Does anyone use a front garden for play?

[Mouse]

I have a good sized back garden, but it does get very muddy in winter. The children all have wellies & waterproofs, so we do go out, but it's so messy.

I had the thought the other day of using the front garden, or particularly the driveway, to play. We have a small grassed area & a big drive. If I shut the gates, is there any reason why we couldn't play out the front? I'm thinking mainly for the ride on toys so they children can have a good scoot up & down. The children would NEVER be out the without me, not even for the slightest moment. The gates would be shut & bolted, so they couldn't get out.

I know Ofsted have never been interested in the front of the house. They have only ever inspected inside & the back garden. They've never even mention the front garden. Is that because they don't expect us to play there?

I do live on a busy street, with lots of people walking by & lots of traffic (although we are a long way from the road).

Any thoughts? We wouldn't be out for hours. I thought more like a half hour run around, bike/scooter ride to burn off some energy. We could even go out when it's raining as it's puddly, but not muddy.

[Maza]

Yes, we use our front communal garden and we live on a busy main road. It's all risk assessed. A nice change of scenery from the back garden. x

[AliceK]

Yes we sometimes use the front garden, especially the older ones as they play football out there. My front garden is bigger than my back garden and not muddy like the back garden. In the snow all the children play out there. I never leave them alone though even if I'm just sat on the front porch with a lovely cup of coffee. Sometimes I have the gate open between the back and front gardens and they can move freely between the 2 gardens. It sounds strange but my front garden is at the front and my back garden is also at the front - Dont ask :laughing:

xxxx

[jane5]

I use my front garden and Ofsted where fine with it.

It has a big drive so it is used for the bikes. I never leave them, if I have to go in for something then they all have to come with me.

I also use it if they want to play out and a parent is due to pickup a child, it saves me bringing them all in from the back whilst mum gets her lo's things together.

[Mouse]

Thank you all.

I feel completely fine about doing it now.

I particularly like the idea of sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee :D

[Mrs Scrubbit]

My garden is an 'open plan' one, the back, side and front gardens all merge in together, never been a problem with Ofsted x

[hectors house]

I let my mindees play out on our drive when back garden is too wet - I haven't got a gate, the whole front garden is block paved as a drive way out onto the pavement, when children are playing on trikes etc I tell them they are only allowed on the brick part not onto the pavement - I move my car out into the road before we go out, so they don't scratch my car and we live in at top of quiet cul de sac so hardly any cars.

I did at one point buy a stretchy wire thing that is supposed to block field gateways to stop cows/horses escaping and tried to thread it through that orange net fencing that is used on construction sites, but it wasn't successful and I found that just by supervising the children and reinforcing the boundary rules I haven't had any problems.