A children's playground is considered an important element of every modern suburban area if the younger generation lives on the territory. Purchasing swings and similar attributes is not a cheap pleasure.
It is much easier and more affordable to build a playground from scrap materials with your own hands. Let's talk about this issue in more detail.
Design process
The most important condition for creating a playground for children is to carry out the design in such a way that the structure is reliable and also as safe as possible in use.
In addition, when deciding on the construction site of the site, you need to focus on a place with excellent visibility.
In addition, the idea for a playground should not include the installation of wires and various traumatic angles at the site of children’s games. Also, the site should not be located next to a pool or river.
The place for games should be as level as possible, equipped with a soft surface that can minimize the risk of injury during an accidental fall.
When choosing a suitable material for decorating a playground, opt for natural solid wood, which is harmless, practical, and easy to use.
Wood is also easy to process, making it possible to build any structure from it.
By painting wood crafts for the playground in a variety of shades, you can get an attractive area for active play for your children.
It is preferable to initially develop the corresponding drawings on a sheet of paper. In the design documentation, be sure to indicate the expected dimensions of the parts that are planned to be placed on the site. Also determine the optimal inclined angle of the children's slide and, of course, the height.
Optimal ideas
When choosing a suitable design idea for a country playground, it is important to focus on the child’s age, as well as the characteristics of the location of the structure. Basically, the main element of the playground is a swing, a sandbox, and a slide.
In addition, you can build a small fairy-tale house and small slides. Simply put, every element of a children's playground should be interesting for kids.
Setting up a sandbox
When deciding on the location of the sandbox, focus on the following points:
- the area must certainly be open, that is, clearly visible;
- It is undesirable to build a sandbox under the canopy of trees to prevent debris from getting into it;
- be sure to take care of high-quality ultraviolet protection;
- Calculate the dimensions so that kids can move around in it as freely as possible.
As for the shape, the optimal option would be a square sandbox, which can be easily created from wood. To make sure of this, the photo of the playground is proof of this.
When choosing a natural wood, choose pine, which is considered a moisture-resistant material that can withstand solar radiation well, as well as temperature changes. Also, the resin in pine is characterized by antimicrobial properties.
The optimal dimensions of the sandbox are 200 cm by 200 cm. First you need to prepare a special area using pegs and threads. Having finished with the markings, you should slightly remove the top layer of soil. Then you can begin arranging the base in order to fill the sand.
Note!
It is preferable to cover the very bottom of the structure with dense building material. The bottom is covered with a cushion of sandy, plastic tiles.
Remember that the use of plastic film is contraindicated, since after precipitation a lot of moisture can accumulate in the sandbox, preventing the sand from drying out.
However, geotextile materials allow moisture to pass through, but do not allow various insects to enter the sand from the ground.
To cover the sides of the structure, boards should be constructed from boards. For convenience, you need to arrange the sides.
The option of arranging the sandbox with a special mushroom-shaped shelter has not been ruled out. This design will protect the structure from moisture and sun.
Decorating a place for children's games
If you are interested in how to make a playground with your own hands and how to decorate it, then remember that the use of expensive materials for these purposes is not necessary. It is enough to use a couple of cans of paint, as well as available materials.
Note!
An excellent design option is a children's playground made from tires, or plastic bottles, wheels.
So that fabulous palm trees can appear on the site, use plastic bottles, and if there are stumps, create paths. Using tires, build various interesting figures for the garden in the form of animals.
Make every effort to ensure that all parts of the playground for children perform a developmental function. This does not require much effort, just a minimum of imagination and desire.
DIY photo of the playground
Note!
Why children need a playground is probably worth explaining only to someone who was born six feet tall, wearing a business-like three-piece with a tie, crocodile shoes and a cigar in his mouth. The cigar is, of course, electronic. Even the smoke from it is not chemical, but depicted by holography and is clearly visible without harmful anamorphic glasses.
There are plenty of manuals on how to build a playground for posterity. And in them - really valuable and necessary instructions on safety, reliability of fastenings, quality of materials, etc. However, having reviewed many of these, something like what appears in Fig. below. Paradise, no doubt. Okay, palm trees, a huge stump (it looks like no less than a 100-year-old eucalyptus tree). Maybe they have palm trees like we have quinoa, and they give away high-value industrial wood to everyone for free, just to take it out of sight.
However, in both cases, a middle-income householder who decides to please his children by making a playground for them with his own hands immediately faces the question: where to get the space? No less than 2 acres of land went into such a monumental structure, but what if there are only 6 of them at the dacha? Or even less in your personal local area? A playground for children is built when the economy has already been established. Therefore, next we will consider, first of all, how to correctly arrange everything that children need for joy, trying to keep it to 1 hundred square meters or less. But, of course, the very components of the playground for children will not be ignored.
The most difficult case
The most difficult thing to arrange is a children's playground in the country. In addition to the acute lack of space, she remains unattended and unguarded throughout the cold season. That is, in addition to resistance to external conditions and environmental friendliness, the material of the structure should not provide much temptation to possible thieves. At least a temptation worth the trouble of dismantling. Hence, the entire country play complex must be compact and strong and upon completion is inconvenient to approach with a tool. What if they end up being stolen or succumb to bad weather, this shouldn’t bring big losses.
A successful version of a children's play corner at the dacha made from scrap materials is shown in the photo:
Children's play corner
The main material in this case is quite reliable, high-quality and affordable - construction pallets (pallets). Occupied area – only approx. 5 sq. m. Behind the climbing frame is a 2-story secret shelter. If one of the younger members of the family is a person of the fair sex, then the car is unceremoniously expelled to the green parking lot, and the garage is transformed into a boudoir, kiosk, doctor’s waiting room, etc. If there is sufficient area in front of the building, a ladder or slide can be attached to the captain's bridge.
About materials
The above case is not trivial. The materials at hand are used mainly for the design of the site; We will return to this issue later. But for its key structures (see below), high-quality construction materials are needed, because we are talking about the safety of the child.
The tree is coniferous without signs of rot, mold, cracks, or falling knots. Load-bearing elements – timber from 130x130 mm or log from 120 mm. Boards – edged or tongue-and-groove from 20 mm. Before assembly, the parts are treated with an oil water repellent (water repellent) or twice impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion. The best finishing coat is water-based acrylic varnish on a well-sanded surface.
The second most important material is metal. In addition to fasteners, heavily loaded elements are made of steel, for example. in sports facilities. In this case, it is preferable to connect the parts by welding: any protrusion is dangerous. The urchins manage to get caught on the seemingly completely smooth head of the bolt with clothing that seems completely unsuitable for this. Metal parts must be painted with a primer and twice. The best paint coatings are acrylic.
Plastics are easily electrified; in the open air, microcracks appear in them within 1-2 seasons and hygiene is lost. And since plastics are also low-tech at home, it is better to avoid them altogether in a homemade playground. Perhaps the only place where plastic is appropriate on a playground is a manhole pipe. A plastic barrel works well for it. It’s better to take a white, translucent one so that you don’t get scared, start panicking and get stuck. Glass and other breakable or brittle/delaminating materials (composites, for example) are absolutely unacceptable.
Stone is also not a suitable material for a children's playground: if you fall hard, you can seriously hurt yourself on it. If borders are required on the site, then they need to be laid either soft or homemade wooden, or planted phytoborders from soft hardy plants, for example. sedum (sedum).
Separately, it should be said about the ropes. In terms of childhood injuries on playgrounds, the top three are consistently occupied by rope railings/fences, entanglement mazes and climbing nets. Over the first ones, they are overweight, not yet able to correctly assess by eye the stability of the support, fall head over heels and are seriously injured, even breaking their neck. The nets do not leave parents inconsolable, but they cause a lot of fractures and dislocations. Prostitutes do not seriously injure physically, but due to fright and hysteria they can leave an indelible mark on the psyche. Therefore, ropes on the playground are applicable only as hangers for swings, stretchers of awnings and vines - a gymnastic rope with knots.
Note: fabric and non-woven textile products in children's playgrounds are used for awnings and soft fencing. In any case, the fabric should be stretched so that there are no rinsing sides.
Basic and extended equipment
A traditional typical playground minimally consists of a sandbox, swings, slide and fungus. The latter are now most often combined in the form of a 2-story playhouse with a balcony, an air passage, an observation deck, a climbing frame and a ladder. This allows you to create a greater variety of entertainment in the same area, see fig. However, it is impossible to create a sandbox on the first floor of the house: the stomping overhead will in no way benefit the development of very young, “sand-age” children. The sandbox must be separate.
Safety area of a typical playhouse with a slide
So, we get a basic set of a sandbox, a combi house and a swing. He is able to last from the first top to the time when it turns out that girls, in general, are not meant to be pulled by their braids. If possible, the following are added to the mini set:
- Free space for quiet games, children's picnics, in winter - for making a snowman, etc.
- Decorative elements for the development of aesthetic sense.
- Boom, that is. push runner.
- Inflatable pool, bathtub, trough or basin for bathing.
- A secret refuge corner.
- Sports complex.
- Playground for sports games.
- Mini flowerbed or mini flower garden.
- Hut or tent.
- Labyrinth.
- Children's carousel.
Many other additions are possible, provided there is free space and the imagination of the parents. But they no longer have a decisive significance for the all-round development of the child, so we will limit ourselves to the remark that most of them and some of the above can be quite placed in the gaps between the safety zones of the main structures, see below.
Selecting a location
Ideas regarding the artistic and decorative design of the playground can be anything; Some of the combinations of business and pleasure will be discussed below. There are no regulations/requirements regarding the appearance of structures on the children's playground. However, when selecting a place for it, certain rules of safety and comfort that promote the proper development of children:
- The site must be within sight of the most habitable room. In private households this is usually the kitchen;
- All structures on the site, including their safety zones, must be within a 45 degree viewing angle. This approximately corresponds to the visibility of the housewife, who is busy at a stove located in accordance with fire safety rules;
- If the site borders a passage, incl. internal (your own, yard), between him and her there must be a permanent fence insurmountable for children, regardless of the presence of a fence of a different type;
- Reservoirs, wells, utility yards, etc. should also be demarcated. sources of possible danger. In this case, the fence may be light, but necessarily insurmountable for children;
- The site should be located in sectors from north to southeast. Otherwise, the youngest in the sandbox and children engaged in active play should be protected from harsh afternoon light;
- Whatever the location of the playground, the sun should not blind the eyes of children engaged in active games or sports exercises;
- The sandbox is located first in order of distance from the exit to the site. If he is not there, go first from home;
- The sandbox should not be located under a tree(s);
- The swinging directions of hanging swings and rolling out of the slide should not cross the sandbox. Otherwise, the distance between them should be at least 3 m for swings and not less than the height of the slide;
- The same directions should not go to the roadway;
- Between the sports complex and the sandbox there must be a playhouse or swing, or other permanent (immovable) structure, or there must be at least a 3 m distance;
- Safety zones of capital structures should not overlap.
Note: The safety zone of a children's play structure is assumed to be 1 m by default. The slide-out zone is 1.5 x 1.5 m. The safety zone of a swing is equal in length to 1.5 times the height of its suspension, and in width is at least 1.5 m; carousel - its diameter. The safety zones of sports complexes are indicated in their projects.
Examples of layouts of the basic modules of the playground with different orientations according to the cardinal points are shown in Fig. The house is conventionally designated by a gray circle with a star of directions and half-points. The safety zone of the swing is shown by a mustard-colored rectangle; house with a slide - thick green. What is a sandbox with an awning, see below.
Layout diagrams for a playground with different locations relative to the house
About sports complexes
In Fig. Below are projects of children's sports complexes with a house and a slide (on the left) and only a gymnastic complex of the most compact T-shaped design. From there you can see that less than 30 sq. area is not enough with a standard solution, and the full complex does not leave room for a sandbox. It would seem that home sports in a small area does not shine.
Projects of children's sports complexes
However, it was Russian specialists who developed projects for children's open-air sports complexes based on the conditions of the Russian Federation, namely, the high endowment of middle- and lower-income segments of the population with land plots left over from the USSR. In the West, only a very rich person can afford to have 6 acres outside the city for recreation.
Drawings of one of these children's sports complexes are shown in Fig. below. Material - steel pipe (27-30)x2. Its features are an extremely narrow, but completely justified safety zone, only 0.5 m along the contour. No matter how you play around with this design, its ergonomics are thought out perfectly: even if you hurt yourself, it won’t be too bad, but you won’t hurt the little ones nearby. The second is the correct configuration. This makes it easier to place the complex on the site, as can be clearly seen in Fig. with layout diagrams: a site with opportunities for sports does not “climb out” anywhere for 1 hundred square meters.
Compact safe children's sports complex
About fences and dividers
In addition to a protective fence, in a playground for 2 or more children, it is highly desirable to delimit zones. If the space allows, a labyrinth will provide a lot of fun and useful skills; see below for more information on it. The traditional solution to the issue of dividing zones is a fence, and tires or logs inside the area, also see below. But the fence, albeit very cheerful, as in Fig. just below is a clear prohibition, which is generally not good for children. The strongest and most reliable discipline is a conscious one, understood with one’s own mind. And from the obvious prohibition during the “holiday of disobedience” you can even tear off a board. And climb where you shouldn’t at all, without even realizing what it entails.
Playground fencing
When you need to isolate yourself from the roadway, there is no choice, because... The safety of children in this case depends not only on them. But, for example, a pond or utility yard will not enter the site on its own. In this case, if the platform is made of wood, the ideal lightweight protective fence is wattle fence. First of all, it is not difficult to weave, and free material is found almost everywhere in nature. Secondly, a fairly high fence is very difficult to overcome even for an adult well-trained person. Don't believe me? Try to climb over. It is not for nothing that temporary fortifications - fascines - were once made from wattle fence. In the same way, a bull is not capable of breaking a properly made fence, much less a man. Thirdly, the wattle fence itself is an excellent decoration for a suburban area.
But the most important thing is that children do not perceive the fence as a prohibitive sign. Why? And you can peek through it. Just looking at the pond - well, the water lilies there are beautiful, well, a frog climbed onto a leaf and is croaking. And through a crack, stealthily, a fairy-tale world appears, populated in the imagination by amazing creatures. Okay, we don't have a pond yet. But then, if a gloomy pig or an angry gander turns to the fence from the other side, you can be scared to your heart's content, without really risking anything. Rest assured, children perfectly distinguish toy fear, on the basis of which reasonable caution is developed, from real fear.
An almost ideal soil base for a playground is a seeded or rolled grass lawn: it dries quickly enough after rain, brakes well when it rolls and dampens when it flops, and does not overheat in hot weather. One “but”: it can turn clothes green because they don’t wash well. Therefore, the soil on the playground is often covered with fine gravel. It drains and brakes even better, but it gets hotter under the sun and can get scratched. The ideal backfill would be small, up to 1.5-2 cm in diameter, well-rounded pebbles. But, alas, this is a very expensive material, and its predatory self-procurement is punishable by law.
Modules and elements
Sandboxes
First, what is a sandbox with an awning, which is necessary when the site is located in sectors from the south to the northwest? See fig. There is no need to make the canvas very large and lower its edges too low: it is enough for the awning to shade the sandbox from the high midday sun. Closer to sunset, if the children are still playing at this time, about half of the box should be shaded so that the little ones themselves can settle down where it is more convenient for them.
Sandbox with awning
The second thing that will be very useful if there are two or more children with a sufficient age difference is a sandbox-truck, or, depending on the inclinations of the older one, a sandbox-ship. In the latter case, the wheelhouse with the navigation bridge is located, like on any decent “transport vehicle,” in the stern. Then the younger ones will go about their sandy affairs without feeling intrusive guardianship, and the older “parent” will be able to fulfill his duties literally playfully, without getting bored. And if he ever takes the wheel or stands at the helm professionally, it has already been deposited at the level of reflexes: the main thing in a flight is passengers and cargo.
Sandbox car and sandbox ship
House with a slide
Much has been written about children's playhouses before. Here we will fill in something missing. The first is the slopes of the slides. They are most often bought ready-made, made of plastic. There are basically 3 designs to choose from: straight, spiral, see figure, and pipes.
Plastic slides for children's slides
It is better to ignore the latter: a children's slide is not a water park, water lubricant does not flow through the pipe. Children in tube ramps often get stuck with everything that follows. In terms of the degree of psychological trauma, tube rays are almost on par with prostitutes.
Of the others, if there is very little space for a platform, it is better to take more expensive spiral ones. Their use allows, in a standard design (see above), to abandon the roll-out zone, because it will be to the side, within the general safety zone. And rolling with a screw is more fun and “cooler” than just like that.
Profile and dimensions of the slope for a children's slide
However, as stated above, it is best to avoid plastic in the playground. Therefore, for fairly skilled home craftsmen, we give in Fig. on the left is a profile of a children's slide made of sheet metal. The sliding line is highlighted in red, the sides of the trough-shaped chute are highlighted in brown, the straight protective side with a bend outward is highlighted in blue; green - elastic pad on it made of smooth rubber. The latter is necessary to brake with your hands. The width of the ramp gutter is 600-700 mm.
Note: It is unnecessary to remind, but for the sake of the seriousness of the moment, let us recall that the overlaps of the sheets that make up the gutter and sides should be directed down the slope. Otherwise, the overlaps will turn into knives.
Swing 
Hanging swing seats
The cradle (seat) of a hanging swing is often made from tires. Then, if the children are boys, it is better to hang the tire vertically, on the left in the figure, so you can “crawl” to your heart’s content. For girls, a swing cradle made from a tire, hung flat, is better suited: here it’s convenient to sit in a circle and gossip like a woman.
The cradles of sports swings, on the right in the figure, are made hard, in the form of a flying trapezoid with rings, and soft. Making rings separately is recommended only for children who are already involved in athletics and have had some success in this: many beginning gymnasts were quite seriously injured trying to make a cross on the rings without sufficient physical training.
If there is enough space, little ones will really like and find the balance swing, inset in Fig. below. If there is not enough space, and the child shows the makings of a dexterous and strong little one, they can be replaced with a spring swing. The diagram of their device is shown in the same figure. The spring is from the shock absorber of a small car or motorcycle, depending on the age and weight of the rider.
Balance swing and spring swing
About labyrinths
A labyrinth for children's games must satisfy the following conditions:
- To be one-dimensional, i.e. from partitions standing on the ground.
- The partitions should not be solid or high: older people should see over them and be able to climb over them, and younger ones should see below them and crawl up.
- Plant labyrinths are not allowed for children to play; they can get lost in the bushes out of fear and get hurt.
funny beauty
Tires
Functional, i.e. Suitable for games, decorative elements of playgrounds are most often made from truck tires. Let's leave aesthetics to the adults. Children are pragmatists, it is important to them that it is elastic, springs well, and does not break if you hit it. Try to use only solid tires: cut tires often have traumatic cord ends sticking out over time. Or regularly check the tire structure and go over the protruding wires with a grinder and a grinding wheel.
Crafts for playgrounds made from tires
A classic product of this kind is the boom runner. It can also be a zone delimiter or a barrier between the sports complex and the sandbox if there is not enough space. So, in all respects it is better to dig tires for it not lengthwise, as is customary, but across, as in pos. 1 pic. at intervals of approx. 30 cm:
- We clearly see the gap where there is no need to step.
- If your foot slips, it will slip sideways. Anyone who knows about sports physics knows that then the first thing to come into contact with the underlying surface without any grouping skills will be not the face, but the fifth point.
- It’s convenient and safe to push: the legs themselves rise to the position of the strongest support, and if the leg slips, then everything is as before. case.
- Anyone who is pushed does not fall backwards, risking injuring his back or hitting his head, but to the side, which is safe for children.
For small ones, if there are several different tires, you can simply pile them up, pos. 2. For those who are older and more skilled - an “advanced” climbing frame in addition to the usual one, pos. 3. Pos. 4 is actually a godsend: an old, but real steering wheel, and if you sway, it’s like driving a tractor over potholes.
Pos. 5 – the well-known sun made of tires and bottles is actually not just a decoration. PET bottles are an excellent, stable target for darts, arrows and generally anything thrown. And don't be afraid that children will grow up aggressive. On the contrary, it is precisely those who in childhood did not have the opportunity to express natural male inclinations, conditioned by the eras of biological evolution, in a harmless way, when they grow up, have a much greater chance of failing to express them in an adult way, up to the highest measure of responsibility under the legislation of the place where the act was committed.
Mini flowerbeds made of tires for children
For girls, and perhaps not only for them, a mini-flower bed made of tires, on the left side of the trail, will suit well and decorate the entire area. Fig., or a flowerpot made from a worthless wheel. In the latter case, in view of the above-mentioned risk of injury from the cord, it is better to turn the flowerpot with scallops down, as on the right there. What it lacks in aesthetics here and there it makes up for in coloring.
They make a lot of other things out of old tires. For children, without any obvious functionality - different figures. For example, what kind of crafts there are for the playground made from tires in the form of different animals, see.
Pieces of wood
We won’t dwell on driftwood or roots painted to look like animals: everything here depends on the source material, the appearance of which is impossible to predict, and already known creations cannot be repeated either - no two driftwood are alike. Let's deal with what is more or less stable in its original form: logs. Not necessarily business measures; any dead wood or waste from tree trimming will work for crafts for children made from logs. Simply by sawing logs out of them, and not very carefully, you can already build a good zone delimiter, on the left in the figure, a sandbox, in the center, or a furniture set for a doll picnic, on the right.
Simple crafts from logs for the playground
And with a little more effort and skill, make figures for a composition that has independent meaning or, say, for a children's carousel. Drawings of some of these are shown as an example in Fig. below.
Drawings of wooden figures for decorating a playground
Another idea
The arrangement of the playground is still the same, without going beyond 100 square meters. m and without interfering with anything else there, another thing can be completed. Let’s say you still have a baby bath, but you don’t intend to have any more offspring. The old adult bathtub is too deep, it is better to put it on a mini-pond. Or there’s a leaky trough lying around in the barn. Or, let’s say, you came across an ad: “Used culinary equipment for sale,” and in it – “Donut pan 1100x650x100.” In general, you need any tub with a length of 80-90 cm, a width of about half as much and a depth of up to 15 cm.
Why do children need this? Let the ships go. For adults, applying patches to construction or aquarium silicone and painting, if rusty, is not a difficult task. It won’t take much water, so you can simply change it more often without excessively using disinfectants that are not always safe. If you keep the baby mini-sea in the sun, and throw a couple of grains of potassium permanganate or methylene blue (pharmacy blue) into the water until it turns barely pink or blue, and cover the pond with film at night, a week of uninterrupted navigation in it is guaranteed. Children get a lot of delight and fun from it. There will also be a lot of splashes and wet clothes, but there’s no need to get angry here, or were you not like that yourself?
Video: DIY playgrounds
Video: ideas for playgrounds
If there are small children in the family, it is simply necessary to arrange a playground for them in the country. Here they will play in the fresh air, allowing their parents to relax or go about their business. And when you are free, you can always join them. The play area in the garden will become much more positive, brighter and more interesting if you use crafts for the playground. There are many ways to make them yourself, which we will discuss in this article.
To decorate a children's playground, it is not at all necessary to buy expensive garden decor. Crafts made by yourself will allow the site to look very original. This will be a unique children's corner that only you and your children have.
Making crafts yourself is pleasant in all respects - materials for such creativity are available in abundance, and completely free of charge; it is enough to use your imagination, creative imagination, and soon you will be able to please your kids. Work must begin by choosing the location where the site will be located. A spacious place not far from the house, where there is both sun and shade, is suitable.
A good covering for the area where the crafts will be placed is a sand mound or lawn. It is necessary to keep the lawn clean so that there are no glasses, sharp pebbles and sticks among the grass, so that children can play barefoot, as well as inedible berries. As you know, in childhood we want to taste everything, especially what looks bright and attractive.
What can be used as raw materials?
First of all, these are old tires. Nowadays, used tires are literally taking on a new life - they are used to make flower beds, swings and a wide variety of crafts for the playground.
Tires are good because they can be used to create sports equipment. For example, such a tunnel, make a swing, dig it into the ground at a distance so that you can jump and walk on it
Today, not only boys, but also girls are delighted with cars. Such a luxurious car can be made from tires and a plastic chair. An easier option is to dig 4 tires into the ground and make a wooden seat
You can create amazing crafts from tires - funny bears (tires of different sizes, cardboard, an old basin are used), bright tropical parrots. When painted, they seem to come to life and turn the playground into a corner of joy and positivity.
The tire must be washed and dried before starting the creative process. You can walk and jump on the tires that are dug in while standing; you can attach boards on top, paint them, and make such “climbing walls” even more interesting. You can make a sandbox out of a large tire, and there are simply countless options for creating different figures.
More ideas for arranging a children's playground in the country:
Bottle palms and plastic zoo
Plastic bottles are also a very common material for crafts. The variety of their shapes and sizes allows you to create very interesting things - palm trees, flowers, figures of insects and animals.
Exotic palm trees will enliven any landscape, and making them is not at all difficult. There is plenty of material such as bottles everywhere. You don’t have to follow strict instructions; experiment by creating a tropical corner for yourself.
Making such a pig is very simple - use a five-liter bottle for the body, two-liter bottles for the legs. The ears from the tail are also cut out of plastic.
This flower garden will not wither throughout the summer. Flowers are the necks of bottles, cut in the shape of lilies and bells, leaves are bottles without a base, cut into 4-6 pieces. Paint them with paint from the remote control and install them in the right place
Such crafts are practical - they are not afraid of either rain or scorching sun. To make a palm tree, cut off the bottom of the bottles and string them on top of each other, insert a metal rod inside - this is the base of the palm tree. To create a “crown”, use one or more bottles and cut them from the base to the neck into several strips - these will be the leaves. Then trim the cut pieces at an angle so that they resemble the shape of the hard leaves of a palm tree. Insert the neck of this bottle into the “trunk”. To create a classic palm tree, brown bottles (trunk) and green bottles (crown) are used, but it is not at all necessary to adhere to classical standards.
Useful: how to make garden figures for your dacha with your own hands:
Parade of plywood figures
Plywood is a great material for making flat, brightly colored figurines that will lift anyone's spirits. You can depict anything on plywood - your favorite cartoon characters, movie and book heroes, and then cut out the figures and place them in the garden. The composition can be used as a delimiter fence for garden areas.
Figurines in the form of your favorite cartoon characters are always a delight. A five-liter bottle is also used to create Winnie the Pooh
Plywood cat and mouse surrounded by flowerpots, located on a soft lawn - an excellent place for relaxation and active games for kids
Foam figures
Polyurethane foam is not a very common, but interesting material for creating crafts. The figures made from it look like toys, look great and are very popular with children.
Figures made from polyurethane foam look ready-made. The website has a master class on how to make them, if you are interested, you can master the technique of making them
Hedgehogs and ladybugs made from pebbles and boulders
Large pebbles are also a suitable material. If you paint round stones with bright colors, you will get funny bugs, hedgehogs or other animals, depending on what your imagination tells you. It is better to paint them with acrylic paints, and then cover them with colorless varnish. Drawings with a clear outline look good. First it is drawn with a pencil, then with black or white paint. Colored paints are applied between the contour lines.
Such a family of ladybugs will add positivity to a children's corner. The easiest way to paint stones to look like bugs is to apply a simple outline drawing, and then use bright contrasting paints and varnish
Combinations of materials - room for creativity
You can create interesting crafts from logs by combining pieces of wood of different sizes and different lengths. Combinations of various materials - tires and logs, tires and plastic bottles will not let you get bored at all; you can make a playground that will be the envy of those who purchased a ready-made one for their garden.
You can create interesting lawns or flower beds in the shape of animals and insects using bottles as a fence. Work with your children; they usually come up with completely out-of-the-box, interesting ideas.
A funny crocodile flowerbed - a suitable decor for a children's playground, made of plastic bottles (outline), eyes - plywood and plastic
If there was an old tree on the property that you cut down, do not rush to get rid of the stump. You can make this great house out of it, with a door, a roof and windows. It will not only delight children, but will also be a wonderful decor for the site
Zebras are made from logs and tires, and their manes are made from plastic. This is both sports equipment and homemade garden decor at the same time
Plastic bottles and an old tire were used to create the sun. The composition is very bright, positive, and easy to make. Bottle caps are nailed to the tire, then screwed to the bottle - the beams are ready
If you still have unused materials after building a house or arranging a garden, do not rush to throw them away. For example, you can use pieces of bright ceramic tiles to lay out paths, the space around the figures, or use pieces of broken tiles to lay out mosaics and images of various characters. Draw the outline of the figure on the path, and then lay it out with tiles. If laid out on the ground or on sand, such a mosaic will be short-lived, but laid out on a cement mixture will create an image that will last for years. Rub the seams after drying, and the result will please you.
Summer, holidays. How to organize leisure time for children in nature, in the countryside, in the countryside?
We make a playground for children ourselves!
In the summer, most parents try to take their children out of dusty, polluted cities into nature. If you spend the summer months at the dacha with your children, then you need to make sure that their summer vacation is not only beneficial for them, but also enjoyable. To prevent your child from getting bored at the dacha, make a playground for him with your own hands. This will require very small financial investments plus your time and imagination. Be sure to involve the children themselves in creating the playground. Firstly, joint work helps to unite the family and strengthen the relationship between parents and children, and, secondly, designing a playground is a creative activity that will be useful for the overall development of the child.
- 1. DIY playground. DIY sandbox
All children get a lot of joy and pleasure when playing with sand. Playing with sand provides unlimited opportunities for a child's development. You can make Easter cakes from sand, build castles and tunnels, cook “soup” for dolls, and it can be transported in cars. Another fun thing to do is bury various objects in the sand and then dig them up. You can sprinkle dry sand on the beetle, and then watch how it gets out of it. It is interesting to draw pictures and write letters on damp sand.
Making a children's sandbox with your own hands is not at all difficult. First of all, you need to choose a suitable place for it. The sandbox should not be in the sun, but at the same time, a too dark, damp place is not suitable for it. If the child is still small, the sandbox should be near the house so that the baby is always in your sight.
You can fence off the sandbox using logs, stumps, and boards. If the sandbox is large enough, you can divide it into several play areas (see photo below).
To protect from the sun, you can make a canopy.
2. Children's playgrounds for the dacha. Swimming pools
Just like with sand, children only like to play with water. The best option is to combine games with water and sand. Make sure that your child always has a source of water near the sandbox. Even a small bowl of water will be enough.
Of course, any child will be delighted to have a pool at their dacha.
Another good fun is to spray each other with water from a hose on a hot summer day.
Or you can ask your dad or grandfather to make an outdoor shower from PVC pipes.
3. Children's playgrounds. Children's playgrounds photo
When creating a playground with your own hands, you cannot do without all kinds of logs, stumps, tree cuts, and boards. You can make tables and chairs from stumps and surround the sandbox with them. Stumps and logs can be used as sports equipment: it is useful for children to learn to walk on them while maintaining balance. The tree cuts will make a nice path.
A child's imagination can turn a simple log into a bridge spanning an abyss, into an airplane, a car, a horse, etc. Such games with object replacement are very useful for developing children's creative thinking.
4. Decoration of the playground. DIY playground photo
A prerequisite for a good playground is the presence of greenery: trees, shrubs, grass, flowers.
Large trees provide protection from the sun on a hot summer day. They are fun to climb.
Sometimes trees have to be removed for various reasons. However, you should not cut down the tree to the very roots - turn it into an interesting decorative element - a fairy-tale “house”.
The base of large trees is the most suitable place to create “fairy houses”. Making such a fairy-tale house from any available material will be interesting for every little girl.
Be sure to help your child make his own flowerbed, which he will take care of on his own.
Even if you yourself prefer not to plant anything in your dacha, make sure that your child has his own small garden. Just a couple of beds where he can grow unpretentious and tasty plants, for example, green peas.
5. Crafts for the playground. Decorating a playground with your own hands
Decorating children's playgrounds is an interesting and creative activity. Handmade crafts made from wood, tires and plastic bottles are suitable for decorating a children's playground. Here are some ideas for decorating a playground with your own hands. Be sure to involve children in the process of creating crafts for the playground.
6. How to make a playground. Playground ideas
When creating a playground with your own hands, be sure to give your child a secluded corner where he can be alone or in the company of his friends, dream, play, read, and finally take a break from you, the adults. This could be a purchased children's playhouse or tent. Or you can make a children's house (tent, pavilion) with your own hands. Here are some interesting ideas.
DIY children's house made of wood
Children's houses for dachas. Children's houses tents.
The easiest way to make a children's house with your own hands is to stretch a rope between two trees, pillars, between a tree and a fence (see photo below) and throw a thin blanket over it. The ends of the blanket must be tied with ropes to pegs driven into the ground, or pressed with stones.
DIY children's house.
The most interesting way to make a children's house for a summer cottage is to “grow” it on your own plot. Any climbing plants with lush foliage, such as beans, are suitable for this.
Using the same principle, you can “grow” a children’s house from sunflowers. Sunflowers are a good plant to grow with children. They have large seeds, grow quickly and are very unpretentious. Plant sunflowers around the perimeter of the circle at a distance of 10 cm from each other. When they grow to 1.5 meters, collect their tops and tie them together - your sunflower house is ready! Yes, don’t forget to leave room for entry when planting!
7. DIY playground. Children's playground made of wood
As we already mentioned at the beginning of the article, be sure to make sure that the child has natural materials available for play: sand, water, large stones, small stones, twigs, pine cones, plants. Games with natural materials are of great importance for the development of sensory perception, motor skills, creative thinking of the child, and have a beneficial effect on the physical and mental health of children.
8. DIY playground ideas.
Concluding our review article “Do-It-Yourself Playground,” we will share with you a few more useful ideas for decorating playgrounds.
Plexiglas easel.
Many mothers know how useful games with paints are for young children. But most do not very often allow children to draw at home, because... After such activities, you have to wash both the child and the apartment.
Games at the dacha in warm weather have one great advantage - a child dressed in only panties, no matter how dirty he gets, can be very easily washed right on the street, by watering, for example, with warm water from a hose. And at the same time, you don’t have to worry about the cleanliness of the carpet, furniture, or floor. Let the children at the dacha have plenty of fun with dirty materials, with the same paints, for example. A homemade plexiglass easel, which can be washed using the same hose, will provide you with invaluable help.
It's a good idea to hang a chalk board on the fence. Don't forget to give your child crayons, a bucket of water, and a rag.
Taking care of the physical development of children, you can make a rope bridge and a bungee for them. And from an old chair you can make a comfortable swing.
A dacha is a great place for a family holiday; here you can escape from the bustle of the city and annoying smog, enjoy nature and chat with friends. But there are also special family members whose comfort you should worry about separately - these are children. But here, a properly equipped playground will not only make your children’s rest safe, interesting and useful, but will also allow you to devote more time to the garden, flowers or just relaxing.
How to make a children's playground in the country: safety rules
The main and basic rule for a children's playground in the country is safety. That is why a place for it is chosen away from dangerous places - a thorny fence, a deep pond, decorative electric lamps, greenhouses, etc. It is necessary to correctly orient the playground towards the sun - it should be present for several hours, preferably in the morning, so that at noon the playground (or at least part of it) is covered by shadow, because prolonged exposure of children to the sun is strictly contraindicated. And the unshaded part of the site is optimal for installing a children’s pool with a slide there - this way the water in it will warm up faster. An approximate diagram of the playground is shown in Fig. 1
Safety is the main feature of products for children
The covering for playgrounds must be completely safe and perform protective functions in the event of a fall and prevent injuries. Also, the surface must be dry and non-slip, and remain clean under all circumstances. In addition, it’s great if the artificial surface looks beautiful and is interesting to kids. As practice shows, on bright surfaces a child plays much more actively, showing his own imagination and ingenuity. Company CRUMB makes playgrounds, observing all safety standards and requirements.
When choosing a place to set up a playground, you should remember that children must be supervised - it is not necessary for parents to be directly on the playground, especially if the children are old enough. It will be quite enough for the children to be in front of your eyes, to watch them from home, from such a distance from which you can have time to react to the “undesirable” games of children. And a few more rules that must be followed:
- the territory of the future playground must be carefully leveled, removing hummocks, large stones and roots protruding from the ground, weeds and other debris - all this should protect children from falling, because often, after playing too much, they do not look much at their feet
- absolutely all mortgages (supports for swing, houses, slides and other buildings) the details of the site must be deepened by at least 50 cm and, preferably, concreted (well fixed)
- the swing, front and back, must have “safety zones” - at least 2m of free space
- all wooden parts on the site must be thoroughly sanded and, preferably, covered with non-toxic paint (varnish)
- all fastening elements of suspended and suspended structures must be made of durable metal and reliably fasten parts of the structure
- the condition and wear of the carabiner, with which the swing can be attached to the hook, is checked at least once every six months
The covering for children's playgrounds in the country will require special attention - it must be soft to soften the fall, and dry quickly - when playing, children spend a lot of time on the ground, and excessive humidity can cause a cold.
Existing special rubber-based play area coverings fully satisfy these requirements, but they are very expensive, plus this type of coating is more suitable for a sports field, but at the dacha you want something more natural, natural. Therefore, a lawn made from resistant varieties of grass is optimally suited as a covering - these are used, for example, for football fields; on a playground the load will be no less. But it is better to use a combined covering, for example, near the slides and gymnastic equipment it is worth making a sandy covering - in case of a fall it will soften the blow.
Do-it-yourself children's playground in the country: drawings and ideas
In order to fully decide where and how to arrange a children’s playground at the dacha, it is important to decide on its size. According to the standard, a child under 7 years old should have about 8-9 m 2 on the playground, and for older children (7-12 years old), when needs and play priorities change, from 13 to 15 m 2 will be required. So planning plot“for growth”, it is worth providing “reserve” meters for the time when the child grows up. Well, unused square meters can be temporarily used, for example, for a lawn.
For a rented dacha or for a time while the site is just being developed, to create a children's play space, you can completely get by with ready-made products - a folding tent house, an inflatable children's pool with a beach umbrella, a small table and bench for drawing. But they can be perceived as a temporary solution, because Chinese products (and they are the overwhelming majority on the market) are not always able to withstand the temperament and energy of our children.
The playground is planned based on the child’s age, but several mandatory attributes of a playground can be identified: sandbox, slide, swing and garden house.
Sandbox
The sandbox is a place for realizing fantasies, building impregnable castles and baking sand cakes. And this is the easiest element of a playground to build. To create it, you can use materials that are left over from the construction of the house, as well as stumps and log cuts. If you dig in logs and stumps of different heights, the sandbox will become not only an original decorative element of landscape design, but also a kind of sports equipment - children like to walk and jump on these “ladders”.
The diagram of the simplest sandbox is shown in Fig. 2
Before installation, the soil is removed to a depth of 25-30 cm, the bottom is covered with drainage material (pebbles or crushed stone). The minimum recommended sandbox size (for children 2-5 years old) is 170x170 cm.
Advice! To prevent the sandbox from attracting the attention of animals, especially cats, who can make a toilet in it, it is better to make a closed version of the sandbox - such a sandbox can be “covered” at night (Fig. 3)
Slide
The product (Fig. 4) is quite complex for self-production; you will have to take into account quite a lot of nuances.
First of all, the height of the slide: for children 2-5 years old should not exceed 1.5 meters, for younger schoolchildren - within 2.5-3.5 m. The staircase should have wide steps located fairly close to each other. It is optimal if they have a special anti-slip coating - this is especially important if there is a swimming pool nearby or the slide ends in the pool, and children can climb the slide with wet feet. In addition, the stairs must be equipped with strong handrails that do not end above the top step - when reaching it, the child must hold on to something with his hands. For greater safety, the upper platform should be spacious enough and fenced with railings on the sides.
But the biggest problem will be with the slope - for this you can use multi-layer plywood coated with varnish. But still, the best option is to buy a ready-made plastic slope; it is much stronger and, which is especially important for a slide, has a much better coefficient of friction. Plus - you can choose a regular, straight (Fig. 5) or screw (Fig. 6) slope.
Swing
To install the swing, you need to choose a spacious place, taking into account the swing amplitude. The simplest option is a rope swing, if you find a strong enough branch on the tree. You can buy a ready-made option, but if you want to make a playground at your dacha with your own hands, you will need:
- two wooden posts – diameter of at least 12 cm and length of about 3 m
- crossbar – diameter about 12 cm and length about 1.5 m