How to Create a Kid Friendly Backyard: Your Complete Guide

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How to Create a Kid Friendly Backyard: Your Complete Guide

Hands up if converting your garden into a kid friendly backyard sounds like a sure way to destroy your flower beds?

If your hand is up, don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Many people get stressed simply at the words ‘kid friendly backyard’. But the good news is that there’s no need to worry. There are a bunch of easy and affordable ways to make your backyard a kid-friendly, yet still aesthetically pleasing, space.

If you’ve been wondering how to create a backyard that your kids will love too, you’ve come to the right place. Check out this guide to learn how to create a kid friendly backyard.

The Importance of a Kid Friendly Backyard

Research shows that play, especially outdoor play, is an extremely important part of development in children. While it’s widely agreed that outdoor playtime is an essential part of childhood, these days it faces fierce competition from video games.

Today, children are given Ipads before they can talk and the result is often that they’re pretty disinterested in any activities that aren’t iPad games. The reality is that children as young as two are addicted to gaming and swiping.

The extensive negative effects this has on their mental and physical health are still being discovered.

Due to this, when you have kids, you want to ensure they spend sufficient time outdoors to exercise and expend extra energy. The best way for children to learn about the world is through outdoor play. For more ideas about fun outdoor activities in your backyard, please see here.

Unstructured Play Is Best

In line with this, The American Academy of Pediatrics states that children need to spend lots of time engaging in unstructured outdoor play, as it’s critical to their health. The sad reality is that many children have experienced a marked decline in the time they spend in free play.

It’s unpleasant to even face the fact that children could suffer from depression and anxiety, but the truth is that these conditions are becoming more common for children today.

With their busy school and extra-curricular schedules, children have become increasingly stressed. The good news is that physical activity and outdoor play can greatly help children to reduce their stress.

It’s even been found that nature contact will help reduce stress levels and will have a positive effect on conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety.

Cool Backyard Ideas

You’ll be happy to know that your backyard can easily turn into a thrilling adventure for your kids if you incorporate the right elements. Of course, you’ll want to do this without destroying your landscaping.

With the right setup, your children can have a yard that’s not only fun but also helpful to their growth.

If you’ve been looking for attainable DIY backyard ideas, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve ensured that many of these ideas can be created and designed by you in your own home. This ensures that costs are kept low and time spent remains at a minimum.

At the end of the day, most of us lead busy family lives. This means that amazing backyards for children must be created as easily as possible.

We’ve laid down a list of ideas and fun designs for creating the ultimate kid friendly backyards.

Incorporate Natural Elements

Talking about a DIY playground brought us straight to this first point.

Your garden is full of natural potential. If you have a nice strong tree in your yard, it could provide the perfect spot to hang a swing or climbing rope.

You can easily fashion a swing with some strong rope and a good plank of wood. Or you could buy one online and hoist it onto a branch, provided the branch is steady and strong enough.

A climbing rope is a perfect way for older kids to practice their gross motor skills and improve their upper body strength. It’s the perfect way to counteract the lazy hours spent watching TV on the couch and will get your kids moving and playing as they should be.

You could also look to introduce a mud kitchen for your kids, to stimulate creative play. This usually involves a pretend kitchen and utensils, with garden ingredients readily available to make mud pie or leaf salad!

Fairy Garden

There’s nothing that makes kids more excited than a jungle or fairy garden in their own backyard!

The great part about this idea is that a fairy garden doubles up as just a pretty section of your backyard. There’s no need to add or build much. You may already have tall trees in a section of your garden. If not, you could plant some tall grasses and weeping trees in a corner of your backyard.

Then, create a winding path with stepping stones or wood chips through this mini jungle. Other cool ideas to add to the fairy garden effect would be to plant some flowers and place a boulder or a bench where your kids can hang out with their fairy friends.

This kind of space will allow your children’s imaginations to run wild. One minute, they’re at home, the next they’re exploring the Amazon jungle.

This can also create some hiding spots for dangerous critters so remember to keep the grass short.

Climbing Tires

Climbing tires are a classic element of any fun backyard space. Think back to your school playground and climbing tires were probably part of the fun.

They encourage physical activity and improve balance and core strength. They’re also a low-cost DIY playground idea that children of many ages can enjoy

You have the option of painting the tires in fun, bright colors. For young kids, they can be arranged at a level that allows toddlers to reach up and pull themselves up as they learn to walk. You can search Craigslist for cheap or free tires in your area or check your local tire shops for affordable used tires.

Build a Treehouse

The quintessential symbol of any child-friendly backyard must be a treehouse.

Growing up, every child hopes and wishes for their own treehouse. It provides the perfect space for kids to play when friends come over, which will be often now that you have a treehouse in your yard!

Experts suggest that treehouses teach kids a balanced approach to risk. Along with this, they boost fine and gross motor skills through climbing and imaginative play.

Building your own treehouse is also an amazing activity that teaches children about design, safety, and plain old hard work.

Chalk Wall Fun

A chalkboard wall is another nifty way to tempt your kids to spend more time away from their devices. With a few simple cement backer boards and some chalk paint, you can create the perfect spot for your kids t get creative in the fresh air.

A chalkboard is a good old-fashioned way for children to practice their alphabet, handwriting or basic math. And the best part is they get to do this outside in the sunshine!

Keep in mind that you’ll have to find outdoor chalk paint that’s able to withstand the elements.

The Next Steps

After reading this article, you should be armed with plenty of ideas about affordable, nifty ways to transform your backyard into a kiddy heaven.

These tips and hints are guaranteed to lure your kids away for their computers and TVs. And the great part is that none of them will cause damage to your beloved garden.

It’s clear that children of all ages can benefit from spending time outside. Remember that even young toddlers love the chance to explore different spaces and touch natural objects. Pine cones, leaves, and puddles all provide the perfect sensory tools for toddlers to learn about their world.

So, what are the next steps?

For more information about the best ways to create a kid friendly backyard, keep browsing our website.

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