How To Make an Outdoor Play Space Affordably

For months now, I’ve been pinning outdoor spaces that allow kids to be kids—spaces that spark their imagination through building, playing and even getting dirty. Little by little it is beginning to come together and I want to show you what I’ve done so far. My goals were:

*  create a fun outdoor space where our grand kids can explore and play

*  use materials that can be used in a variety of ways

*  use as many natural materials as possible

*  make it as economical as possible

My first step was creating a mud kitchen. After looking over lots of ideas, I settled upon this picture as my inspiration:

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We already had one old tire that we no longer needed (although I am not sure where it even came from), so I wheeled it over to our fire pit area one afternoon and measured the middle hole. Naturally, I forgot to write down that measurement before going to the store, but I found an oil drain pan in the auto supplies at Wal Mart that ended up being a perfect fit. AND, it was less than $3. I some cinder blocks behind our storage building and a piece of wood that used to be part of a pallet wood sign.

Dollar Tree was the perfect place to find a couple of storage baskets and a package of round food containers. I glued the lids on to serve as "burners" for a stove and gathered some old serving utensils that I no longer needed. We put some nails on the fence to hang the utensils.

Once we added a little sand to the water, the real fun began! Needless to say, it hasn't been this neat since!

Next up was a place to build. Tree trimmers have been working in our neighborhood for weeks, clearing branches from power lines. After seeing this stack of sycamore logs in front of an abandoned house, I talked my husband into helping me load a few to bring home.

I liked this wood because of the smooth bark that would be less likely to harbor splinters. I stood a few up to serve as stepping blocks and have plans to get a couple of the smaller ones chopped into smaller pieces for building with.

I love the way this one is organized, but it might be a while before I have something like that in place.

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Lastly, I went on a search for some type of durable road that could be used and stored outdoors. I have some road tape that we use inside from time to time, but it wasn’t at all practical for outdoor use. . . particularly over gravel. I did find one product on the market that was made of some sort of rubber sheeting and was designed for indoor or outdoor use, but it was very expensive and out of my budget for sure.

There just didn’t seem to be anything on the market that fit my needs, so you guessed it: I made my own.

I keep it outside hanging on the fence and the kids have used it regularly for a month now without any signs of wear and tear at all, other than a little dirt on the back. I even made miniature traffic signs that can be kept in the space as well.

This road set has been such a hit with the kids (ages 18 mos. - 11 years)! They  work both indoors and outdoors and can be arranged in a variety of ways. Another great thing about them is that they are wider than your typical "road tape", allowing for vehicles of different sizes.

I will be adding some road sets to the shop in the next couple of days, just in time for Christmas. If you hop over to my business blog, Dot To Dot Connections, you can sign up for email updates that will let you know when new products are added. You can also follow me on Instagram at both @Lsperki and @DotToDotConnetions.

I still have a few things I'd like to add to the space - perhaps some musical instruments, buildings for the streets and an art station - but, for now, I am certainly enjoying laying in our hammock with the kids play!

Holiday Highlights - Part One-

The last couple of months have been crazy, chaotic and fun.  We've traveled and visited with family and enjoyed both Thanksgiving and Christmas with both of our families.  With all of the Instagram posts going on, it seems that I haven't had much time to post much else.  So here goes!  I'll start with Thanksgiving. . . . . The weekend before, we enjoyed Ron's daughter, Carmelle and her family here at our house.   We enjoyed cooking, eating, serving, raking (and un-raking), babysitting, crafting, feeding and just generally being together!

Easter Weekend In Texas - Part Three

By Sunday, the guys were pretty tired of working on the truck, but knew that it was their last chance to get the transmission lifted, so they made the decision to head out there instead of going to church.   I went to church with Carmelle and the kids.

Right after those pictures were taken, we seated ourselves on the back row of the church and members of the congregation made their way over to introduce themselves to me and to inquire about our relationship, etc.  Each time, as Carmelle explained that I was her step-mother, Michael added that I married their grandpa "a couple of weeks ago".  The church that they attend is a very conservative, Southern Baptist congregation, so you can imagine how startled I was when Adellelyn piped up, using her no-at-all-quiet-voice and said, "You married Papaw.  Now are you going to preggernant???"   Carmelle and I quickly tried to quiet her and assure her that NO, I was not.  But she exclaimed (louder this time), "I didn't mean yesterday!  I mean NOW are you going to get preggernant????"    OH MY!!   I wanted to crawl in a hole, but instead I was able to deflect the attention by reminding her that Callie was going to have a baby soon and they would have a new little cousin.

After the worship service, there was an egg hunt for the children.

The shoes were different this time-----Sunday best (and that means spurs, too)!

When we got back home, we discovered that Ron and Chad had to give up working on the truck so we gave Joy some more motion sickness medicine and enjoyed being outdoors while we waited the mandatory time for it to begin working.

Under close supervision, Talia and Joy even became friends.

Our trip home was uneventful and though tired, we were so glad we had the opportunity to be with them all again.

The Deck

Our yard is nothing fancy, but we've been working on getting it in better shape.  Last year, we built the area for our fire pit and this year our focus is on the flowerbeds.   We love to sit out on the deck in the evenings and eat dinner or watch the birds.  Right now, the deck is kind of a "winter transitioning into spring" mess, but we were able to enjoy it last weekend when Valine was here to visit.

I grilled some shrimp to go with our salad and it was so nice to sit outside and visit until dark.

Notice those corn plates---fresh from Round Top!

Today, Ron brought home a surprise for me.

A brand new beverage tub and stand that he got for the "right price" from a friend at work.

Can't wait to have friends over to try it out.   In the meantime, tomorrow looks like the perfect day to work outdoors.

Obviously, all those pictures were taken with my phone---I have yet to master the low-light clarity issues when using my phone.  Hopefully, I'm soon going to be learning some new techniques for using the camera on my phone more effectively.  Stay tuned for more details---and clearer pictures!

Outdoor Spaces

Ron and I have spent a lot of time outdoors in the past year.  We like camping and hiking and kayaking and running.  But, we also like to just sit outside and relax.  This spring, we worked hard to fix up our fire pit area, although it's been too hot this summer to actually enjoy it much yet.  But we have enjoyed being outdoors on the deck---especially in the mornings or late evenings.   The only problem (besides it being really messy), is that the late evening sun shines directly into that area from the west, making it pretty uncomfortable at times.  Ron has remarked several times that we need curtains on that side.

Well, this weekend, we did something about it.  I measured the length of the span and did a little research online  at my favorite DIY spot, Pinterest, before heading to Home Depot.  

                                

I picked up two 6' x 9' drop cloths and some eye bolts to be fastened to the metal.  I found the best price for curtain ring clips at WalMart.  Ron went to Lowe's with me to get the pipe that we used as a curtain rod.  We planned to use conduit, but it doesn't come in 12' lengths and they were sold out of the 1/2" diameter.  Instead we decided to use actual threaded pipe---it came in 6' lengths, so two of them made it the right length.  We bought a coupler for the middles and two end caps to keep the curtain rings from sliding off.  The threaded pipe was more expensive than conduit would have been, but it is also much stronger and looks better.

Ron drilled holes in the metal roofing rim and inserted 3 bolts, along with locking nuts.  Because the roof slants, he screwed the first bolt all the way in and kept the bolt at the other end fully extended.

(By the way, drilling into that metal caused tiny metal flakes/splinters to fly everywhere, so Ron had to be very careful and wear protective eye wear).    I slid the curtain clips onto the rods and we slid it through the eye hooks.  I folded the drop cloths to the appropriate length and clipped them on.

I want to live with them for a little while before I decide if I am going to cut and hem them---at this point, the flap doesn't really bother me much.  

After cleaning up the deck (those pictures above show just how messy it really was!!), and letting them hang outside a bit so the wrinkles could fall out, they really look pretty good.    It's really pretty amazing how much shade they provide!  And while not necessarily the cheapest option, it is much more affordable than actual outdoor curtains and does the trick quite nicely.