The age-old question parents face: how can you make your backyard kid-friendly? Luckily for you and your family, it’s easier than you might think to create a kid-friendly landscape! I’m of the opinion that kids don’t need much help to create moments of wonder in their own backyard. I remember spending hours upon hours in the sandbox alone growing up. You don’t need all that much to instill delight in the little ones. Sometimes all it takes is a yummy berry, soft plant underfoot, or the wonder of hiding under a canopy of leaves. I’ve laid out four methods to creating a kid-friendly landscape in your own backyard that both you and your little ones will love!
It’s important that everyone gets something out of your landscape, whether it’s yourself, the dog, or your kids. When you create separate spaces in your landscape for each activity your family likes to engage in, you provide obvious “rooms” for each kind of diversion. This is especially precious to kids!
Think about when you were little and could run and hide in your yard or in friend’s gardens, crawling into bushes or playing on play structures. By replicating that for your own children in your landscape, you foster their sense of childhood wonder and love of play. Who doesn’t want a more kid-friendly landscape for their little ones? Whether it’s as simple as a table and chairs or as elaborate (and fun) as a teepee of snap peas or other vines, having a place in your backyard that is totally for your kids is one of the greatest gifts you can give them.
If you want to go above and beyond, place some landscape rocks for sitting and jumping or a sandy patch or two for digging. Think of your kid’s area like an outdoor classroom on a smaller scale, a place where they can engage in any kind of outdoor activity or sensory experience. And remember, you can absolutely have a kid-friendly backyard without grass! Lawn alternatives such as clover or creeping thyme work just fine, as do mulch and pebbles.
In addition to having their own area to play, run, and hide, you can create an early love of gardening in your little ones by giving them their own kid-friendly garden space. If they’re too little to truly participate in the gardening process, just plant what you know they love to eat or smell. If they’re a bit older, give them ownership! Hop on down to the garden centre and work with them to pick out their very favourite plants and the seed packets that spark their interest.
By teaching your children to grow food from a young age, they’ll develop a healthy relationship with fruits and vegetables, along with a desire to eat them! I think nothing’s better for a picky eater than putting the effort into producing their own fruit and veggies.
In addition to fostering a good relationship with food, gardening is an incredible way to teach your kids about responsibility. They need to weed their garden so that their veggies thrive, and fertilize it regularly to make sure their plants are getting the nutrients they need to grow big and strong – just like your kids need to eat their vegetables! A kid-friendly garden space is the perfect way to instill important life lessons in your children, and a great excuse for you to spend an afternoon at the garden centre with them!
After you’ve created a special place for your kids in your landscape, now it’s time to think about what to include! Nearly all types of berry bushes are perfect for your kid-friendly landscape, providing kiddos ample opportunity to stroll around their space munching on a healthy snack and experiencing the delicious magic nature has to offer. Include a range of plants, such as low-growing strawberry bushes (perfect for a hedge around a sandbox), tart and delicious blueberries, or thornless blackberries along a fenceline for a summertime treat on a warm day.
To ensure their kid-friendly space smells wonderful and keeps them engaged, you can help them plant herbs. Mint, thyme, sage, and more are easy to care for and offer up delicious scents your kids will delight in. What’s more, you can allow these herbs to flower, which will attract bumble bees and butterflies to further wow the little ones, while also providing an awesome opportunity to teach them about pollination and why our pollinator friends are so important.
Plants aren’t the only ingredient of a kid-friendly landscape, though they are an important one! Don’t be afraid to incorporate elements such as hardscapes in the form of smooth river pebbles or water features such as a bubbling rock. Let the kids take their shoes off and splash around and make sounds! They can stay entertained with pursuits like these for hours, enjoying the cool water on their legs and the delightful crunch (and treasure hunting potential) of stones.
Plants are once again a wonderful way to introduce more tactile elements to your children’s landscape. Of course you’ll want to avoid anything too spiky or sticky, instead opting for plants that are rich in aroma or soft to the touch, like lemon verbena or lamb’s ear. Even a stand or meadow of unmowed grass makes an excellent diversion for kids, who will get to run through it and wave their hands through the flower stalks and seed heads.
So you see, creating a kid-friendly landscape in your own backyard is as easy as a few plants and a place that is all theirs. If you’re short on square footage, even a window box full of flowers or a corner of your patio dedicated to your kids will be a welcome diversion and a way to get them involved in the outdoors.
If you’re looking for help installing a kid-friendly landscape near you, look no further than Royal City Nursery in Guelph, Ontario! We have all the materials you need to make your children’s summer dreams come true and more. Come on down to the garden centre today!
