As a parent, it can be a constant worry and even a source of considerable amounts of stress when your children announce they are meeting their friends at a park you have never been to or playing in an area you are unfamiliar with.

If your son or daughter is an only child, it is even more important to encourage their friends to see your home as a fun and safe place to be and having your children and their friends literally where you can see them can only be a good thing.

With that being said, continue reading to discover how to turn your garden into a playground for your kids.

Treat Them to a Trampoline

Whether you have a huge brood, or just one or two children, your garden will be the envy of kids all over the neighborhood and beyond if you treat them to an all-weathers trampoline.

If you intend on installing the new trampoline yourself, the most important thing to remember is to thoroughly research temporary flooring solutions for the base, to protect both the ground and grass underneath it as well as the children.

Build a DIY Jenga Set

There is nothing more entertaining and downright hilarious to a child and in fairness, to many adults too, then enjoying building a structure just to knock it right down to the ground again.

If you have not previously heard of the game ‘Jenga’, it is essentially a set of wooden blocks which can be piled atop each other and as each person pulls a block away from the stack, they lose if the structure crumbles. It would be incredibly simple to recreate the game on a giant scale and would provide hours of fun in the backyard.

Create an Obstacle Course

An obstacle course is an absolute staple of any playground and the beauty of building one in your own backyard is that you will be proverbially on-hand with the first-aid box if any accidents or slips and fall mishaps occur.

Hose down any old and punctured car tires and place them around the garden, tie strings between trees and shrubs to recreate a LaserQuest style weaving and ducking challenge and design a treehouse out of old branches and leaves, or else cardboard boxes you no longer have any use for.

Hold Seasonal Events

Not only will your new backyard playground be a delight for your both your own children and their friends right through the year, but you could also even hold mini events depending on the season.

For Halloween, you could organize a candy treasure hunt, for Christmas a snowman and snow trail, for Easter an Easter egg bunny hunt and for a birthday party, a nature trail around the garden. Soon, your backyard and garden will become the ‘go-to’ place for kids in and around the entire neighborhood; just remember that you are naturally going to be the one who has to clean up afterwards!