As a parent, it's your job to fill your home with creative, fun and inspiring ideas that will encourage your child to create, explore and relax no matter where they are in your house.
Here are some effective ways to make your backyard more fun for children:
Build a Rock Spot
A rock spot is basically a play area in your yard filled with gravel – a great place for children to play with their cars, trucks and construction toys as well as animals. You can use a small inflatable swimming pool or create a 4 x 5 pit by using large rocks or pieces of wood to contain the gravel.
About 5 bags of pea gravel (about 50 pounds each bag) will be used in such area. Add some small wood planks that children can use as ramps or branches and sticks to build anything. A rock spot would be a great addition to any home because it's great for sensory learning.
Install a large chalkboard
The easiest way to do this is to use a store-bought large chalkboard, but this can be expensive. Instead, you can opt to make your own. The first step would be to make homemade chalkboard paint (this will last longer than the store-bought variety and can weather outdoor conditions better).
With each cup of exterior latex enamel paint you use, mix it with 2 tablespoons of unsanded tile grout. Use this mixture to paint a large piece of plywood (better to do the mixtures one cup at a time for a more even blending).
Once dry, hang the chalkboard at kid height in an area in your backyard and provide plenty of colourful non-toxic chalks. You'll be thankful to keep the chalk dust outside!
Create a play pond
You know much we loved to create those paper boats and we would float them in the tub during bath time when we were kids? Your children would love it, too, and they get to play with water even when it's not time for a bath!
Plus children love playing water, and a play pond would be a great way to cool them down during hot summer days.
A large plant saucer works best. Place it on the ground in your yard and fill it water. It would be fun to sit down with your children beforehand and teach them how to make paper boats. Once you have the pond ready, the kids can enjoy racing their boats!
Add bath toys, toy aquatic animals and some bubbles to add to the fun!
You don't have to spend too much money taking your young ones to theme parks or play houses often, you can have your own version of fun in your very own backyard!
