With the increased use of electric gadgets, children are under the risk of not knowing how to play and thus socialise. You can imagine where the world is heading to if the existing generation lacks the communication skills required to run and sustain personal and business growth. As a parent, you should consider installing an outdoor playground and decorate it. The decoration will be a factor that will be encouraging your children to play outside.
For instance, you can start by installing decking boards. These boards will be applicable as a children playground, and if you have visitors, you can host them on the deck. The idea is to decorate the playground beyond imagination to ensure that your children would prefer playing outside rather than staying indoors with television. So, how can you achieve a refurbished playground? Here are tips to consider while decorating an outdoor playground for children.
Planting Artificial Flowers
Children are fast learners, and this enables them to gain and retain the knowledge of something they’ve seen. If your child has attended a wedding or saw a ceremony that involved flowers, they’ll try the activity. Therefore, plant artificial flowers on sandbox which will be used by your children over and every day. Their creativity will mesmerise you, and you’ll discover their potential by watching them play with the flowers.
The advantage of artificial flowers is they’re recyclable and safe for use. Find flowers containing colours attractive to children, which include yellow, red and blue. These colours are appealing to children, and it’s the main reasons why they are used to decorate children playgrounds in schools. Fill pots and plastic containers with sand. Artificial flowers will decorate a child’s playground, will be planted or plucked as children wishes.
Buy a Mobile Mud Pit
Why do children love playing with mud? First, clay can be moulded to create various images. Similarly, it can be destroyed to make other moulds too. Buy a mobile mud pit in which your children will be mixing mud to mould various items. It is easy to assemble the pit and clean it, which makes it convenient for your child creative activity and cleaning for you. You can move the mud pit to a position away from the house to prevent it from dirt. Also, when your children are through with the mud pit, you can put it away. As much playing with mud is involving and fun, you have to ensure that you incorporate other things to exemplify the experience.
Do you have a whiteboard? Well, it’s a suitable device on which your children will paint with mud and later clean it for new drawings. A whiteboard is ideal for expanding children creativity because they’ll be drawing what they imagine or see.
Homemade Waterfall
Another thing children love playing with is water. If you have empty plastic bottles, cut them through to create a passage for water. The good thing is you can work along with your kids to design a waterfall at home. Therefore, let your children connect hose pipes to plastic bottles. Fix the jars on standing wooden support. Your imagination will be the limiting factor.
So, imagine how a waterfall looks like and fix the bottle identically. For example, the containers shouldn’t be straight. You can put one bottle on the left and attach the other on the right but slightly below the one on the left to receive water. Arrange the bottles to look like stepping stops up a mountain and let the child colour the bottles using different paints.
Ensure there is a basin to collect water under the bottles from which the kids will draw water and put it back through the first bottle. First, children will put mud and other items in the containers and watch them flow through the waterfall. It might block the waterfall system, and it will be up to the children problem-solving skills to unblock the passage. Designing a waterfall outside the house will ensure that the invested material used to build your home remain safe because children will be engaged most of the time outside playing.
Composite Decking Boards
It is an ideal way of decorating an outdoor playground. First, it is safe because they are fixed firmly from beneath them. When children are playing, there will be nothing to trip them. So, order the decking boards from Ultra Decking, a reliable company whose goal is to design and install the decks at affordable prices.
However, there are various factors to consider before you order them. For instance, some colours of composite boards absorb heat. So, ask the manufacturer about the best colour to use for your deck, especially if your deck will remain uncovered from direct sun rays. Other factors to consider are the size, fastening methods, quality, and add-ons.
Seesaw
Seesaw is one of the activities that would make you miss your childhood. The thrilling feeling that comes with bouncing up and down is unimaginable. If you want your children to experience the stimulating nature of seesaw, take a tire and cut it into two. Put each of the halves on opposite sides but should be parallel.
Find a wedged pivot and put at the centre of the two halves of a tire. Place a board on top of the pivot and hit a nail through to the pivot. Each end of the board should be above the tires. The tires increase the energy which pushes the board back up, and thus your children will enjoy the experience. Ensure you teach the children how to use the seesaw and implement safety measures.
Balance Beam
Designing a balancing beam is easy because you need old boards or timber. Balance beam can be used on any flat surface, including composite decking boards. Children can use a balance beam to exercise and practice gymnastic activities they’ve seen on television. Design an intense beam on which even an adult can use because it will be best if you practice using it along with your child.
A balance beam is ideally a play station, but it’s advantageous because it helps in the development of children and it’s an outdoor activity. Therefore, design and decorate balance beams of 4*4 or 4* 2s and demonstrate to your kids on how to use them. Alternatively, if your child is conversant with balancing on the beam, incorporate wheels.
Train your child to balance and ride through a small surface like a composite deck. Ensure the floor has rails on which the child will support himself. Consequently, let the child ride the beam through the compound before allowing them to walk with it on community pavements.
Tire Swing
Have you come across adults swinging? Well, swinging is one of the relaxing activities you can involve yourself. Once you are given a push for several rounds, you can swing until time runs out. You can never tire from swinging if the sitting equipment is designed to prevent sore.
So, find a material ideal for sitting and assemble it to sturdy rails. For example, smoothen an old tire and fit a chain through it. Ensure there is nothing that undermines the safety of children while swinging. Especially, if they have been to a party, make sure that the children suit they wore for the occasion are all removed before they jump on mini-trampoline or any swing. Decorate the chains and ensure the surface is flat and has no stones which can harm the kid in case of a fall.
Take away
Children are required to play to ensure that their brains develop correctly. However, if you restrain them from playing outside because they’ll get hurt or disorganise your compound, you’ll be depriving them healthy brain development. Therefore, consider the above tips while designing and decorating a playground for children.
The ideas are ideal because you can disassemble the equipment when the child is through with playing. Additionally, they are cost-effective and easy to clean. For example, cleaning a deck and mud pit is easy.