help with a child friendly garden please

ClareEmily

Hiya please move if this is completely in the wrong place.

We are currently renting a house with a lovely south facing garden, which is enclosed, but totally unsafe for a toddler and more suited for a mature couple.

I have a 18 month old toddler who is into everything, and I would like for him to play outside in his sand pit and on his ride on car etc.

However the garden is all patio slabs, on three levels, and round the edges are plants in pots sitting on gravel. The bottom level is also a total no go area. Also there are car parts (belonging to hubby, which would need to be fenced/blocked off somehow, as haven't got him to move them over past 2 years).

Rest of garden has lots of steps, trip hazards and as he is just mastering walking, it's not ideal.

Obviously if it was our house we would lay a lawn, but we are here for the foreseeable future so is there any low cost bright ideas on fencing, matting etc??

I have those foamy squares that fit together but they aren't very thick and will only cover a small area of the garden.

Anyone else had this problem?

Nicki

Could you get hold of some of those playpens which open out into long barriers, and using as many as you need create a safe area for him, which is the only part he's allowed to play in. On surfaces, so long as he isn't trampolining or seesawing, I'd be inclined to leave it be as paved slabs. The worst he's likely to get is a bumped knee and they all have to learn to negotiate paved surfaces at some point.

We did have a similar problem exactly with our garden but as we owned it, we ripped up all the slabs and gravel, levelled the surfaces and put down micropore surfacing, which is very child friendly but our garden now looks just like a playground which might not be your landlord's idea of a selling point for future tenants

ClareEmily

Thanks for replying Nicki so good points, the fold out playpens are a good idea I will go take a look.

balletshoes

ClareEmily wrote: »

Hiya please move if this is completely in the wrong place.

We are currently renting a house with a lovely south facing garden, which is enclosed, but totally unsafe for a toddler and more suited for a mature couple.

I have a 18 month old toddler who is into everything, and I would like for him to play outside in his sand pit and on his ride on car etc.

However the garden is all patio slabs, on three levels, and round the edges are plants in pots sitting on gravel. The bottom level is also a total no go area. Also there are car parts (belonging to hubby, which would need to be fenced/blocked off somehow, as haven't got him to move them over past 2 years).

Rest of garden has lots of steps, trip hazards and as he is just mastering walking, it's not ideal.

Obviously if it was our house we would lay a lawn, but we are here for the foreseeable future so is there any low cost bright ideas on fencing, matting etc??

I have those foamy squares that fit together but they aren't very thick and will only cover a small area of the garden.

Anyone else had this problem?

if you need to keep little one away from certain areas of the garden you can get cheap iron-look (plastic) fencing from poundworld or Wilkinsons - you just push them into the ground where you need them.

I'd agree with letting him loose on the patio level outside your home to play with his toys, and if you want him not to be on the other levels you could use some of the same fencing and just place it over the steps when he's outside playing.

cutestkids

I assume that a little one of 18 months will not be allowed out unsupervised so really nothing too bad can happen as you will be able to see where he is going and guide him away from the areas that are not suitable.

Try to block off any steps etc to the various levels so that he is confined to one area while he is still finding his feet, with regard to it being paving slabs this really should not be a problem the worst will be a couple of skint knees and hands probably.

In our garden there is a lot of paved and concrete areas but the worst accident has been skint knees and elbows unlike in the house where both my kids have spit their heads open and needed glued back together falling over indoors.

Try not to worry and just enjoy the time outside with your little boy and all the new things he will discover.

You will probably find that he will be happy to stick to the sandpit and things at first anyway.

Good luck and have a lovely summer with him.