Recently purchased this home and fell in love with the landscaping. Now that I am living in it with a toddler I’m realizing the yard is not exactly kid friendly. My 2 year old likes to climb on the big rocks in the front, which is fine but I’m very pregnant with another baby on the way soon and am afraid of slipping and falling myself while helping him. The left side of the house is all pebbles and the right side of the house is all ground cover and bushes. We did have to add a small fence for my dog to the left side of the house that goes about to where the chimney is. Both sides are on a gradient/incline. Would it be more feasible to rip up all the ground cover on the right side and level the land to add grass? Or remove the pea gravel on the left side and add grass? I don’t know just looking for ideas and what would be possible/feasible. I’d love a place to just sit and watch him play on a play set on a patch of grass.
by Ikill_succulents
25 Comments
Kids will play and be happy wherever you let them. If it’s pea rocks they won’t care as long as you don’t. Maybe they fall down on those big rocks once or twice maybe even chip a tooth or twist and ankle. It happens. But that looks like an awesome place for a kid to grow up and explore. You can tell me to piss off as this isn’t a parenting thread, but I wouldn’t change much just get the swingset on the gravel.
From a landscaping perspective, removing all that pea gravel, putting down soil, and trying to keep grass alive thick enough to stand up to kids and a swingset is going to be next to impossible. If you absolutely need it softer or to look better, have the swingset put on a mulch bed with pressurized wood trim. Like it’s sitting on top of the pea gravel. It will just get weedy and potentially buggy unless you spray it. Then your kids are playing in pesticide.
Let him climb that hill. Exploring the woods was one of my favorite things to do as a kid even with playgrounds and toys galore
Don’t help him, just let him test the limits of what he can do physically. Be there to supervise but you’d be surprised what kids can do! My 2 year old would regularly out climb the big kids on the older playground and everyone would just stand and stare surprised.
Oh man, some out door trucks will be great for the pea gravel. My kids would love to just do pretend construction work.
Don’t stress, kids are good at having fun.
Buy a trampoline
The pea gravel looks like a great base for all kinds of kids activities. Perfect for a kiddy pool or a small sandbox. I wouldn’t be worried about a toddler slide either. This looks like an amazing yard for a kid
I’d say just a fence to keep them from going too far when they are this young. Plain grass isn’t fun for kids unless it has a direct purpose like soccer or frisbee, which your child isn’t doing any of right now.
_Ideas to make kid more “yard friendly”_
Just add some Tonka trucks and you are good to go! The landscape is so beautiful!!!! 😍
If you rearrange the rocks out front into a pathway that wraps the house it’ll be a super fun pathway for a running kid – rope swing in the back yard or a slack line in between two trees or a hammock is fun. Get a deck box and stock it with outdoor toys like a big bubble wand, butterfly nets, big jenga, bases (for tag) and assorted balls, maybe a tee ball popper and bat or a corn hole set. Kids will love jumping off that wall, exploring the woods, lifting up the rocks for bug finding.
As long as there isn’t anything dangerous that can topple over it’s already kid friendly. Maybe some toys
you want a treehouse in the upper backyard so that you can climb up the wall that climb up the hill then climb up the tree and have a really great view. Unless they’re tiny in which case not yet but in a couple years
Bouncy house
I recommend getting some old potand pans from goodwill or such. Make rules about where he can cook and gather resources. My mom used those little landscaping marker flags that are real cheap and come in different colors. I couldn’t go past them and they honestly helped me not get lost as a kid.
Just not colorful plastic toys scattered about.
Please don’t. Teach him how to make forts for action figures using rocks and pieces of bark. Make roads in the dirt for toy cars and trucks. Build a tree house and hang a tire swing from a tree. Go on a bug hunt and have him draw whatever he finds. Put a fire pit outside and tell stories. I see a great place for a tent with sleeping bags.
Maybe a “No Bears Allowed” sign so that there’s the implication there could be bears, but they’re not allowed.
He’s two now, but will be five soon. The key thing that kids need is unstructured play space. A space they can explore, dig, modify, and tear up without adult interference.
Those woods are going to be heavily used in a few years. But your children will need to build those trails, mineshafts, and treehouses themselves; they can’t have adults doing all that for them.
I wouldn’t be making any serious changes. It’ll take two years to really get grass established in that shaded environment, and by then, he’ll be off playing in the woods anyway. Don’t let him play above the retaining wall for now, until he’s learned to respect his physical abilities on the smaller rocks in the front yard.
Looks perfect as is!
When you watch kids play outside, where do they play?
Their playing on the rocks and the logs, walking along walls, playing in the trees and the bushes, hopping from stone to stone.
They’re not playing in the middle of a boring patch of manicured grass if other options exist.
I would’ve been climbing all over everything in that yard when I was a kid. Its looks awesome!
Run it through Gemini ai. Post the picture and ask to make it kid friendly
My yard is xeriscaped and it’s even better for my kids. This notion that kids need grass is busted. Kids need trees to climb rocks to jump trucks off and climb and dig and explore. The yard looks fun and will build physical literacy. In the mean time be careful yourself but don’t dumb down the environment.
Jarts! Kids love em
Outdoor rubber padding for the base and a jungle gym, swingset.
Remove pea gravel add grass or clover.
Build a fairy garden.
Just get a play structure in the backyard. Looks like there is plenty of room for one.