Creating the ideal child-friendly garden isn’t always an easy task. Especially if your children are small, it’s important to ensure that hazards in the garden are at their minimum. You don’t want to be going to the hospital after your child has just sprained their ankle tripping over brambles!
Many parents get around this obstacle by designing their garden so that its main purpose is as a children’s playground – a safe area where their kids can have fun. However, this usually means that the garden is filled with wood chips, which isn’t always appealing for adults. With that being said, there are a lot of garden modifications that you can do in order to make sure that both you and your children can get something out of it. Here are some great ideas for designing a child-friendly garden:
1) Materials: It’s all about materials! If you plan on making pathways within the garden, make sure that the surfaces are not too harsh, lest your child might get a lot of cuts and bruises! Gravel is much smoother, but also provides the risk of toddlers putting small stones in their mouth. Wooden pathways can often be a better choice, but make sure you round the edges.
2) Be careful what plants you plant: It might not sound obvious, but it surely is important. Certain plants, if eaten by children, can be toxic. As such, if you’ve got a toddler or a young child roaming around the garden, you need to make sure to avoid such plants, or even remove them. Some things to avoid include yew, lily of the valley, monkshood, rhubarb leaves and tulip bulbs.
3) Zoning: If your garden is large enough, then you might decide that it’d be a good idea to divide your garden into different areas, giving a specific purpose for each zone. For instance, you might create a children’s play area that is separate from your plant-growing area, which is separate from your adults’ chill-out area. It’s a good idea to create some kind of separation between the zones, as well, as this will stop your kids from wandering into areas of the garden that they ought not to be in.
4) Create a playroom: The weather isn’t always perfect outside, so it might not always be appropriate for your child to be playing outdoors. However, garden sheds can be a game-changer when it comes to this. Converting your garden shed into a playroom can help ensure that your house doesn’t become too chaotic, while at the same time providing your child with a safe, private space that they can feel comfortable in.
All in all, there are a lot of different things that you can do to your garden to ensure that your children can have safe, enjoyable playtime, without having to compromise too much on your own enjoyment and space!
