What to put down in a very shaded area for kids to play on?

We have a narrow strip of land between a 6ft fence and an even taller laurel bush – it’s about 4ft wide x 12ft long. My idea is to make it into a ‘secret’ fairyland for my kids – currently making tables and chairs from logs, various wind chimes etc from reclaimed copper pipe etc.

However, as it is very shaded there is no grass there and I doubt I will convince any to grow so I am thinking about alternatives to ‘dress the floor’ to make in suitable for children to play – I was going to go for wood chip, but at £100+ for a 1 cubic metre bag (which I doubt would be enough) it is more than I wanted to be paying (the idea was to make it all from things I scavenged etc).

So – does anyone have any ideas for a cheaper/no cost alternative to the wood chips that would still be a suitable solution for a safe kids play area?

Cheers

Sand

Make your own wood chips?

(I’m not yet sure if this a sensible suggestion or not!)

Rubber chips?

Chopped up inner tubes? You could have a STW tube whip round – I bet we’ve got thousands of the buggers between us! 🙂

Chopped up inner tubes? You could have a STW tube whip round – I bet we’ve got thousands of the buggers between us!

650b tubes really make the play area come alive!

I’d suggest not using anything that might be used as a kitty or fox litter substitute …………….

^^^ Good point! Where do you live OP? Round our way there are lots of trees so during bad weather there are a few that fall and have to be cleared. Buy the council tree surgeon a pint and hope for wind?

Live in North Yorkshire (specifically Harrogate) so everything we buy attracts ‘Harrogate’ tax so I don’t think a tree surgeon would be doing anything on the cheap.

Fairy Dust/Gravel.

Glass?

I did something similar a while ago and I could have as much woodchip as I wanted from a local sawmill, gratis. They had MOUNTAINS of the stuff.

Might be worth asking around.

Just make sure the woodchip is coarse enough and doesn’t contain loads of fine dust and/or MDF dust, unless you get the kids some dustmasks too… 🙂

If you go to Bradley woods near Huddersfield you can get wood chippings for free.

It’s not ‘playgrade’ but it’s free! We got some for our kids play area, nip back every now and again when it needs a top up.

You’ll need a trailor or something though.

Dead kittens.

i’d go for pea gravel on a geotextile weed proof layer. my brother has bark its practically decomposed into compost (great for raised beds!). if you have lots of cats about buy a dog or one of these – endless ammo!!!

Artificial grass. It’s incredibly realistic and if you buy from Andrew at Beechwood Garden Centre in Blackburn, he specialises in artificial grass and will give you a cyclist’s discount because he’s a good bloke.

Bark chips? I bought some recently for £35 a bulk bag delivered.

Where from Trout? The ones I have found have been £80+ for the cheapest stuff

Rolf Harris, says he hides his dark side well.