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Elkie Mawdsley
11-09-2014, 07:31 AM
hello all

I want to make my garden more inviting and encouraging for little ones, but need some inspiration. Neither myself or husband are particularly green fingured or good at diy so the simpler the better - lol.

Its a blank canvas at the moment with nothing but grass, a tree and a few plants

thank you xx

hectors house
11-09-2014, 07:48 AM
I have defined different areas for different activities - I have a patio and deck directly outside my back door for trike riding and sandpit play (easier to sweep up sand), also have plastic kitchen and boxes with pans, plates etc.

Have circular lawn that they can play on small slide, rocker, play ball, have pop up tents and tunnel, water table with box with jugs, funnels, cups etc

half way round the lawn there is a path from main patio to another small patio - used for trike riding

Other side of lawn is big bark area with big slide, log stepping stones and plank bridge

Summer house at back of garden - mostly for storing garden chairs and cushions and other garden toys (pram, balls, cardboard tube they lean up against slide to roll cars down, pop up play tent and adult sized pop up tent etc), but also have small table and chairs, paper, crayons, box of books, beside summer house leading to my shed is a gravel digging area, where they dig and play with diggers and construction vehicles, role play builders tools).

Did used to have a vegetable patch in a border that they liked growing some veg in or just digging in the mud but my chicken run is there now, so instead we grew runner beans on wigwam in front garden this year.

I am hoping my husband is going to build me a upvc porch over the patio area soon so the children can play out undercover in the rain and want to put some painted plywood blackboards attached to back of house.

Oh and I have to regulation windmills to please Mrs O - including one I brought back last month from Amsterdam. :D

natlou82
11-09-2014, 08:28 AM
Hectors house, I'm sooo jealous of your garden, it sounds amazing :-)

FloraDora
11-09-2014, 08:31 AM
What an exciting time, starting a garden, lucky you!

I have a mature garden, with border planting and raised veg beds and a lawn. My problem was I wanted my garden to be child friendly when I ventured in to childminding but as little plastic as poss, so that my early eve sit in my garden didn't feel like a playground. Some of the things we do may give you some ideas:
We have added a raised mud / digging area, though I put a little digging sign on the other areas if they are available seasonal veg etc...the LO's do a great job of digging over the veg patches and introducing worms to areas that don't seem to have any. We have a big bug hotel and lots of little ones, bird tables and hanging areas, wind chimes that are low in some places so that they can be played. The patio is slabbed and big and in the shade so ideal for the mud kitchen, fairy garden on a table, dino land and the one plastic I gave in to a water/ sand table. We have groups of potted plants and a sunny shingled spot which hosted the children's flower pot farm - flowers and veg and herbs they grew from seed and potted into painted flower pots , all went home in the summer break. ( I bought a small greenhouse for their seeds which is now down the side alley storing the wind, sensory,water and sand play boxes.) the flower pot men remain , currently with a note reminding the children to plant some winter salad to eat and for one of the LO's Rabbits. We have hiding animals which move around ( I would like more but the good looking ones cost too much).
We have planks and logs and crates to make walkways and dens, trellis and guttering to create water slides for animals and people, watch the water move on run cars down ( these can come off easily and stored out of sight but accessible. I persuaded a man who had cut lots of trees down to give me some logs that were perfect for seating - and in the summer when no children, great for displaying my fuschias! The small space between the green house and the fence has now been slabbed and mirrored ( you can't see it from the garden) and the LO's love this secret path. The different surfaces ( shingles, slate, bark) offer loads of potential play. I draw and paint rocks and slate for outdoor literacy and numeracy, with the veg and the bug hotels labelled - on wood , not plastic laminate.
Outdoor play here is usually around nature and water, lots of caring for plants, smelling, finding, listening. Building with natural materials, creating small worlds with natural materials. Our shed houses balls, trikes and scooters, wobbly things from ikea, building kits but they go out and in and the trikes and scooters are used to go on on a walk- to places not a couple of scoots and off. Buggy's, books and anything else they want to take out goes in and out during the day. Once the children have gone home, apart from the water table it looks like a grown up garden unless you look closely.....
We live next door to a nature reserve, with a big field and a playground which we visit daily so the climbing / swing/ slide aspect is covered there - forest school type activities are high on my planning both in garden and at the NR. I followed RHS gardening for schools this year and achieved a level4- but its best use was ideas of including the children's play into gardening.

Hope this helps in your planning.

mama2three
11-09-2014, 11:18 AM
Your gardens sound amazing

Mine is mature ( ok , overgrown!) there are 2 levels with a stone wall between - the bottom is grass the top was bark but to be fair there's hardly any bark left so its just earth and weeds!!
At the top at one side is the sand pit - there is a play kitchen and a play toolbench close by so they can make sand meals etc - its out equivalent of a mud kitchen. There are also piles of logs , sticks , pine cones etc in this area for exploring , den building , whatever they fancy.
At the other side at the top is the big slide , trampoline , see saw , and a metal shelving unit with all the sport stuff - bats , balls , beanbags , parachute hulahoops etc for them to have free access to . Theres also a plastic playhouse with cooker etc in which has seen better days!

On the grass area I use tuff spots for sensory play , there is a metal board attached to the shed for painting , there is a water wall and water table , alongside the things we take out with us everyday. My 'patio' was so uneven and awful it is now covered in outdoor carpet for the mindees to play on , usually either a sensory tray or something from inside the house goes out there .
The shed has a large metal sheet attached so is used as a giant painting wall. , also attached to the shed is childrens laminated artwork.

Ive attached a few photos of the bottom area , theyre not great , hard to find any without mindees in them!

mama2three
11-09-2014, 11:21 AM
few more pics..

FloraDora
11-09-2014, 11:26 AM
Your gardens sound amazing

Mine is mature ( ok , overgrown!) there are 2 levels with a stone wall between - the bottom is grass the top was bark but to be fair there's hardly any bark left so its just earth and weeds!!
At the top at one side is the sand pit - there is a play kitchen and a play toolbench close by so they can make sand meals etc - its out equivalent of a mud kitchen. There are also piles of logs , sticks , pine cones etc in this area for exploring , den building , whatever they fancy.
At the other side at the top is the big slide , trampoline , see saw , and a metal shelving unit with all the sport stuff - bats , balls , beanbags , parachute hulahoops etc for them to have free access to . Theres also a plastic playhouse with cooker etc in which has seen better days!

On the grass area I use tuff spots for sensory play , there is a metal board attached to the shed for painting , there is a water wall and water table , alongside the things we take out with us everyday. My 'patio' was so uneven and awful it is now covered in outdoor carpet for the mindees to play on , usually either a sensory tray or something from inside the house goes out there .
The shed has a large metal sheet attached so is used as a giant painting wall. , also attached to the shed is childrens laminated artwork.

Ive attached a few photos , theyre not great , hard to find any without mindees in them!

I love the caterpillar number line idea - keeps in with my natural theme.
Also, I can't believe I have never put the plastic tweezers out with the insects( I have the same set) - I have them in my finer motor skills drawer inside - duh!!!
Good idea about a carpet too....especially with tiny LO's.

Kidston
12-09-2014, 01:58 PM
few more pics..

mama2three I love your water area idea!
so much so that I have just ordered a wooden planter like this to make one for my own garden! thank you for the lovely ideas

Elkie Mawdsley
14-09-2014, 07:32 AM
Thank you for the fab ideas everyone :)

miffy
14-09-2014, 12:55 PM
few more pics..

Some great ideas - what is in the tuf spot? Got a feeling I should know but can't figure it out!

Miffy xx

Dragonfly
14-09-2014, 03:59 PM
I don't know what one is either Miffy :blush: probably be something we have got but called something else. (hard to mow piece of grass?)

loocyloo
14-09-2014, 05:52 PM
Tuff spot is like a builders tray but more expensive!
It looks like those rainbow puff sweet things in the tuff spot. I couldn't use those ... I'd eat them all!

mama2three
15-09-2014, 06:22 AM
Ye theyre rainbow drops. Little A puts everything in her mouth , so I have to be really careful with what goes in the sensory trays - Rainbow drops worked well until a friends children came round and used the little cups to fill up then ate the lot!!
At the moment there are sunflower and poppy seeds in it - along with some sunflower heads , I just chopped them off and let them dry when my birthday flowers started to die. Now its only me that's tempted to eat them!!

Simona
15-09-2014, 06:55 AM
Somewhere in the previous comments I thought I saw the mention of windmills as 'expected by Ofsted'?

have I missed this in the latest updates? unless I am wrong windmills were deemed a must due to a Facebook discussion a while back because one inspector mentioned ii to a cm

I like the OP ...you are not green fingered or good at DIY...but the children are!
leave it to them to build their own garden and areas of interests? that should please any inspector!

loocyloo
15-09-2014, 07:04 AM
I think the 'as expected by ofsted' statement was tongue in cheek! :D :laughing:

Simona
15-09-2014, 07:38 AM
I think the 'as expected by ofsted' statement was tongue in cheek! :D :laughing:

Yes I gathered that....but the discussion around windmills a while back made me think cms were going out in droves to buy one! :panic: