Kid's Play Area

Kid's Play Area

This area of the backyard has become an eyesore for me. It is almost always cluttered with toys and trash, often in some stage of disrepair. When we first created it we made a cardinal error in not laying weed blocker under the gravel. So we have been fighting the battle of weeds as well, well not just weeds, some of it is grasses and other vegetation. Then the nice wooden swing set that the grandparents purchased for James and we put together has shown some wear and tear from years of use by lots of kids, some too big for what they were doing, and poor quality lumber. And last is that the pea gravel that we put in has become the litter box for the neighborhood strays.

So we have talked about what we want, and what the kids want, and how to get there from where we are at. And I actually think we might get most of this done this summer if we apply ourselves and get some help. Here is the general outline:

1. Build a clubhouse onto the swing set. With 2-3 Added posts that we will actually set into concrete. This will do a couple of things.

• Reinforce the swing set structure so I can worry less about having it crash in the middle of a party while there are 3-2 kids on it.
• Allow us to paint the overall structure which should help seal the existing wood and prevent further deterioration.
• Decrease ground area in the play area that would need to be cleared of vegetation etc. and a smaller area to cover if we purchase some new ground cover material.
• Give the kids something new to play on/in, variety is the spice of life, and with the kids getting more imaginative in their play a club house would be a big boost.
• Allow us to build an attached Toy chest for storage of the outside toys, to alleviate scatter.

2. Build a walkway between the patio and trampoline so even in winter kids can get to the trampoline and not worry about mud.

• Also decreases ground area for vegetation and/cat problems

3. Spray some vegetation killer in the uncovered area to kill what has grown up

4. Add some new ground cover, even if it is just more pea gravel.

• Ideally some recycled tire rubber under the swing set
• And some more Pea gravel and/or sand in a more isolated area to act as a sand box for digging in.

I think we can actually get all this done this summer with a little help. And budget wise I don't think it would be too expensive. We actually have some good plywood panels that we got from my mother's construction project on her house last year and we could use that pretty easily. We'll see how it goes. I need to plan this out now, actually do some measuring etc. Then get started. If the weather and children cooperate we might actually get some of it done this weekend. Below is a preliminary plan that I worked out yesterday.