Across the Fence

with Ann Brooke

March 26, 2014

Natural playgrounds: what the lucky child has in her backyard

• A tree-house
• A “cave”
• Mud
• Sticks and stones to build things with
• Logs and trees to climb
• A rope swing
• A pond, or at least a puddle under a faucet
• Things to catch (insects, tadpoles, lizards)
• A stream to dam (or a hose to make a stream)
• A fence to climb
• A camp-fire

Any backyard is big enough to include at least some of these, and in a form that adults can enjoy, too. A frog-pond can be as small as 18” across, or it can be in a container. An arbor can double as a tree-house, if it has a roof and a ladder – adults underneath, kids on top. A cave can be the space under a low-hanging shrub.

There are dozens of good ideas on Pinterest, many of them easy and inexpensive.

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