How To Plan A Kid-Friendly Garden?
Why build a kid-friendly garden?
In this age of screen addiction and sedentary lifestyles spent on games, YouTube and Netflix, it’s easy to neglect quality outdoor time for your child. However, playing ‘in real life’ is incredibly important for a child’s physical and mental health and development, fostering motor skills and executive function as well as creativity and imagination.
By building a kid-friendly garden, it becomes much easier to incorporate quality playtime and fresh air into their everyday routine. Creating a kid-friendly garden also means that visiting children can enjoy it too.
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Play equipment
Growing up we all had fond memories of playing on good old fashioned play equipment like tyre swings and cubby houses. Cubby houses can be bought fairly cheaply, and tyre swings are cheap and simple to make while providing hours of fun.
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Kid-friendly plants
Kids love to lie down or play on grass, so it’s a good idea to plant grass that’s both sturdy and won’t irritate sensitive skins, so your child can run, play games, and practice somersaults and cartwheels with ease and comfort. Couch, buffalo and zoysiagrass are all varieties that are easy care and great for kids and pets.
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Avoid toxic plants – ensure kids safety
Spending time in nature might be beneficial to your child, but not when the plants pose a risk to their safety. Several plants can be extremely dangerous if ingested. A couple of plants that could be considered high-risk are castor bean (Ricinus communis) and precatory bean or rosary pea (Abrus).
Other plants are toxic in larger quantities, like foxglove, angel’s trumpet, euonymus, morning glory, lantana, cardinal flower, sweet alyssum, valerian, and love-in-a-mist. It’s always a good idea to do your research before planting vegetation to ensure it’s safe.
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Fruit and Veggie garden
Planting fruit and vegetables is a great way to get kids engaged in a more direct one-on-one way with nature. What better way than to create your own fruit and veggie patch
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Outdoor blackboard
Drawing is a healthy hobby that builds up fine motor skills and cognitive development – and is a great outlet for kids to unleash their budding imaginations. Let your kids play teacher, write words or doodle away on an outdoor blackboard complete with coloured chalk.
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Coloured pebbles
Painting pebbles is a cute way to decorate your garden – and the process is fun for kids too. Use a combo of poster paints and nail varnish to paint eye-popping colours and patterns onto large pebbles sourced from the seaside.
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Outdoor toy storage
Outdoor toys are a great way for kids to spend their time away from screens and enjoy time in nature. Whether it’s balls, bikes, or scooters, toys and other play equipment need an easy and accessible place to put them away.
For more quality advice on gardens and professional landscaping, visit us at Bayside Landscaping
