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Safety First: Child Friendly Garden Ideas
Lifestyle
Outdoor spaces are the perfect place to nurture your child’s development, build their connection to the environment, and have fun making memories! Our child friendly garden ideas will uncover how to design safe zones within your garden that encourage little ones to get outside and explore. The layout of your lawn and patio should mitigate any potential risks to create a safe space where they can grow, learn and play.
Hazards in your Garden
Before getting into the fun stuff, it’s important to identify and address any potential hazards in your garden. A clear landscape allows you to shape and build safe recreation areas in your outdoor spaces with confidence. Look out for include:
- Dangerous Foreign Objects: When you’ve got little ones who start finding their feet, its time to start noticing the little things that could be hazardous! The landscape of your garden should be free from low-hanging tree branches, overhead wires, tree stumps, exposed roots and any rocks or rubble.
- Water Features: Water features pose a significant drowning risk and should be completely removed if you have little tots. If they can’t be removed or your children are a little older, install secure safety measures, such as fencing or robust safety grids, to prevent potentially serious accidents. Frameless glass balustrades offer the perfect solution; they’re sleek, stylish, and most importantly, a highly effective safety measure!
- Gardening tools: Lock away gardening equipment or sharp objects when they’re not in use and never leave them unattended. Safely store any chemicals used in your garden, such as fertilisers and weed killers, in their original childproof packaging and don’t transfer them into unmarked containers.
- Toxic Plants: Before installing sensory garden spaces or ‘Grow your Own’ areas, check what’s already in the garden against the RHS list. Many common garden plants, like monk’s hood, are poisonous if ingested and can cause skin irritation. Take time to explain to children that they should never eat any plant or berry without explicit adult permission, including the ones they’ve grown.
How to Plan a Family-Friendly Garden
Now you’ve removed potential hazards, you can crack on with designing a safe garden layout for quality outdoor fun with the kids (and separate areas for adult relaxation of course!). Well-planned zones define spaces, making it easier to supervise children as they play, learn, and interact with nature during different activities.
When establishing the zones of your garden, prioritise a secure perimeter to prevent a potential ‘Great Escape’ scenario. Once your border is secure with childproof locks, you can sketch out an exterior plan that integrate child friendly garden ideas. These areas can be separated by small trees or bushes that complement your garden’s greenery or low fences that secure and contain play areas.
The best family gardens blend adult practicality with a child’s imagination. Encourage little ones to share their interests through drawings or descriptions which will nurture a sense of ownership and excitement toward their outdoor spaces. Create engaging areas that you can easily monitor, by pairing the kids garden ideas with your own and some of our favourites, including:
- Supervision Area.
- Play Area.
- A Sensory Garden.
- Grow Your Own Zone.
Garden Ideas for Kids: Key Zones
Supervision Area
Supervise children who are enjoying outdoor spaces independently through designated vantage points. The slim frames and large glass panes of aluminium bifold doors and sliding doors improve sightlines into your garden, letting you enjoy a brew with other parents while keeping an eye on things. If you notice the potential for an incident, you can quickly enter the garden and prevent it because of your patio door’s easy-access design.
Bioclimatic pergolas offer a luxurious outdoor retreat where you can relax and watch over playtime without intruding. Recline on a deep-seated garden set with plush pillows and enjoy unobstructed views of your family garden through the pergola’s open design, which could be even be paired with stunning sliding doors. And if the kids need a rest, close the louvres for a shaded place where they can cool off with a quick drink before they’re racing off again.
Play Area
Climbing frames and swings establish a designated zone for raucous fun, bringing that park atmosphere into your garden. For unobstructed clambering and swinging, measure up your available spaces and choose play equipment that fits with plenty of room around it. For safety reasons, more active zones need large clearance areas and a fixed boundary to prevent collisions between other play areas. This is especially important for swings, which should have a berth that’s twice the height of the top bar, both front and back.
Find a level surface for your play equipment that’s at least six feet away from any fixed structure or obstacle, including houses, fences, or trees. Check the ground is soft in these areas where trips and falls are more likely. Whilst grass provides a naturally soft landing, you’ll need the cushioned surfaces of rubber matting or wood chippings for concrete and gravel floors. Although older children might have a bit more freedom, you should constantly monitor the young ones.
Sensory Garden
Allow young tots to safely explore and connect with nature by creating a sensory zone that engages their senses with a variety of textures, scents, and visuals. Vibrant coloured flowers like hydrangeas, sunflowers and cosmos make a visually stunning bouquet that young children are naturally drawn to. Lamb’s ears have incredibly soft and fuzzy leaves that are perfect for tactile exploration, while fragrant flowers like lavender, rosemary and mint provide rich sensory experiences. Pair the natural birdsong of your garden with hanging wind chimes and rustling fountain grass for a natural and soothing environment, or play different wildlife sounds from your pergola’s built-in speakers to broaden their experience.
Grow Your Own Zone
‘Grow Your Own Zone’ is a fantastic child friendly garden idea that gets small hands planting, growing, and harvesting food. This is a fun way to teach them about food sources and safe consumption in a hands-on way. The quick growth cycle of strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and peas allows little ones to observe progress and feel rewarded for their efforts. Along the way, you can teach them about hygiene and the importance of washing their hands after gardening as well as the dangers of eating anything you haven’t allowed.
A greenhouse provides the optimal conditions for growing produce and keeping kids comfortable. Raised containers, potting table areas, or garden beds are also viable options, but remember to assess your garden’s soil if the food is coming straight from the ground. A soil test will check for dangerous contaminants such as lead with any score above 100 PPM indicating unsuitable earth. If the soil fails, keep your potting table under a glass veranda, to protect plants against the elements and allow plenty of natural sunlight to flood through for growth.
Visit Our Showroom
Here at Exterior Spaces, we believe that any outdoor space can be transformed into the ultimate spot for both safe family fun and relaxation. Hopefully, our child friendly garden ideas have given you plenty of inspiration for your next outdoor renovation. To bring these family garden ideas to life, consider installing aluminium structures like pergolas and verandas that allow you and your little ones to enjoy outdoor spaces year-round. Come down to our showroom and discuss your vision with our expert sales team, who can advise you on the perfect fit. We even have a kid’s playroom so they can be a part of the experience too.
