Summer is coming, vacation. How to organize leisure time for children in nature, in the countryside, in the countryside? We make a playground for children ourselves!
In the summer, most parents try to take their children out of dusty, polluted cities into nature. If you spend the summer months at the dacha with your children, then you need to make sure that their summer vacation is not only beneficial for them, but also enjoyable. To prevent your child from getting bored at the dacha, make a playground for him with your own hands. This will require very small financial investments plus your time and imagination. Be sure to involve the children themselves in creating the playground. Firstly, joint work helps to unite the family and strengthen the relationship between parents and children, and, secondly, designing a playground is a creative activity that will be useful for the overall development of the child.
Any child will prefer natural materials (for example, wood) to artificial plastic when playing. Therefore, we will focus on creating crafts for the playground from natural materials.
The required components of any children's playground are as follows:
- sandbox
- water
- green spaces
- children's playhouse (tent, awning)
- swing
- natural materials for play (gravel, stones, tree cuts, cones, twigs, plants, etc.) 
1. DIY playground. DIY sandbox
All children get a lot of joy and pleasure when playing with sand. Playing with sand provides unlimited opportunities for a child's development. You can make Easter cakes from sand, build castles and tunnels, cook “soup” for dolls, and it can be transported in cars. Another fun thing to do is bury various objects in the sand and then dig them up. You can sprinkle dry sand on the beetle, and then watch how it gets out of it. It is interesting to draw pictures and write letters on damp sand.
Making a children's sandbox with your own hands is not at all difficult. First of all, you need to choose a suitable place for it. The sandbox should not be in the sun, but at the same time, a too dark, damp place is not suitable for it. If the child is still small, the sandbox should be near the house so that the baby is always in your sight.
You can fence off the sandbox using logs, stumps, and boards. If the sandbox is large enough, you can divide it into several play areas (see photo below). 
To protect from the sun, you can make a canopy.
2. Children's playgrounds for the dacha. Swimming pools
Just like with sand, children only like to play with water. The best option is to combine games with water and sand. Make sure that your child always has a source of water near the sandbox. Even a small bowl of water will be enough.
Of course, any child will be delighted to have a pool at their dacha. 
Another good fun is to spray each other with water from a hose on a hot summer day. Or you can ask your dad or grandfather to make an outdoor shower from PVC pipes. 
3. Children's playgrounds. Children's playgrounds photo
When creating a playground with your own hands, you cannot do without all kinds of logs, stumps, tree cuts, and boards. You can make tables and chairs from stumps and surround the sandbox with them. Stumps and logs can be used as sports equipment: it is useful for children to learn to walk on them while maintaining balance. The tree cuts will make a nice path.
A child's imagination can turn a simple log into a bridge spanning an abyss, into an airplane, a car, a horse, etc. Such games with object replacement are very useful for developing children's creative thinking. 
4. Decoration of the playground. DIY playground photo
A prerequisite for a good playground is the presence of greenery: trees, shrubs, grass, flowers.
Large trees provide protection from the sun on a hot summer day. They are fun to climb. 
Sometimes trees have to be removed for various reasons. However, you should not cut down the tree at the very root - turn it into an interesting decorative element - a fairy-tale “house”. 
The base of large trees is the best place to create fairy houses. Making such a fairy-tale house from any available material will be interesting for every little girl. 
Be sure to help your child make his own flowerbed, which he will take care of on his own. 
Even if you yourself prefer not to plant anything in your dacha, make sure that your child has his own small garden. Just a couple of beds where he can grow unpretentious and tasty plants, for example, green peas. 
5. Crafts for the playground. Decorating a playground with your own hands
Decorating children's playgrounds is an interesting and creative activity. Handmade crafts made from wood, tires and plastic bottles are suitable for decorating a children's playground. Here are some ideas for decorating a playground with your own hands. Be sure to involve children in the process of creating crafts for the playground. 
6. How to make a playground. Playground ideas
When creating a playground with your own hands, be sure to give your child a secluded corner where he can be alone or in the company of his friends, dream, play, read, and finally take a break from you, the adults. This could be a purchased children's playhouse or tent. Or you can make a children's house (tent, pavilion) with your own hands. Here are some interesting ideas.
DIY children's house made of wood 
Children's houses for dachas. Children's houses tents.
The easiest way to make a children's house with your own hands is to stretch a rope between two trees, pillars, between a tree and a fence (see photo below) and throw a thin blanket over it. The ends of the blanket must be tied with ropes to pegs driven into the ground, or pressed with stones. 
DIY children's house.
The most interesting way to make a children's house for a summer cottage is to “grow” it on your own plot. Any climbing plants with lush foliage, such as beans, are suitable for this. 
Using the same principle, you can “grow” a children’s house from sunflowers. Sunflowers are a good plant to grow with children. They have large seeds, grow quickly and are very unpretentious. Plant sunflowers around the perimeter of the circle at a distance of 10 cm from each other. When they grow to 1.5 meters, collect their tops and tie them together - your sunflower house is ready! Yes, don’t forget to leave room for entry when planting! 
7. DIY playground. Children's playground made of wood
As we already mentioned at the beginning of the article, be sure to make sure that the child has natural materials available for play: sand, water, large stones, small stones, twigs, pine cones, plants. Games with natural materials are of great importance for the development of sensory perception, motor skills, creative thinking of the child, and have a beneficial effect on the physical and mental health of children. 
8. DIY playground ideas.
Concluding our review article “Do-It-Yourself Playground,” we will share with you a few more useful ideas for decorating playgrounds.
Plexiglas easel.
Many mothers know how useful games with paints are for young children. But most do not very often allow children to draw at home, because... After such activities, you have to wash both the child and the apartment.
Games at the dacha in warm weather have one great advantage - a child dressed in only panties, no matter how dirty he gets, can be very easily washed right on the street, by watering, for example, with warm water from a hose. And at the same time, you don’t have to worry about the cleanliness of the carpet, furniture, or floor. Let the children at the dacha have plenty of fun with dirty materials, with the same paints, for example. A homemade plexiglass easel, which can be washed using the same hose, will provide you with invaluable help. 
It's a good idea to hang a chalk board on the fence. Don't forget to give your child crayons, a bucket of water, and a rag. 
Taking care of the physical development of children, you can make a rope bridge and a bungee for them. And from an old chair you can make a comfortable swing. 
Good luck in fulfilling your plans!
Every parent knows from his own example how difficult it can sometimes be to get children interested in something so that they do not interfere with their household duties. For those who spend time at the dacha or permanently live in a private house, there is an ingenious solution - a do-it-yourself playground made from scrap materials. It will captivate your child and contribute not only to physical, but also intellectual development. It's not difficult to build. You can do this from available materials, such as boards and logs, tires, fabrics, etc. Be smart, and your child will not be torn away from the new play place.
There are few rules for choosing a place, but their implementation is mandatory for the safety of the child and your peace of mind:
Before you start building a playground, you need to decide on the territory and draw up a project.
The size of the playground depends on the age of the children and their number. For very small children, a small space of 4–5 m2 will be enough. On them you can install a sandbox, a few simple shells and a small pool. It would be nice to fence off such an area so that the children do not run away, and you can calmly go about your business. To do this, you can use improvised (wooden sticks) and purchased (chain-link mesh) products.
You can’t lock older children behind a fence. He will be redundant. They will be interested in something really worthwhile, a more serious projectile, a larger selection of entertainment and, of course, a lot of space. Ideally, 10–12 m2 is needed in order to create a comfortable playground for such children.
A fence with a gate will give parents confidence that the child will not run away from the playground 
A colored fence that you can trust the children to paint themselves 
Playground fencing option
Now draw a general plan of the future site. Think about what will be located and where. To do this, it is not necessary to make an exact geometric drawing.
The playground plan can be schematic indicating the dimensions 
The playground plan can be drawn if desired. 
You can entrust the drawing up of a playground plan to the child himself.
First of all, the place needs to be well cleared and leveled. Then you need to decide what kind of coating you will work with. There are several options:
If you are limited in finances and make everything from scrap materials, then choose the second option.
What equipment to place on the playground is up to its owners to decide. There are some elements that you just can’t do without.
This is the most common children's fun that can be found in every yard. There is no child who would not be fascinated by the creation of sand cakes and the construction of all kinds of caves. In the sandbox, your child will develop his imagination and learn to create new objects. Previously, they looked like a square box made of unplaned materials. Today the situation has changed, adults are increasingly concerned about the convenience and safety of their children. The main innovation is, of course, the creation of a lid that hides sand from pets.
It is important to choose the right location for a given area. It should not be in the sun, but it should not be placed in an area that is too dark, so that the sand in it is not wet and cold. It is ideal to install it under the canopy of a large tree. But if this is not possible, then you will have to come up with a canopy.
The most common material for making a sandbox is wood. For boys, this could be a hand-made boat or a car for the playground.
A large tractor tire is also suitable for making a sandbox.
A very popular entertainment for children is the house. It could be a hut made of branches or a simple tent. The children will hide there. This could be their "headquarters". Thanks to this, a children's corner at the dacha made from scrap materials will become very cozy.
You can also build a house on a frame. This is also easy.
You can show your imagination and make a porch, windows, hang curtains, put an old carpet inside, knock down a couple of chairs and a table. In general, a miniature version of a real house. The more you try, the more interesting it will be for your baby to play there.
A fabric hut will protect children from the sun and rain 
You can build a hut using natural materials together with your children 
If desired, the hut made of branches can be disassembled and moved to another place 
A children's wooden house can be a copy of a country house 
Porch, windows and door are desirable elements of a children's house
Slides are no less popular among children. They come in straight and spiral shapes. But what is this pleasure made of? There are several options:
Few people make a separate slide. Most often it is built as part of a complex with ropes, ladders, horizontal bars, etc.
Swings are the most popular type of entertainment in the children's recreation area. Building them from scrap materials is not difficult. To do this, you just need a chain or rope, as well as a seat (board, wheel).
If you decide to use a rope for a swing, then it must be periodically checked for strength, since exposure to sunlight and precipitation has a detrimental effect on it.
Chains will be more reliable, but the links may move during swinging and pinch the skin of your hands. The sensations are very painful. That's why in places where you need to hold on, you can put some kind of hose on the chain. The rope can be attached to the crossbar with a carabiner, which can squeak unpleasantly over time, or with the help of a bearing, but it must be welded.
A playground made by yourself will become a favorite place for children in the garden, where they will feel like full owners, a place of games and real adventures. For parents, this is a chance to show their skills and earn popularity not only among their children, but also among their friends. By showing a little imagination and courage, you will get a favorite place for children to play - create a reliable base for them, and the rest of the splendor will be added by the bright children's imagination. 
Children's playground with sandbox. 
A children's playground with a sandbox is a favorite place for little ones to play. To keep the sand clean, you can make a closing lid for the sandbox, which when open turns into a bench. 
Just a little imagination and by adding a triangular box for storing toys to the sandbox, you get almost a ship.
All that’s left to do is install a strong staircase mast and decorative sides.
DIY playground made from stumps and branches.
Children's playground with swings.
DIY playground made from old pallets.
For those who want to make a children's house at their dacha, our drawing with exact dimensions will help. By installing this house in a cozy corner of the garden and painting it beautifully together with your children, you will bring pleasure to your little ones.
An ordinary terrace can become a beach-style children's playground if you install a slide on it and make a sandbox below. Kids can play in the sand for days, and if you can't spend the summer with them at the seaside, you can bring the beach home. In hot summers, you can install an inflatable pool nearby for the little ones.
On a hot day, real adventurers will find life-saving coolness in a small tunnel equipped with a small door and similar to the famous hobbit house.
Such playgrounds will not only bring pleasure to children, but can also become an interesting element of the landscape design of your dacha.
The place under the high terrace can be equipped as a sports ground for older children, so they will have the opportunity to engage in regular training every day.
For the little ones, you can make a playhouse under the terrace, where they will feel like complete masters, because... No one else can enter there except them.
Previously, the space under the terrace was not used and was a spontaneous warehouse for all sorts of “useful things”. Because There are two exits from the terrace, and the terrace is quite high. It was decided to make a children's playground. In addition to the slide and sandbox, under the terrace there is a cozy place with a children's playhouse, and on the wall of the house there is an additional drawing board and a shower with a tap for washing hands and feet.
The space under the terrace will later be partitioned into two parts - in one there is a children's playground, in the other there is a place for storing garden tools. First, taking into account waterproofing, a wooden frame was made for the platform.
Then the soil for the sandbox and the area near the slide was removed. This is the hardest part of the job.
In the area under the sandbox and next to the slide, ebbs were made and sand and crumb rubber were poured for children's playgrounds.
A cozy playground can be made from a regular canopy by adding a small raised platform for a slide.
No matter how simple your playground design is, you can always add some cheer to it with bright, bold colors.
Even if you have no construction skills at all, you can always find a simple and interesting option for a playground that you can do.
A children's tree house is a wonderful idea that not only children, but also adults fall in love with. Such sites are not made on fruit trees - because the fasteners go straight into the tree, but if your site is located next to a forest, this is the best idea for a playground.
Usually, fairly large trees are taken for a tree house; if there are no such trees in your garden, you can make a platform for the playground, which will be mounted both on the tree and on wooden posts in the corners.
Instead of driving several small bolts into the wood, it is better to use one larger one.
The order of work is as follows: first, two beams are attached to the tree, then a frame under the platform is installed on them, which in our case is reinforced with posts at the corners of the platform.
And no matter how complicated the site plan may look for a young dad, in reality it is a small square platform on which a children’s house is being built.
Such a platform is a simple and attractive design that looks good in any corner of the garden.
This children's playground is made according to the same principle, but instead of a children's house, a beautifully decorated gazebo is made on supporting posts, which also serves as a canopy for the sandbox on a hot day.
Children love summer most of all because they can spend almost the whole day outside. Children's playground projects can be completely different - from the simplest to the fantastically beautiful. But in any case, a do-it-yourself playground will allow you to truly fulfill one important dream of your baby.
A dacha is a great place for a family holiday; here you can escape from the bustle of the city and annoying smog, enjoy nature and chat with friends. But there are also special family members whose comfort you should worry about separately - these are children. But here, a properly equipped playground will not only make your children’s rest safe, interesting and useful, but will also allow you to devote more time to the garden, flowers or just relaxing.
The main and basic rule for a children's playground in the country is safety. That is why a place for it is chosen away from dangerous places - a thorny fence, a deep pond, decorative electric lamps, greenhouses, etc. It is necessary to correctly orient the playground towards the sun - it should be present for several hours, preferably in the morning, so that at noon the playground (or at least part of it) is covered by shadow, because prolonged exposure of children to the sun is strictly contraindicated. And the unshaded part of the site is optimal for installing a children’s pool with a slide there - this way the water in it will warm up faster. An approximate diagram of the playground is shown in Fig. 1
The covering for playgrounds must be completely safe and perform protective functions in the event of a fall and prevent injuries. Also, the surface must be dry and non-slip, and remain clean under all circumstances. In addition, it’s great if the artificial surface looks beautiful and is interesting to kids. As practice shows, on bright surfaces a child plays much more actively, showing his own imagination and ingenuity. Company CRUMB makes playgrounds, observing all safety standards and requirements.
When choosing a place to set up a playground, you should remember that children must be supervised - it is not necessary for parents to be directly on the playground, especially if the children are old enough. It will be quite enough for the children to be in front of your eyes, to watch them from home, from such a distance from which you can have time to react to the “undesirable” games of children. And a few more rules that must be followed:
The covering for children's playgrounds in the country will require special attention - it must be soft to soften the fall, and dry quickly - when playing, children spend a lot of time on the ground, and excessive humidity can cause a cold.
Existing special rubber-based play area coverings fully satisfy these requirements, but they are very expensive, plus this type of coating is more suitable for a sports field, but at the dacha you want something more natural, natural. Therefore, a lawn made from resistant varieties of grass is optimally suited as a covering - these are used, for example, for football fields; on a playground the load will be no less. But it is better to use a combined covering, for example, near the slides and gymnastic equipment it is worth making a sandy covering - in case of a fall it will soften the blow.
In order to fully decide where and how to arrange a children’s playground at the dacha, it is important to decide on its size. According to the standard, a child under 7 years old should have about 8-9 m 2 on the playground, and for older children (7-12 years old), when needs and play priorities change, from 13 to 15 m 2 will be required. So planning plot“for growth”, it is worth providing “reserve” meters for the time when the child grows up. Well, unused square meters can be temporarily used, for example, for a lawn.
For a rented dacha or for a time while the site is just being developed, to create a children's play space, you can completely get by with ready-made products - a folding tent house, an inflatable children's pool with a beach umbrella, a small table and bench for drawing. But they can be perceived as a temporary solution, because Chinese products (and they are the overwhelming majority on the market) are not always able to withstand the temperament and energy of our children.
The playground is planned based on the child’s age, but several mandatory attributes of a playground can be identified: sandbox, slide, swing and garden house.
The sandbox is a place for realizing fantasies, building impregnable castles and baking sand cakes. And this is the easiest element of a playground to build. To create it, you can use materials that are left over from the construction of the house, as well as stumps and log cuts. If you dig in logs and stumps of different heights, the sandbox will become not only an original decorative element of landscape design, but also a kind of sports equipment - children like to walk and jump on these “ladders”.
The diagram of the simplest sandbox is shown in Fig. 2
Before installation, the soil is removed to a depth of 25-30 cm, the bottom is covered with drainage material (pebbles or crushed stone). The minimum recommended sandbox size (for children 2-5 years old) is 170x170 cm.
Advice! To prevent the sandbox from attracting the attention of animals, especially cats, who can make a toilet in it, it is better to make a closed version of the sandbox - such a sandbox can be “covered” at night (Fig. 3)
The product (Fig. 4) is quite complex for self-production; you will have to take into account quite a lot of nuances.
First of all, the height of the slide: for children 2-5 years old should not exceed 1.5 meters, for younger schoolchildren - within 2.5-3.5 m. The staircase should have wide steps located fairly close to each other. It is optimal if they have a special anti-slip coating - this is especially important if there is a swimming pool nearby or the slide ends in the pool, and children can climb the slide with wet feet. In addition, the stairs must be equipped with strong handrails that do not end above the top step - when reaching it, the child must hold on to something with his hands. For greater safety, the upper platform should be spacious enough and fenced with railings on the sides.
But the biggest problem will be with the slope - for this you can use multi-layer plywood coated with varnish. But still, the best option is to buy a ready-made plastic slope; it is much stronger and, which is especially important for a slide, has a much better coefficient of friction. Plus - you can choose a regular, straight (Fig. 5) or screw (Fig. 6) slope.
To install the swing, you need to choose a spacious place, taking into account the swing amplitude. The simplest option is a rope swing, if you find a strong enough branch on the tree. You can buy a ready-made option, but if you want to make a playground at your dacha with your own hands, you will need:
Step-by-step photo instructions: how to make a playground with your own hands. Tips, drawings, videos.
You can make a full-fledged children's playground with a slide, stairs, balcony, rope, manhole and swing with your own hands. The following guide will help you with this. It contains many detailed photographs, so there will be no problems with the manufacture of structural elements and their installation.
To begin with, we purchase the material we need - boards 15x2 cm and 5x2 cm and timber with sections 10x5 cm, 10x10 cm and 5x5 cm.
We prepare the following tools:
During the work process, you may need some additional small things like a screwdriver, knife, etc.
Pre-prepare a project for the future complex. On the drawing, indicate the desired overall dimensions of each element of the system. Consider the size of the existing construction site.
The average length of supports is 900-1150 mm. About 80-100 cm of each support will be dug into the ground, about 10-15 cm will remain above the ground.
We lay out the supporting elements on the site in accordance with the project and form a frame - two side parts of our future complex. For connection we use screws with a diameter of 8-10 mm. We embed them into the wood. We close the holes with plugs.
sandbox
We place the sides on supports, fixing them in previously prepared recesses. At this stage, we enlist the help of 1-3 people. We set the sides according to the level. It is recommended to first lay bricks under the bottom of each support for better stability of the site. We fill the installed supports with 10-15 cm of crushed stone and fill them with concrete mixture.
We connect the exposed supports with transverse beams. We leave the fill to gain strength.
While the concrete hardens, we are constructing the stairs. Cut the timber to the required length. The design of the staircase is extremely simple: 2 stringers and steps. We make the steps not too high - the playground is still for children.
We tighten the stringers using hairpins. We fasten the steps into the recesses and additionally fix them with self-tapping screws.
We dig in support pillars for the future staircase. We maintain the required slope. Let's make it not too cool. The procedure for arranging the supports remains the same as in the previous section.
Let's try on the stairs. We level it, attach it to the base and fill the supports with concrete. Painting the stairs.
Next we make the railings. To do this, we set up vertical posts made of timber, attach them to the stairs, and then secure the handrails. We make the top handrail from a board and fasten it at a height of about 90 cm, fix the second handrail approximately in the middle between the upper railings and the stairs. To make it, we can use timber 5x5 cm, 5x2 cm or another similar section.
What is a children's playground without a slide? Let's do that too! We won’t spend money on a ready-made plastic trigger. We won’t bother with metal either. Let's make a slide out of wood!
First we will assemble the slide and then attach it to the base. Recommendations for laying the floor will be given below.
To make the structure we will need the following material:
We will use three boards to make a base for the descent. We plan the boards to the same thickness and sand them thoroughly. After this, we fasten the boards with bars directly along the surface. We fasten it from above - this way we can pull the boards to the beam as efficiently as possible. We recess the fasteners into the wood. We cover the recesses for wood processing. Let it dry, and then carefully sand the entire slide again - it should be as smooth as possible.
The base is done. Let's start making the side parts. Determine the angle of descent. The top floor of our play complex will be at a height of 130 cm. Therefore, the angle of descent will be about 55 degrees.
children's slide
We sand the sides, getting rid of sharp corners. Additionally, we round the boards along the length so that it is more convenient for children to hold on to the sides while going down the slide.
All that remains is to paint the product. You can cover it with stain and then varnish.
Now we need to install the finished slide. To do this, we concrete the timber supports in pre-dug holes. Suitable material with dimensions of 70x10x5 cm. Pre-impregnate the wood with an antiseptic.
We connect the base of the slide with the support posts and the play complex using screws.
The floor of our play complex is laid out from 15x2.5 cm boards. The total length of the floor is approximately 2.5 m. Before laying the floor, we attach stiffeners to the frame of the complex. A 5x10 cm beam is suitable for their manufacture.
At the same stage, we construct a vertical ladder from the end. To assemble it, we use 2x5 cm planks. At the end of the work, we will hang a rope near this ladder. Recommendations for arranging railings have already been given earlier. We follow them. On the side of the steps, instead of railings from boards, we install 5x10 beams to create a manhole.
At this stage, we will assemble and install the support structure for the swing and arrange the access hole. We make the support for the upper beam crosswise - it’s more stable. We first make a selection for convenient joining of the beams and additionally tighten them with bolts. We lay a cross beam on top of the supports and press it with a clamp. We screw it to the support.
Digging holes for racks. We install supports in them, carefully checking each level. At the same stage, we screw spacers to the posts - they will prevent the supports from moving during the concrete hardening process. We fill the holes with the posts with a small layer of crushed stone and concrete them.
Pits for racks While the concrete pour is gaining strength, we make a manhole. We make the slope almost vertical. We arrange steps and cutouts at our discretion. We cut out the holes using a jigsaw. We make the hole itself from OSB and attach it to a frame made of 5x5 cm timber and 5x2 cm crossbars.
We are installing a balcony on the top floor. To do this, we lay and secure the crossbars, lay the floor and erect a roof the length of the stairs. On the side of the slide we attach a wall made of OSB sheet. To make it more beautiful, we cut out a small window in it. We make railings on the balcony.
We sand all the wooden elements installed at this stage. We round off sharp corners and ends. We cover everything with varnish.
