To play is a child’s right. As parents, it’s your primary responsibility to ensure that your children exercise this right and have fun. They’re only children for a short time, so why not make the most out of their youth?
Your home is a sanctuary for your family, a refuge to feel secure, and a haven to do the things you want and enjoy. Everyone in the family should have their special place, a favorite spot to do what they love to do. Kids should also have their designated place where they could feel carefree and unstoppable and where they could spend all their child-like energy and overflowing creativity.
Your yard or lawn can be transformed into a kid-friendly outdoor space. Here are a few tips on how you can convert a portion of your home into a place where your kids could play and be at their best:
Lay Some Turf
source: thespruce.com
Kids have all this energy they need to spend; and when they start, it’d be nearly impossible to stop them, so why bother? Let them be active and do kid’s stuff in the lawn with a healthy layer of turf. Adding a layer will cushion a fall and prevent kids from having severe bruises from falling and accidental slipping.
Having a turf will also make the ground cool to walk on, especially in the summer. You won’t have to worry that your toddler will burn their feet while walking in the intense heat of the sun.
Artificial grass is also easier to maintain as it doesn’t get muddy in the rain, so you won’t have to get stressed about mud getting inside the house. You’ll also be less worried about setting your pet dog loose outdoor since they probably won’t get too dirty playing on the turf with your kids.
Invest In High-Quality Materials For Playground Structures
source: pinterest.com
Kids love playing on playground structures like swings, monkey bars, teeter-totter, and merry-go-round. But what they love the most are slides! Playground structures will provide hours of fun and make the kids improve their stamina and strengthen their core muscles, which is an excellent health booster.
Slides with industrial crossover stairs will be a safe setup for a playground structure in your yard. The materials used for these are Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliant and are certified to be secure and durable; also, they won’t rust and decay, which will make them last for a long time. Purchasing high-quality playground structures may appear expensive in the beginning, but considering its durability, it’d be a significant investment that’d last for many years.
Provide Ample Shade
source: artfulparent.com
You may need to install a canopy, especially in an area directly under the sun at specific times of the day. Sunlight is healthy in limited quantities, but over-exposure to the sun is harmful to the skin and may cause sunburn, or worse, skin cancer. Kids stay outside for an extended period, and they need to be protected from the glare by giving them a cover while they’re playing.
Aside from a canopy, putting up a tree and planting shrubs is effective in helping your yard have ample shade and be comfortably cool. But before installing these elements, make sure you’ve studied your home’s sun and shade area at varying times of the day to know what kind of installation you’d utilize and where to strategically place it.
Check For Cracks, Holes, And Bumps
source: thespruce.com
Inspect your yard for any cracks, holes, and bumps, or uneven portions of the ground and fix it before opening the yard for your kids. These could be harmful since they could cause splinters, wounds, and other injuries when stepped on. Kids often play barefooted, and having uneven portions on the ground could be dangerous for them.
Give Kids Enough Room To Run
As much as you’d love to decorate and beautify the space with decors you bought from your travels, it’s better to keep the yard open and straightforward. Your outdoor space should have enough room for kids to run free. They should have a space where they can do cartwheels, as well as a place where they can play The Floor is Lava and wallball.
If there are decors on the floor or in-display tables, it’d be prone to breakage, and kids who bump into them might get injured. Hence, as much as possible, the area must be free from any kind of stuff.
Add Some Plants
source: pinterest.com
Plants have many benefits. They improve the air quality of your surroundings, which will be perfect for your kids as they’d have fresh air around while they play. Being surrounded by plants will also relieve stress and anxiety, which is ideal for parents watching over the kids while they play in the yard. It also improves mood and enhances mental and physical health.
Simply looking at plants is a peaceful activity, and it encourages living in the moment and engaging the senses. For kids, getting to appreciate this natural beauty at an early stage in their life would give them a better perspective of their surroundings and hopefully be grateful for the things they have.
Conclusion
Play is how children learn. It’s one of the most critical facets of their life. Through play, children develop creativity, harness their imagination, and refine their motor skills. Children also develop emotionally as they practice social skills with other kids, improving their communication and interaction skills at the same time.
Nowadays, it has become extremely important to let kids have outdoor play instead of being holed up indoors and glued to their devices. Having an avenue to do physical activities will most likely reduce screen time of kids and prevent screen fatigue and other illnesses to sprout. Being outside under the sun will make kids happier, active, and social human beings.
Being responsible and loving parents, you need to make your children grow to be great human beings, and allowing them to be playful is one way to grant this. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you foster the development of your children.
