Developing your outside space on a budget.

[bellacat]

Hi all you lovely ladies (and gentlemen).

I need some ideas to develop my outside space. My garden i the size of a postage stamp, with a small patch of grass and largish patio area. I have the usual sandpit, trampoline, ride on toys etc. I do chalk drawings, fence painting with water etc. But I have been told that I need to develop my outside space. I have no or very little funds to do this. So any ideas would be great.

Thank you. xx

[lisa81]

I don't have any help but would love to see what others as as I have the same issue. I was thinking of using a patch of garden as a digging/planting/growing area and during the nicer weather having a reading corner and an outdoor painting easel plus bringing some of the indoor toys out - although I'm pretty sure none of mine will be remotely interested in the outdoor reading!

[*daisychain*]

You could have a little mud kitchen perhaps ? A digging /planting area for the children ?

[Cookie Monster]

Who has told you this? Sounds like you have lots going on for children to play with in your garden?!

[vickie-marieo]

we were in a similar situation a little while ago. There are a few things you can do easily if you have the time to trowl charity shops or may have extra stuff in your own kitchen. we made a mud kitchen outside - small little corner of the garden - there is a 'stove' with a plank of wood, and two circle shapes on it; an old washing up bowl, and a variety of kitchen utensils, crockery. easily packed away if you wanted you garden back at the weekends! a bucket of dirty and a bucket of water for them to do their measuring and mixing.
can buy seeds for an herb garden - can be again small but engages the senses particularly lavender or rosemary. Story corner - if you have a spare laundry basket you could have a blanket and pillows, with a few books in it so it's ready on a daily basis.
Good luck x

[Cookie Monster]

Little sweeping brushes, hula hoops, beanbags and a bucket. Home bargains is great for really cheap garden stuff.

[pipandbaz]

My lot love playing with different uncooked pasta shapes in a New cat litter tray, with plastic cups etc x

[hectors house]

Makes me very cross :angry: that people make these comments and then when you ask for advice on what you should have to "develop your outside space" they just fob you off with "I'll you to decide"!

Have you got room for a water table or get a "tuff spot" builders tray - you can put different materials in it for the lo's to play with or drive vehicles through (eg bark, gravel, sand, porridge oats, lentils)?

Or can you buy some indoor type resources from charity shop and store them outside or just take indoor things out - books, vehicles, bricks, garage?

Or how about den making materials - sheets, clothes airer etc - or pop up tent & tunnel?- just trying to think of things that don't take up much storage or can be lent up against house when not being used.

[bellacat]

Who has told you this? Sounds like you have lots going on for children to play with in your garden?!

I have become a network childminder so that i can offer the 15 hours childcare vouchers and my coordinator told me that my outside space needed developing?? :confused:

[mushpea]

how about recycling old tins, like baked bean tins, wash them and peel of the paper, drill holes inthe bottom for drainage then add soil and herbs for a sensory area you can hang on your fence so developing with out taking up space.
have a few books outside with a beanbag or carpet area or a digging area,

[gingerjames1]

Pop to your local pound shop, paint brushes for painting with water, spray bottles and flannels for cleaning , saucepans, frying pans, wooden spoons etc hung on hooks in fence(b&q) to hang pots and pans on for making music! And nearly every item you find in the pound shop you can also use in the garden. Can currently get wind spirrals in pound shop that educational suppliers normally charge you over a £10 for a set you could get for two pounds!!!!see photo!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Childminding Forum

[ChocolateChip]

Open ended items for den building, such as a washing airer (maidens, I think some of you call them) or low washing line, a couple of light planks, jumbo pegs and any old fabric you happen to have, old sheets, towels, blankets etc. I got some coloured voile curtains from a cheap shop, £1 each, or can get remnants from a fabric shop or market stall. Large cardboard boxes are good for when it's dry, especially if you can get them free from a local shop/ factory, maybe a couple of old tyres for sitting/ climbing around.
A bit of garden or builders mesh and old fabric or carrier bags cut into strips for weaving.
Save 2l drink bottles to turn into rain meters, skittles, funnels etc.
Any odd things that can be made into an obstacle course.

[skatie]

Have a look on the Montessori type websites, they give some good ideas on Outdoor activities that don't bust the bank

[skatie]

Have a look on the Montessori type websites, they give some good ideas on Outdoor activities that don't bust the bank

Hadn't finished ... The kids can design and make their own fairy gardens out of a pot, soil, sticks, pine comes etc.

[Angela234]

We have;
Guttering on wall for ball/water chutes (very cheap and popular)

Mirrors on walls

Blackboard on walls also posters laminated

Butterflies and other dec from garden centre

Sand/water table

Lots of toys also toys can be brought from outside

Lots of things for mud kitchen (box of things mainly from pound shop metel dog bowls plus other containers spoons scoops plastic jugs containers)


I'm always looking out for more ideas

[blue bear]

My d/0 came round the other day to look at my garden for me (requested). The latest thinking seems to be zones so digging area, quiet zone, mark making area etc. she also said take pictures of the children doing things and laminate then stick up, so things like two children in here on the dark den, or it was sunny under a photo, we were cold on a snowy picture. Get the children to draw different insects and animals that live I the garden and staple to the fence, put out buckets on the side and logs etc for animals to live in, give the children magnifying glasses to look at the insects, or empty yogurt pots to put found insects in. Put a menu up in the mud kitchen, put questions near the water wall like how fast can you make the water go, how slow etc. give the playhouse a theme you can regularly change, so maybe one week it's a shop, another week you put in cushions and blankets and leave the children to it etc. hand old CDs from the tree or washing line, add ribbons to them. Add natural material like pine cones, big stones, small stones, blocks of wood for children to transport around the garden. Make weather grab bags, so a windy day one with kites, bubbles, wind sock or a bug hunt one with pots and magnifying glasses, binoculars.

If I can think of any more of her suggestions I will come back

[RachaelStevens]

Pop to your local pound shop, paint brushes for painting with water, spray bottles and flannels for cleaning , saucepans, frying pans, wooden spoons etc hung on hooks in fence(b&q) to hang pots and pans on for making music! And nearly every item you find in the pound shop you can also use in the garden. Can currently get wind spirrals in pound shop that educational suppliers normally charge you over a £10 for a set you could get for two pounds!!!!see photo!!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Childminding Forum
love my local pound land picked up welcome sign for outside that blows in the wind. Dust pan and brushes for cleaning leaves/ collecting bits. Buckets for collecting stones/ bugs/ easter hunts. Card and glue so much stuff I could go on and its so much cheaper than craft shops

[watgem]

am loving all these lovely ideas, I too have a postage stamp and a tight budget, but I'm feeling really inspired now :)

[miffy]

Get the children to make some decorations for the garden, laminate and hang from trees, hooks etc - OK they won't last forever but when they get tatty they are cheap and easy to replace.

Get some large terracotta pots and paint (see if you can get some testers free from the big DIY stores) and then let the children help to plant.

Ask the children for their ideas and then appeal to parents for help in providing/donating items.

Miffy xx

[VeggieSausage]

- tyres out of skips/ salvaged to sit on climb on, jump off etc - can be painted bright colours.

- pots with herbs/vegetables

- mobiles stringing tin cans together - paint them bright colours

- make mobile with children out of old ribbon/ found objects/ old cds

Probably been said by others - sorry if so. I am currently looking at my outside space too to see what I can do to enhance it so very interested in everyone's posts x

[MessybutHappy]

Planting into old boots/wellies? Sorry if been said already!

[littlemiss60561]

Loving these ideas!
I have a big garden that I'm intending to zone off.
Could you have a theme a month or something? So the space for each activity is maximised? Do you have storage space for boxed garden items not in use ? Sensory ( i may just hang pans and tins on my annoying neighbours side haha) construction ( building with cardboard boxes is good, and free! I managed to fit 13 decent boxes into one to store once! And they can obviously paint them for multi use as fire engines , houses, pirate ships ) messy theme etc
Also if you have chain link/ hooks then upturned milk cartons with the bottom chopped off make good planters. handles hook nicely if you cut a bit off.
Ooh I'm feeling all inspired ... Hope the weathers nice this weekend lol

[jadavi]

Can you explain about handles hook nicely if you cut a bit off'?

[littlemiss60561]

Can you explain about handles hook nicely if you cut a bit off'?
Hi
If you turn a milk carton upside down and cut the handle at least a cm off at the screw top end, then they can hook over fencing etc.
Keep the lid off for drainage or poke holes in the sides.

Also with tyres, they look nice built up like a rockery for planting. Maybe deep ones at back for potatoes and front row for sensory ?
H :0)

[jadavi]

Ah I see... Thanks both lovely ideas and maybe puppy proof haha! (like to see ours try to dig up a tyre!!)

[mrs robbie williams]

it was lovely here yesterdayme and lo's were in garden all afternoon they liked the toy kitchen with dried pasta, pouring it into different pots got some lovely photos, then 4 schoolies plus ds9 after school played out - added water to the pasta without me knowing so nice and messy :cool: but they had fun. Its meant to be sunny saturday so will out there using some of your ideas :thumbsup:

[kel1983]

My d/0 came round the other day to look at my garden for me (requested). The latest thinking seems to be zones so digging area, quiet zone, mark making area etc. she also said take pictures of the children doing things and laminate then stick up, so things like two children in here on the dark den, or it was sunny under a photo, we were cold on a snowy picture. Get the children to draw different insects and animals that live I the garden and staple to the fence, put out buckets on the side and logs etc for animals to live in, give the children magnifying glasses to look at the insects, or empty yogurt pots to put found insects in. Put a menu up in the mud kitchen, put questions near the water wall like how fast can you make the water go, how slow etc. give the playhouse a theme you can regularly change, so maybe one week it's a shop, another week you put in cushions and blankets and leave the children to it etc. hand old CDs from the tree or washing line, add ribbons to them. Add natural material like pine cones, big stones, small stones, blocks of wood for children to transport around the garden. Make weather grab bags, so a windy day one with kites, bubbles, wind sock or a bug hunt one with pots and magnifying glasses, binoculars.

If I can think of any more of her suggestions I will come back

These are lovely ideas but surely being a childminder and it being your home you don't want it looking like a nursery garden. I live with my parents (my mum co minds with me) I have no children of my own. We have a lovely wooden play house which they have play kitchen, chairs table etc. We have ride on toys, sand tray and a huge wooden trunk on our decking with outdoor toys in. All the toys have a home when we are not working. I wouldn't really like having pictures etc suck on the fence (i'm sure my dad would not appreciate it either)

We have membership to our local material bank (not too expensive) and regularly come back from there with the large cardboard tubes, plastic pots, chunky bits of rope and oddments of foam. We even came back with a large piece of carpet which is a great size to put down on our decking for the lo's to play on. We take the indoor toys outdoors.

In the nicer weather the children have piles of blankets that they can make a den out of.

How about the cheap cat litter trays filled with different items such as soil, stones, leaves etc. these can be changed throughout the seasons and also put away at the end of the day.

we don't have to go out and spend a fortune on trying to make our gardens look like a child friendly zone. We don't all have the space to be setting up different zones for the children. Its about making the most of the items you have available. Teach the children about gardening. Help and guide them to look after the flower patch rather than setting out an area for them to dig in especially if you don't have the space.

The children love bug hunts.

[Tinkerbell1979]

[QUOTE="kel1983;1220658"]

These are lovely ideas but surely being a childminder and it being your home you don't want it looking like a nursery garden.

This is how I feel and I have my own kids lol. We have all the resources, slides, swings, sand pit, water table, bikes, trikes, etc but my OFSTED report says I need to develop it more - I am not a nursery !
Sorry rant over

[kel1983]

[QUOTE="kel1983;1220658"]

These are lovely ideas but surely being a childminder and it being your home you don't want it looking like a nursery garden.

This is how I feel and I have my own kids lol. We have all the resources, slides, swings, sand pit, water table, bikes, trikes, etc but my OFSTED report says I need to develop it more - I am not a nursery !
Sorry rant over

Our recommendation was to build up our outdoor resources too. The annoying thing is she didn't even step out the back door.