Garden
14. Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Inspire imaginative play with a rustic tree house made for outdoor adventures. This one was created using scrap wood and includes a bucket on a pulley — perfect for passing secret messages and other things up to those in the tree house.More fantastic backyard tree houses
13. Fairy house. Small children are enchanted by other wee things, and the idea of a garden fairy house can be especially appealing. You can buy them, but it can be more fun (and is certainly more cost effective) to make one yourself using found natural materials.Fairy-house inspiration from a forest walk in Maine
1. Outdoor chalkboard. A big chalkboard hung on a fence or an exterior wall can keep kids busy. Want to try something a little different? Hang Plexiglas instead, and let kids paint on it with washable tempera and shaving cream — you can wash everything right off with a hose, so you can reuse the Plexiglas as many times as you want.2. Sensory table with shade. If you have preschoolers, you’ve probably spotted a sensory table at your child’s school — these kid-height tables are meant to be filled with water, sand or other materials (like dry beans) that kids will enjoy sticking their little hands into. Place the table in a shady area or use an umbrella to protect little ones from the sun as they play. On hot days try placing big chunks of ice colored with food coloring in the water table and let kids play with it as it melts.
Element: Pilasters. They surround the front door and are the decorative highlight of simple Cape Cod cottages. This white-painted pilaster and lintel combination is most common.How to make it your own: Painting heavy trim surrounding entries white is one way to get a similar effect without calling in a carpenter. Another simple way to highlight the entry is to paint the door itself a bright color.Bring in a local painter to change the trim
Hosta, pavers and gravel
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