Nick Bailey has some brilliant, and budgetconscious, ideas for family fun in the garden
Family fun outdoors is one of the very best things about high summer!
With the summer holidays in full swing, lots of us have the burden/ pleasure of protracted periods of childcare. Kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and cousins all need entertaining, and I’m always keen to get children outdoors, engaged and active. Over several summers I’ve figured out some fun and effective ways to entertain my extended family of six kids simply and cheaply outdoors.
Giant Jenga
A prefabricated set of Jenga blocks often costs from £50 upwards, but this simple game takes li le more than some scrap wood to create.
For a chunky set, recycle some lengths of timber. Skips can be a rich foraging source, but the owner’s consent is always required!
Ideally aim for 75x75mm (3x3in) timbers that are cut to 45cm (1½ft) long. Around 30-40 pieces is a good start. Once they’ve been sanded to a smooth finish they can be painted, decorated or stained (a kid’s activity in itself!). Then, stack the timbers in alternating ‘threes’ to build the tower. Easy!
Slip ‘n’ slide
The most fun I had as a kid in the garden (other than gardening) was with a huge sheet of polythene flooded with water.
Slip and slide kits start at £20, but for a fraction of that local builders’ merchants can provide polythene sheeting by the metre (used under building foundations) which can be pinned down in the garden and flooded with the hose.
Chess
I hired an outdoor chess set last year and it cost me £60 for the day, so I got thinking about less pricey alternatives.
Big chess pieces are a cinch to make, and another kids’ activity in their own right. Make use of all those old plastic plant pots hanging around the garden by converting them into kings, queens and castles.
The simplest method is to put a handful of chunky gravel or stones in a pot, then wire and/ or glue an upturned pot onto it. The individual pieces can be determined by either pot shape, size or a le er or pa ern painted onto them.
Now for the clever bit – the board: cut a series of squares from cardboard boxes three or four days ahead of the chess match, then lay them out in a chess board pa ern (eight squares by eight squares), on a freshly cut lawn, holding each one down with a brick or peg.
On match day, remove the cardboard and, hey presto, you’ll have the dark and light squares of a chessboard for a few days before the yellowed squares on your lawn return to normal.