Your basket is currently empty!
Child-Friendly Garden Water Feature: A Small Garden Stream and Spring
For a young family, ponds or water features in a garden can pose a potential hazard. However, with careful consideration, it’s entirely feasible to incorporate a water feature into a child-friendly garden, enhancing the garden experience from a child’s perspective. Over the years, the GardenAdvice team has developed two types of child-safe water features, which not only attract wildlife but also add another dimension to your garden. Here, the GardenAdvice team demonstrates how to construct a child-friendly stream and spring water feature.
The Spring
The simplest concept, the spring, involves digging a hole in the ground, lining it with a butyl liner (an offcut may be available from your local fish and pond centre), placing a garden water feature pump inside, and then backfilling the area with 10mm clean gravel.
The water is pumped through various interchangeable fountain heads and recycles back through the gravel. The gravel acts as a filter, allowing children safe access to the fountainhead.
A garden spring feature also creates a microclimate for plants such as ferns and others that thrive in higher air moisture content. For assistance in constructing your own garden stream, sign up for our MyGardenTeam service, which guides you through every step. Click here for more details.
The Stream
Similar to the spring in construction, the stream includes a small section resembling a natural stream. Begin by digging a shallow, sloping channel in your garden and lining it with a butyl liner. By adding rocks, loose sand, and gravel, you can achieve a natural appearance for the stream. The water is pumped to the head of the stream feature from a sump, similar to the one constructed for the spring water feature at the base of the stream.
A fantastic garden feature for children, a stream allows them to engage in activities such as playing with “Poo-sticks” or racing paper boats. This feature provides immense fun for children.
Once again, a stream can create a microclimate for various plants. You can establish pockets of moist earth alongside the stream for moisture-loving plants such as Caltha and Rheum, further enhancing the interest in your garden.
Click Here to view a video of a stream under construction
