“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world… but it takes people to make the dream a reality.” Walt Disney
Are children’s gardens a thing of the past?
Sometimes I wonder if ‘gardening’ is becoming a lost art.
In today’s online world, you can build a virtual garden, grow virtual vegetables, feed virtual animals, and even slay a Fire-Breathing Dragon. Where does actual gardening fit into this? With all of these virtual activities, it’s important to find creative ways to encourage children to spend time outdoors and connect with nature.
Backyards are gobbled up in many landscape projects with stonework, pools, and decks. Where is the space for flowers and vegetables? The space to dream? The place where fairies come to dance on flower petals fresh with dew, where toads come to reside in dark corners, where birds come to feed on the nectar of sweet blooms, where little fingers can dig in the soil, and where nature comes alive.
A children’s garden creates excitement, it stimulates young minds, provides mystery, and is a place of discovery.
It’s all about creating opportunities to touch, and see, and do, and create. To learn from nature. To learn from each other. For families to be together.
Designing for Kids. Little Fingers. Big Ideas.
Children learn with their senses—all of them! They want to touch the pretty flowers and soft leaves, smell the fragrant blooms, and watch the dancing butterflies. They will slay the Fire-Breathing Dragon with their buddies, play hide-and-seek with neighbourhood friends, and dig big holes in your backyard to create a great hideout—at least they did in my backyard.
Sowing Ideas!
You can plant a few veggies in patio containers so kids can see the wonder of a seed spouting. Hang baskets of strawberries from decks or trees and watch kids sneak the ripe berries—plant blueberries for a late summer harvest of yummy goodness. Grow pumpkins and watch the magic of the curling, twinning vines, and the large yellow flowers become tiny pumpkins that grow into huge pumpkins.
It’s Okay to be an Observer!
Not all kids want to run around; some want to watch and read. Create a great viewing location, somewhere safe and cozy to ‘watch the world go by’ with a comfy chair and a few colourful pillows.
Kids on the Move!
Children get bored quickly, so they create areas for them to move about. A chalkboard mounded on a wood fence, a sandbox filled with beach sand, or a tree swing. They can make music with pots and pans, blow giant bubbles, add colourful Worley gigs to their gardens, build a toad house, feed the birds, or just lay in the grass and look up at the sky.
Energy in Motion!
If you’ve ever walked through the mall with a child, you know kids can’t just walk in a straight line. They’ve got to skip, dance, and jump. All that energy has to go somewhere. Turn your driveway into a space for hopscotch with sidewalk chalk. Find or make a low spot in the backyard, a great place to jump in a puddle in your rubber boots or bare feet after it rains. Build a fort with lawn chairs and blankets, put up a simple tent, or construct a raised deck as a stage for dancing and singing. Of course, a simple classic activity – one lawn sprinkler on a hot day, add a couple of kids in bathing suits and presto, magic. What could be more fun?
For peace of mind, ensure you have clear sight lines to watch children play. We want kids to be safe, so keeping an eye on children at play from the house (or a lounge chair) is part of a great landscape plan.
It’s All Child’s Play
If you want to create a great outdoor space for children … ‘Think like Them’.
Children see the world in simple terms so ‘Keep it Simple’.
Give them flowers.
Give them space.
Give them the joy of being outdoors.