Types of Family-Friendly Lawn Designs

These family-friendly lawn designs will encourage you to think creatively when filling your outside grass and garden spaces, making it a beautiful space for the whole family to enjoy.

An essential part of any family garden, lawns provide an ideal surface for children to play on. Don't compromise on style though — choose a hard-wearing grass type for a durable, child-friendly space that will look good all year round.

Play Area

Strong design principles are just as important in a children's play area as in ornamental gardens. This rustic swing adds height to the garden and acts as a focal point while the planting of tough, evergreen shrubs softens the hard edges of the sandpit and fence panels — choose resilient plants that will tolerate stray footballs or discarded toys. Children's play areas need tough, hard-wearing grass mixes — usually composed of rye grasses and smooth-stalked meadow grass—to be able to withstand the constant wear and tear.

Grass Patterns

Demonstrating that gardens can be fun as well as attractive, this unusual design encourages children and adults to make the most of the entire garden by following the looping path to the seating area. The fun pattern divides up the lawn into irregular shapes and creates interesting spaces for children to play in.

Dining Spaces

Creating "outdoor rooms" that adults and children can enjoy together is one of the most important elements to consider in a family garden; this al fresco dining area is one such example. Ideally, tables and chairs should be kept off the lawn since they can damage the grass, while the damp can cause the legs of wooden garden furniture to rot. As seen here, outside dining spaces are best situated on patios; this prevents having to lift heavy furniture every time the grass needs cutting.