It's a wonderful day here in the midwest. The sun is shining. Birds are chirping. The wind is howling. Well, maybe that last party isn't wonderful, but it's par for the course living in South Dakota.
Sunday was a day of outside family time. We have been busying every weekend over the past month, and yesterday was a day to just hangout and enjoy the weather. I get bored pretty easy, so I decided to tackle a couple of projects.
Speaking of getting bored easy, like many children, my kids have inherited this trait. They do pretty good using their imaginations. In fact, as I was working on this project, they decided to take some scrap wood and make their own toys. My son proudly proclaimed his creation a boat and even rowed with some oars. My daughter made a bowling alley complete with a pin made from a Pampered Chef drink holder.
Sometimes they need something new to stimulate them. Having so much room on our acreage, we have talked about getting one of those fancy play sets. However, since our remodeling is in flux, and we might be doing an addition, we didn't want to build something to just have to move it 6 months later. Not to mention they cost as much as my first car. So we needed mobile play toys, and due to said remodeling, we don't want them to cost an arm and a leg. Last year, I made a outdoor play kitchen out of some of the materials we demo-ed from our kitchen. That was an entirely free project. (Click here for the post)
When I was a kid my two favorite playground toys were Merry Go Rounds and Teeter Totters. I loved them. However, due to safety concerns, many of those things are being removed from playgrounds today. However, if you ask me, some of the new playground equipment gives me heart palpitations (it's all so high!).
Ana White posted a really fun, easy and cheap project a while ago for a Teeter Totter. (Click here for the instructions) I put the idea in my back pocket for when we finally got our own place. I decided to buy the wood a couple of weeks ago and since we had a free afternoon, we decided to build it yesterday.
I have to tell you. This was one of the easiest projects I've ever done. I got to use my new miter saw, and with that tool, the project went very fast. Ana White wasn't kidding when she said it took 45 minutes. Ours took a bit longer, but that was with two kids that wanted to help, then needed to nap and a husband that got called out to look at a sick cat. Typical weekend.
Check out our DIY Playground!
I also decided to create a balance beam with a 4x4 and 2x6.
We now have the play kitchen, teeter totter, balance beam, a rope swing and a couple of Little Tikes slides and wagons. I think I'm going to complete the mix with a DIY Playhouse. I might be feeling a bit overly confident after the teeter totter.
1 comment
Hello mate nnice post
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