Garden Mentors Gardening Academy Sign up

Kid-friendly Garden Redefined by Kids

Ready to Grow Your Best Garden Now?
Learn about flora and fauna with Garden Mentors.
Learn preserve, craft & make the most from your garden.
Learn to grow your own food and herbs with us.
Join the Garden Mentors Academy Today!
QUICKLY BUILD LASTING GARDENING SKILLS * GROW YOUR THRIVING DREAM GARDEN NOW
MONEYBACK GUARANTEE

Want to craft a kid-friendly children’s garden?

Many parents want to craft a great kid-friendly children’s garden. Unfortunately, many adults forget that a that kids really will play in any kind of garden.

The reality is: a children’s garden doesn’t have to be a sterile space filled with lawn and a plastic play set. Actually, many kids prefer something wilder to explore. That’s because a place of discovery provides challenges, inspiration and satisfaction that most outdoorsy kids love.

Wild children's garden

An example of a kid-friendly garden designed by kids!

While visiting family in Virginia, my niece’s outside innovations provided one of the coolest examples of kids playing anywhere out-of-doors. She lives in heavily wooded suburb near a creek.

And at one time hurricanes took out a number of trees by the creek near their home. After that my niece and her friends took advantage of the aftermath by creating a garden playground in some really fun and entertaining ways.

Ways kids design a natural garden kid playground…

First, the kids crafted balance-beam trails across the creek. And they did this using trees that fell in the hurricane winds.

natural balance beams in children's garden

Next, they installed swings along side the balance beams. In fact, they removed the swings from a manufactured play set to do this. So now they can have fun swinging over a babbling brook. And they’ve said this is much more fun than being trapped in a playset.

kid designed swings

 

Outdoor kitchen designed by kids in the garden?

Yep! Once you’ve braved the precarious trail these kids have cut — through ferns, wisteria, poke-weed, poison oak and other flora & fauna — you arrive at The Restaurant. That’s what these kid’s imagined into their wild children’s garden!
Outdoor kitchen garden designed by kids.
Not only did they imagine a kitchen, but they also included a restaurant. So you can relax on log seating. And enjoy a bit of mosquito protection under their netting rooftop.

And the kids will happily serve you something truly delicious from nature too. In this children’s garden restaurant you won’t eat mudpies. Instead these kids will gather wild mulberries freshly harvested from the branches of a wild tree growing just overhead!

Fresh wild mulberries

Fresh, Wild Mulberries

In conclusion, if you’re trying to figure out the best way to transform your garden for kids, maybe let the kids run wild for a bit. And encourage them to tap their own creativity to create their ideal children’s garden. When you do, it’s quite likely they’ll surprise you with how much hard work they’re willing to put into creating a fantastic playground like this one.

Kid friendly signs in the garden

4 comments on “Kid-friendly Garden Redefined by Kids

  1. Lacia Lynne Bailey on

    Awesome post! I feel so fortunate to have grown up in wild places and I feel sad for children of hovering parents with tidy playsets. I’m saving this post!

  2. Marki on

    I just plain love this! Playing out in nature is the very best. I did it, my cousins did it, my niece and nephews did it, my girls did it and now my granddaughter. This all fills my heart to over flowing. Hurray for us in the wild.

  3. Cynthia Thompson on

    Thank you for your post! I completely agree with the sentiment. Kids should be allowed to go out and play. After all, what’s the fun in childhood if you’re not allowed to explore your curiousity and imagination. I’ve found that kids whose parents gave them a long leash are often the ones who are more outgoing and sociable in adult life, and far more talented and fun as well. I really feel sad sometimes for those kids in big cities who don’t have such opportunities.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *