The best place to relax from the hustle and bustle of the city is your own summer cottage or suburban area, where the whole family can find something to their liking. Adults most often prefer activities that the younger generation will either not be able to do, or will not be interesting. This leads to the fact that children are unemployed, harmful and only interfere with serious work. To solve this problem, an idea, a tool and hand work are enough. You need to build some kind of children's corner on the site where the child will be really interested. It is not difficult to equip a playground from scrap materials, but it will be much cheaper than buying a ready-made one.
Project stage
At the very beginning, it is important to think over all the details that must be taken into account during the implementation of your project. At the design stage, it is very important to take into account the main points on which the usefulness of this building and, of course, the safety of children depends.
- The playground should be located in an open space, where children will be fully accessible to the eyes of adults - this allows you to keep the younger generation under control.
- All parts and objects of the site must be completely safe, without sharp corners, ends, chipping.
- Buildings are best done at an average distance from the working area, outbuildings and the garden, that is, so that during work you can monitor the activities and location of the child.
- It is better to choose the soil at the location of the play area, completely or partially unsuitable for growing any crops, this is necessary in order to maximize the saving of fertile land.
- You can also position the playground near the fence, only in this case you will have to take care of the complete safety of young children.
- There must be a canopy above the children's corner, which will not allow the child to get heatstroke or get wet from the sudden rain.
Thus, the design stage and the preliminary creation of the layout are an integral part of building a playground with your own hands from scrap materials. Of course, do not forget about the main functionality of the children's corner - the entertainment and development of children, which is a more important aspect of its construction. Therefore, you need to approach work with ready-made ideas and enthusiasm, planning to install not only a banal swing and a sandbox on the playground, but also add something else of your own to them. Only then the work becomes interesting and will be able to please not only children.
At the design and main - implementation - stages, the younger generation can also be involved in joint activities, but, of course, according to their physical abilities. Working together will help strengthen family rapport and develop children's creativity.
Site preparation and selection of materials
At the end of the project stage, you should definitely orientate yourself with the location and content of the children's corner. The site has been selected, it remains to process and prepare it for new buildings. The preparation work takes place in several stages.
- It is necessary to clear and level the ground over the required area.
- It is necessary to decide on the coating that will serve as the basis for the entire site. Most often, a mixture of crushed stone and sand is used, since it is the most budgetary option. You can also cover the ground with artificial grass or special rubber.
- Then you need to take measurements and purchase all the necessary materials. The main thing is not to forget that all this is necessary for young children, so all materials must be as safe as possible and comply with all norms and standards.
- After that, you need to make sure that you have a standard set of tools for work: nails, screws, screws, screwdriver, screwdriver, hammer, hacksaw, grinder, painting tool and paint. If something is missing, you need to buy it, as this will all come in handy throughout the entire construction.
- At the very end of the preparatory phase, all inaccuracies in the plan should be corrected.
Now you can get to work.
Arrangement of a children's corner
When choosing play elements in your playground, it is worth analyzing what your child likes to do the most, and focusing on this. Some of the children prefer to swing on a swing for a large amount of time, someone likes to spend their leisure time sculpting sand figures in a sandbox, and someone loves slides more. All this must be taken into account before starting to build something with your own hands.
Manufacturing of individual elements
Sandbox
One of the most common children's entertainment that helps the creative development of the younger generation and can captivate him for several hours. Sandboxes in their modern form have been very transformed and look quite aesthetically pleasing, so you have complete freedom of ideas in forms, colors and various details. But such entertainment is not suitable for everyone and this should also be taken into account. Therefore, it is better to coordinate the construction of a sandbox with the child.
Swing
The most favorite element of playgrounds is a swing, and not only children, but also many adults love to swing on them. There is no such child who would not like a swing, therefore, it is necessary to install them, but it is up to you to choose the type, shape, size and color. The swing can be either suspended or ordinary. It would be better to make a hanging swing from available tools, which will be attached to the upper crossbar on ropes or chains. The second option is less safe for children, as the chains can pinch the skin and ruin the child's fun. When choosing ropes, it should be remembered that over time they can wear out and fray, so they need to be periodically checked and changed.
Slides
This type of entertainment is also enjoyed by almost all children, and it also gives absolute freedom in creative terms. Slides can be made from different materials:
- metal - the material is not the best, as it rusts very quickly;
- stainless steel - the option is already better, but it is one of the most expensive, therefore it is unprofitable to use stainless steel;
- wood is a material that requires careful processing and grinding, and in the future it will have to be covered with something sliding.
- plastic is the best option, as it is inexpensive, wears out for a long time and does not require special processing.
The size of the slide is an important part, as it should be comfortable for your child and have a reserve for 2-3 years in advance. Slides are often built in combination with some additional elements.
Children's house or hut
There are many options for this structure - from the simplest and fastest to build to complex structures made of small logs and poles. Of course, it is better to create a real house for your child, which will look like an ordinary house with a porch, doors and windows. If this is not possible, then you can create a small tent or wigwam, the main thing is not to forget about the safety of children. The structure must be stable and not collapse at the first strong wind. In such separate houses and huts, children like to arrange so-called headquarters. If the child likes the building, then he will spend more time there.
Sports section
There are no frames at all, this corner can include a wide variety of details:
- rope ladders;
- horizontal bars;
- bars;
- rings.
Such a corner will help your child's physical development and allow him to conduct his own sports activities.
Additional elements
Above are the most popular elements of the playground, then there is hope for your imagination. On the site, you can place an infinite number of different elements and parts from available tools - tires, tires, pallets and other things. Here the choice already lies with you and your child.
Placing elements on the site
The area of the plot required for construction depends on your desires, the age and the number of children. Usually it is a square corner with an area of 8-10 square meters. On such a site, the arrangement of elements can be very diverse. Most often, a slide in combination with swings and other equipment is located in the center, a sports corner and some creative elements like a drawing board should be located in the corner by the fence. It is a little more complicated with a rectangular section, where the elements will most likely have to be installed in a row, one after another. And you also need to remember about safety, especially if you have more than one child. Due to the circumstances of a large family, you cannot put a swing next to a sandbox.
Territory decoration options
The children's corner can be decorated in completely different ways, everything also depends on you and your child, on your wishes, creative ideas and imagination. The site around the perimeter can be planted with flowers or you can create some thematic figures and place them in different places of the site, the bright color of the main buildings will also be a decoration, they can be covered with both different bright colors and coverings in the same style, there are no borders.
Ideas for decoration
The design of a playground depends on creative ideas, the volume of ideas, style, materials used and the time the owner is willing to spend on this event. It is better to coordinate all the steps with the children, they should highlight the details that they like and what can be corrected, because the main thing is that they are fun and comfortable. Since at the dacha children are often bored, so the main idea of creating such a children's corner is to provide children with a fun and interesting activity, which means that everything should be decorated in an interesting and colorful way.
You can combine absolutely everything on the site, and ideally all the main elements of entertainment should be built. If there is not so much space, then you can install only the most interesting and important for the child, for example, a swing and a sandbox, a slide and a sports corner, and so on.
The interests of the child should be taken into account not only in the placement of buildings, but also in the painting of these very elements. For example, for a boy, you can decorate everything in khaki colors, for a girl, you can draw flowers on the elements. It is also important to decorate the site with additional elements and figures made from tires, pallets and other improvised means.
Successful examples
There are a huge number of examples of interesting playgrounds, although, of course, it is better to come up with something of your own, but you can still use ready-made design examples.
- The entire playground can be made in a military style. In addition to the standard swings and slides in military colors, you can make a tent in the form of a military headquarters, as well as a sandbox in the form of a military vehicle. It will be very interesting for a 4-8 year old boy to play on such a playground.
- A children's corner can also be arranged for a girl , but for this you need to choose bright colors of buildings, draw funny insects, flowers and fairy-tale characters on them. The holiday house is designed as a small colorful family house or a princess's house.
- You can also decorate the site in a pirate style. On the buildings, you can draw any objects that your child associates with pirates and the sea. The rest house can be made as a pirate ship.
All of these examples assume all major recreational facilities (slide, swing, sandpit, sports corner, and recreation house). If possible, you should also add thematic shapes and additional structures. It is quite easy to create a place for the entertainment and development of your children from improvised means, the main thing is to treat this work with all responsibility and creativity. Then this playground will serve for a long time, perhaps even for more than one generation of children.
For information on how to equip a playground with your own hands, see the next video.