Building a Play Area in Your Backyard

If you can get your children outside playing instead of inside watching TV, then good for you. And installing an outdoor play area for your kids is a great way to go about enticing them out of the house. There are many different styles of play equipment available today, and you can be creative as you design a play area for your children to enjoy.

Nature All Around
Most children love to play outside if they can find something to do, and the more they play outside, the more they will find to do. Building a nature garden for your children is a great way for them to learn about and enjoy the great outdoors. By giving them a garden area where they can dig and plant, they will get to watch their seedlings grow. Hanging a bird feeder will let them enjoy the antics of their little feathered friends. And let us not forget the bugs. Kids love bugs, so you can build a bug garden where snails, ladybugs, slugs, beetles, and the praying mantis all live together for you child to enjoy. Add a sandbox and a shovel to the middle of the garden, and you may never see your kids inside again.

Fun and Physical
Active play areas are a wonderful place for children to spend some of their excess energy. You can buy pre made swing sets and playhouses, or you can make your own. Part of the play process can be spent helping to create the play space. Children love to work side by side with their parents, and they are full of creative ideas, sometimes too creative. But if you can hear their ideas and translate them into workable designs, your children will have a true wonderland in their very own backyard. Remember that a fort can be built from a simple blanket draped over a clothesline, so do not let budget considerations slow you down.

Water Fun for Everyone
In warm weather make sure that you have a place in your backyard for your kids to have some water fun. A wading pool, a slip 'n slide, or even a sprinkler offers hours of fun for children of all ages.

Design for Fun and Function
As you are putting together you plan for your backyard play area, it is a good idea to sketch it out to make sure that you have enough space for all of your ideas. Use what you have and work it into your plan. For example, if you already have a large shade tree in your yard, then use it to shade a small picnic area. If you are installing a swing, make sure that there is enough room on all sides of it for your child to swing freely.

Be Safe
Remember that you are designing for children, so keep safety in mind for all of your projects. Use soft footing where possible, like play mats, mulch, or rubber to keep scrapes and injuries to a minimum. If you live around traffic, you may want to fence the play area as well, just to keep children, balls and toys from rolling out into the street.