrubs. Perhaps a Willow hideaway might be a good idea, get some Willows whips (young saplings) and plant them in a tent sized circle, don't forget a door, weave them into the sides and keep weaving as they grow so you eventually end up with a willow house for them to play in. Hope that makes sense.

[Saffy]

I meant the little ones that are on the sit on cars and the little tricycles. I guess I'm thinking about my kids again who are still wee. Those little ride-ons don't move on grass at all because they have things at the back to make them stable and they catch on the grass. They don't have far to fall anyway so paving slabs are ok. I would avoid gravel though.

Saffy.

[Suz]

Lawn's only good for dry days unless your garden is huge. Most of the year it involves a load of mud. In our garden the tarmac drive is used the most. Kids love hidey holes - what about making them a den? A few bricks or blocks and a makeshift roof. Keeps the bikes dry in sudden summer night showers too.

They also love to climb, or hop on paving stones. Some circular pavers within hopping distance of each other. Fill the space between them and square pavers with stones.

Kids also love playing with water. Doesn't have to be some horrible bright plastic thing either. A jawbox sink with a tap above will give hours of entertainment. Did with me in our yard in my youth. Only I believe they cost a fortune to buy now - ours were free as they had been put in years before all over the farm as cattle drinkers when they weren't trendy.

[chris French]

Riding on grass is fine for older kids, they have the strength and the bikes to do it with. for a 2-3 year old on a kiddies trike it's very difficult, verging on the impossible for any amount of time.

Well Elinor got a graze on her knee falling off her trike this afternoon, but she can't get fast enough of high enough yet to do too much harm.

Easy if you are standing up - I landed face forward onto asphalt using a swing standing up.