Outdoor storage

[alex__17]

I like my garden to look like a garden so no labels etc and I like to be able to put things away or have them tidily at the edges by the end of the day/week. I've just bought lots of chalk for mark making on the fence/patio, any clever storage ideas where they are easily accessible but out of bad weather?! They got rained on during the week and are now v soggy! We have lots of beakers and jugs ext for the water table too which drive me mad kicking about the lawn the whole time... I have a keter store it out but things just get piled in, I've not managed to find a shelving unit that fits well so kids can help themselves.

[FloraDora]

My garden is my hobby and I , like you, keep it garden like and not a plastic nursery haven. We are in it most days with the children, doing gardening type / outdoor activities. I have a green house and another small one - shelves with a plastic cover type of thing.
In spring we use the small greenhouse to start off seeds that the children sow..and watch them grow...but come June onwards when we have planted all these out, I use the small green house for outdoor activity storage. The resources are then easily accessable to both the children and I throughout the summer, Autumn and Winter. In Spring, because the weather is better I store the boxes under the mud /outdoor kitchen and shed.
The greenhouse is in keeping with the garden and doesn't look like a toy storage area. It is easy to quickly tidy up the excess watering cans etc in it too...and the garden quickly becomes an adults haven for relaxation!

[Maza]

Everything goes in my shed at the end of the day. The tables, chairs, ride-ons etc just get put on the shed floor. I then have some cheap shelves where I have storage boxes/tubs that contain the smaller things - one for balls, one for cooking utensils, natural materials, water toys etc. I/we just get them out each day and dot them around the various 'learning stations'.

As long as the children help to tidy up each day by putting things in the correct boxes then I don't feel the need for shelves outdoors. I do have to put the things in my shed myself - I can't let them in our shed to put away the boxes as it is too crammed and wouldn't be safe. Long term plans would be to have a separate shed away from the big gardening equipment that the children could access safely - but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It doesn't take long to set up each morning and the children quite enjoy it - I pass them things from the shed and they decide where they want to put things. Occasionally I will want to set up a little area to surprise the children, such as putting a trail of dinos on the stepping stones, or hide things in the sand for them to discover, and so I get all the pieces together the night before and then quickly pop out in the morning before they arrive to set it all out.

I have various labels relating to general outdoor topics, but they are all laminated, hole punched and hung up by string on fence posts and tree branches, or stuck in the ground using canes - but I don't leave any of them out when I am not minding. Well, my sand box stays out as it's too heavy to move, but no sand toys stay out.

[alex__17]

Maybe I'll just get a stack of lidded big plastic boxes and organise my keter shed... At the moment it's all in various boxes and buckets all different sizes and balanced in the shed so a total mess and I don't feel I can open the doors and let them help themselves as in the rush to clear up each eve it's a mess...
If I get organised and label up boxes they can sort it as they manage that fine indoors, we're amassing a collection of natural things so will be good to have a place for this e too! Thanks for suggestions