The summer cottage today is successfully used for family holidays. In the presence of a small house near the cottage, you can equip a comfort zone for residents of all ages. For adults, it can be a gazebo, a shed with a barbecue or a barbecue, benches, etc. In order to diversify the leisure of the kids, a children’s playground will suit their own hands: photos and ideas of interesting projects are so diverse that problems with the organization of the play area should not arise.
Do-it-yourself playground: photos and ideas, popular projects
Very often, young children choose unsuitable places for their games, which leads to serious injuries, since adults are not always able to keep track of every movement of their children. Especially if there are many children. To prevent this from happening, it is enough to organize a special play area on the site. Numerous photos of children’s playgrounds with their own hands show that anyone can build a simple design that will be interesting to children and safe to use.
The decision to build a sports playground for children at their summer cottage will bring many positive moments. The child will not only feel parental care, but also have a safe place specially designated for games.
Note! The game zone will allow the child to have a personal space that will contribute to the development of intuition, communication skills and understanding of peers. The kid will learn to control his body, strengthen muscles and improve coordination, and also be able to play collective games with friends or his own brothers / sisters.
Playgrounds develop independence in the child. They are able to distract the baby for a long time, and parents at this time will be able to pay attention to household chores without fear for his health and life.
The presence of a special area for recreation and games protects the child from many problems, such as:
- communicating with dishonest people;
- games with sharp objects that can cause injury;
- broken bottles, garbage, syringes in the grass, dangerous plants.
It does not necessarily strive to create a perfect design. In the photo of children’s playgrounds with their own hands, which are many in the Internet space, it is clear that most of the projects are based on imagination and personal preferences. When creating a play area, you just need to surrender to your own instincts and take into account the wishes of your children.
In order to organize a play area in the backyard territory, it is enough to look through the photos of children’s playgrounds in the garden with your own hands, presented in this article, or to get acquainted with the materials on the net. As a rule, the set of structures in most cases is standard, but you can always supplement it with any other objects that you find interesting or necessary.
Helpful advice! Do not be afraid to involve children in construction (as far as their physical abilities are concerned). Joint work contributes to mutual understanding, healthy communication and strengthening relationships within the family. The kid will be able to express a creative personality in himself, and you will thus instil in your child a love of work and independence from an early age.
The following objects are considered to be traditional outdoor equipment for playgrounds:
- sandbox – for the construction of the frame part, it is allowed to use processed logs, stumps or plastic bottles (the filling is river sand, carefully sifted and cleaned);
- structures of various forms – structures can have an interesting exterior design in the form of ships, wooden houses, cars, animal figures, rockets, etc. (it is recommended to use logs, painted car tires, boards, metal profiles as material for manufacturing);
- swing of various modifications (suspended, balance weights, rocking, etc.);
- partitions and devices for zoning of the territory – pebbles, gravel, cones, stones, wood cuts and logs, branches and green plantings are used for the construction of such objects;
- ropes, hammocks and rope ladders suspended from wooden or metal structures.
The sandbox is the most popular object created by children. This type of design is able to take the baby for several hours, which he can spend on building sand castles, tunnels, playing with molds and other types of toys.
It is very important during the construction of the sandbox not to miscalculate with the location. It is recommended to install the structure in the shade (the shade should be moderate so that the sand does not retain moisture and does not give up dampness) in the vicinity of the house. Playground projects may include large sandboxes. Such facilities are divided into 3, and sometimes into 5 zones for the game.
Helpful advice! Use zoning materials of natural origin and any other available tools. For these purposes, suitable branches, hemp and logs. They should be pre-processed and painted in a suitable color.
If there are no tall trees on your site and it is not possible to organize a sandbox in the shade, a shed can be built above the structure. This structure will protect the child from direct sunlight and ultraviolet radiation.
Pre-processed cuts of trees and logs are best used for the construction of sports equipment, installed on the sites for older children. Wood cuts are suitable for laying tracks, and logs, from which you can organize a whole complex, will allow the child to learn to keep balance.
Car tires, pre-painted in bright colors, are allowed as scrap materials. Hemp large and small sizes, as well as boards can be used for the manufacture of chairs and tables.
At the initial stage, you will need to create on your site a children’s playground with your own hands schemes, drawings and visualization of all objects in the territory. The development of the project will create an accurate picture of the future construction and coordinate your actions.
The territory that is allocated for construction should be located in close proximity to the house. Especially this requirement applies to families where there are children of small age. Even if you can build a safe and comfortable play area, children still need to be looked after. Therefore, the site must be located within sight of the window of the house.
Children of the older age category are more mobile and demanding with regard to playgrounds. For them it is worthwhile to equip a sports area, which may be a little removed from the house. To accommodate the swing and sandbox is quite a small area. Mobile and team games require a large amount of space. For these purposes, you can take the garden, if it is present in the local area. This place is great for hiding or playing salochki.
Helpful advice! If you intend to use the garden to organize a playground, you should differentiate in advance its territory into a zone for games and a space where vegetable beds, flower gardens and flower beds are broken, decorative trees and bushes are planted. This is done so that children do not trample down plants during games.
There are a number of basic requirements for the placement of the playing area and all facilities installed on it. By following these simple rules, you can achieve optimal and safe conditions in which your child will play.
Basic requirements for the site:
- Before starting construction, ask the child what games he likes most and what objects he would like to see on his site. Some prefer to play in a hut woven from wicker bars, others will like the bike trail with road signs, others will be interested in a wooden house or in a “bungee” under the tree. The child should be given the opportunity to independently decide on what he will play with;
- There is no need to carry out the site in accordance with the style of the suburban area. In this case, the choice of colors is of great importance (the range of shades used should be bright and varied). As ideas for inspiration, take photos of playgrounds in the country in a fabulous style;
- taking into account the fact that children in the summer season most of the time is spent on the street, the children’s area should be located in partial shade. Use for these purposes trees or a canopy made by yourself.
Helpful advice! To create a shade, you can make a canopy with a fabric awning coating or a large umbrella painted in bright colors.
The choice of location plays an important role in the construction of the site for children’s games. After you decide what will be the filling of the zone intended for the games of kids, you need to decide on the choice of a place for its construction:
- to equip the play area for kids should be in those places that are clearly visible from the cottage window. Nearby should not be objects of increased danger. Such objects include natural and artificial reservoirs of large size, wells;
- For the construction you need to use the most even site. If there is no such possibility, the height differences in the area must be leveled independently;
- wind protection should be present at the site to protect the baby from drafts and strong wind gusts. For this fit green spaces;
- lowland areas on the local area – the most inappropriate choice of location. This type of terrain is strongly blown by the winds, retains moisture and cold;
- there should be no electrical appliances, sources of electrical current, elements of communication systems to which the child can have access;
- in the evening, the ground should be well lit. Consider in advance the layout of the lighting devices, taking into account the effectiveness, efficiency and safety rules.
To make the space safe for children, you should first take care of the vegetation. From the site you need to remove the plants with spines, and nettles.
In suburban areas it is often possible to meet poisonous and dangerous plants. These include wild rose, sea buckthorn, bitter-sweet nightshade, castor-bean, etc.
Eliminating dangerous shrubs and plants will help avoid many of the problems they cause:
- burns;
- injuries of various kinds (scratches, punctures);
- blisters;
- allergic skin rashes;
- poisoning.
Helpful advice! If you can not completely exclude the presence of poisonous and dangerous plants in the garden, watch out for small children in the yard. As you grow older, explain to them what danger a particular flower carries and how important it is to avoid contact with such plants.
All objects for games that you install in the yard must be tested for durability and reliability. The construction is not allowed sticking bolts and nails, as well as sharp corners. All joints between parts are carefully aligned and cleaned.
Every 6 months should check the serviceability of the swing and other structures. To increase safety, it is necessary to install protective elements on the children’s slides.
