Children's garden playroom: Children need sheds too

Back in the day we used to run a regularly irregular slot called Children Need Sheds Too. We felt it was time to bring it back and so here is a fine example, a 5m x 4m composite-clad garden playroom designed and built by Cosy Garden Rooms for Amy and Garreth in Manchester. Or to be more exact, for their two children (though they have squeezed in a sauna for use by the grown-ups).

"We have two children and live in a three-storey townhouse," said Amy. "so there's not enough downstairs living space. We needed somewhere for the children to play and store all their toys. We didn’t want them taking over the house, but we also didn’t want them to feel like they couldn’t play and arrange their toys as they wanted.

"It works perfectly for our family as a playroom. The house is tidy, we don’t have to worry about toys being everywhere. My son Harry puts his trophies and artwork in the room, basically anything he wants to show off, he proudly displays in here, it’s his room."

The plan is that the room will adjust to the family’s needs, transforming from a playroom to perhaps a teenage den, a study space, or a gym as their children grow.

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Children Need Sheds Too - Truitt Foug Architects

Today we start a new regular slot on Shedworking, Children Need Sheds Too (this obviously has nothing to do with recent events...). First off this is this marvellous playhouse from Truitt Foug Architects spotted by one of our official Shedworking Scouts Bill Kratz.

Five reasons why children need sheds

Shedworking is a great believer in the maxim that 'children need sheds'. Here are our five key reasons why your child should shed up:

1. It's a place to play – Playhouses are a great way to keep children entertained, giving them responsibility and a place to call their own


2. It's a place to sleep – Children love to camp out and have sleepovers, so why go through the trouble of setting up a tent when they can have a sleepover in their shed? A decent design is a great place to sleep and you can install heaters and lights.

3. It's a place to store stuff – Sheds are a great place to store not only toys but also their first tools and gardening materials

4. It's a place to host parties – Whether you’re inviting the whole family over or simply a few of their friends, the children are going to need a place to play. A child's shed is a great way to give them this, a safe and enjoyable playing environment as well as a place to sit down and eat.

5. It's a place to shelter – When the wintery months get too much and the garden becomes a cold and sometimes unwelcoming environment,  a child's shed can be a great place to find shelter in a warm and cosy atmosphere.

Any other suggestions?
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Children Need Sheds Too - Flights of Fantasy

Norfolk-basedFlights of Fantasy is a family company owned by Russell Bowlby which builds very attractive sheds for children. They had a great Chelsea last year (pictured above is an example from their awardwinning display) and will be back in 2008 (arguably with the best shedlike structure in the whole show) with "a whimsical, moated Tudor creation complete with half-timbering, stucco detailing and a thatched roof that is certain to captivate and fuel the imagination of adults and children alike" plus authentic 16th centuring planting and landscaping. They will be working with the NHS Wirral University Teaching Hospital’s children’s charity, the Jellybean Kids’ Appeal for the show.

Children Need Sheds Too - Wrights Sheds

Essex-based Wrights Sheds make a range of shedlike structures (summerhouses, sheds, cabins, gazebos) as well as some nice traditional playhouses. As well as private clients, they have also supplied a number of schools including Pilgrims Hatch Infants, Grove Primary School, Rayleigh Primary School and Thundersley Infant School. I particularly like the Sheriff's Office model pictured above but also their Tudor gazebo, a six sided summerhouse, below.

The Garden Escape 4 Schools

We regularly argue on Shedworking that children need sheds too and one of the companies which wholeheartedly agrees is The Garden Escape 4 Schools. A sister brand to The Garden Escape which specialises in garden offices, the 4 Schools arm of the company builds bespoke mobile school buildings out of wood and glass for a range of uses such as outdoor classrooms, IT suites, kitchens, staff rooms, and so on. There are also various eco-friendly elements too such as the PV Solar power option whereby one small panel on the new school building can generate its own electricity. Matt Gill from Garden Escape says:

An ever-growing number of schools and educational establishments are now discovering the real advantages of the 'outside' mobile classroom. It has been proven that attractive, accessible and inclusive design of school buildings is beneficial for students of all ages and academic skill. This is especially true for children and young people with SEN and other disabilities where the school environment can have a decisive impact on their learning ability.

The web site is excellently put together with a mass of information on everything from the basics of the build to funding possibilities.

Pictured top is The Garden Escape 4 Schools's woodland cabin for Spinnens Acre Junior School in Kent, officially unveiled by Chris Packham, and situated right at the foot of their local woods. It certainly doesn't look like most people's idea of a portable classroom building and also features a kitchen, disable lavatories and AV facility. Also pictured is an attractive design for a school in Whitchurch.
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Children Need Sheds Too - Fairytale Cottages

Brighton-based Fairytale Cottages has a very wide range of children's sheds and playhouses. Pictured is the rather splendid fort, width: 6.5', depth: 6.5', height: 7.5' (2.28m),with external and internal wall mounted steps onto upper platform, three arched doorways, internal hanging bars, flagpole and arrow slit windows. They even have some three-storey models plus games, signs and other fun stuff. Well worth a browse.

Children need sheds too - Träd

We've been a bit remiss in looking at shedlike atmospheres for children this year, but this one is lovely. It's called Träd and comes from designers Josue Gamonal and Vicente Porres who won the Third María Martínez Otero Industrially-Produced Designer Furniture Award for the design. Here's what the judges panel said:

"Trad is a shelter, a personal space where children carry out their fantasies and games. A place that allows them to feel safe, to learn and to imagine. That enchanted wood where one can dream of heroes and princesses, witches and dragons... and live a thousand and one adventures. The tree, as an icon for wisdom, shelter and playground, symbol of life and growth. Approach to an increasingly absent nature, as a comeback to traditional games, towards imagination development, with no artifices, as a basis for the growth of the child's personal world."

Via Yanko Design

Children Need Sheds Too - Rainmac

Rainmac is run by wife and husband team Raie Macdonnell and Colin who build child-friendly shepherds' hut-like playhouses for children (although they also recognise the potential for small office use). Each measures 10’ by 5’ by 8’ high, is built of marine plywood and pine, has a roof light and two opening windows (with curtains and pelments) plus a seat/small pullout bed.They are particularly proud of Colin's handmade cartwheels. As they say:

"It has taken us three years to iron out the wrinkles and solve problems we didn't know we had at the beginning of our venture. Not least of these was our cartwheels for which we sourced an American book to enable us to set up jigs allowing all the individual parts of the cartwheel to be perfectly cut for precise construction. Once banded with steel rims and hub ferrules the wheels are painted a bright livery of colours."

Although the playhouses don't have a turning axle, the cartwheels are fully functional for mobility. Look out soon for a beachhouse model coming out soon.

Children Need Sheds Too - The Playhouse Company

The Playhouse Company has a wide range of shedlike atmsopheres for children. Pictured left for example is a play castle with two towers, a storage shed on the right hand side and a play castle on the left hand side.And of course there are more traditional designs such as the Teddy Bear's Cottage, left, a white cottage style playhouse with wooden cedar shingles on the roof, a scalloped ridge board and scalloped facia boards.

Children need sheds too - Spindle Cottage

Spindle Cottage is a rather lovely self catering Holiday Cottage on the Mendip Hills which also opens as part of the National Gardens Scheme charity. It also features three spectacular children's playsheds as they explain:

First is Ruth’s Cottage, gothic in style with a tiny cast iron stove, wooden table, chairs and a dresser. Tom’s Lodge is an Elizabethan thatch cottage, with a tiny stair case to the upper room. Lastly you will find Charlotte’s Post Office, a Victorian shop. Filled with fruit and vegetables, cakes and tins, a little cash till and a post box.

Via Malvernmeet on Twitter


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Treeless treehouse

As we all know, children need sheds too. Here's a lovely example in spruce plywood, The Tree House, designed by Robert Potokar and Janez Brežnik, a wooden playhouse on stilts which doesn't need any trees to help it stand.
Via archdaily
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Children need sheds too - Jungle Cruise playhouse

Built by 'madhatter' and featured at Instructables, this is a "Jungle Cruise" Playhouse built over four months and modelled on the Jungle Cruise building in Disneyland. Construction details at the site.
Thanks to Chris Routledge

Early years school shedworking

As we frequently say on Shedworking, children need sheds too. Here's a lovely example from Rotunda Roundhouses, a 6.5m Rotunda with sedum roof that will be used at an early years school. Already christened 'Saplings', it took just seven days to get into place and Rotunda used social media to chart the build (we've put them in reverse order).

Another #Roundhouse complete! This one, "Saplings" is 6.5m diameter building with Anthracite grey windows & door and oak flooring. Lush! 😍 pic.twitter.com/NCmh2kuFA4

— Rotunda Roundhouses (@RotundaRH) September 15, 2017

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Children need sheds too: Simpson Design Group Architects

Some lovely designs from Simpson Design Group Architects
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Children need sheds too - qb playhouse

It's not just adults who like the idea of hobbit-like shedlike atmospheres: qb playhouses have a definite Bagginsish feel to them and are available in sustainable wood in a wide range of patterns and colours.
Via Springwise

Children need sheds too - Woodmanor Play Houses

I'm so flabbergasted by Woodmanor Play Houses that I'm lost for words. Above is The Queen Anne model which has a vaulted hall, fireplace, deck, bay window and optional firepoles, climbing walls and slides. I urge you to go and take a look.

Children need sheds too: Mad Dash Annex Log Cabin Playhouse

A marvellous design from Garden Buildings Direct. It's impressively roomy with an upstairs bunk area, two large downstairs rooms, stable door, and nice window boxes.
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Children need sheds too - Villa Julia

The Villa Julia by Javier Mariscal and Magis is a cardboard playhouse which comes with stickers so the young shedworkers of the future can bespoke their green prefab in glorious black and white.
Via Dezeen

Children Need Sheds Too - Ruby's Playhouse

Our occasional slot looking at childish shedlike atmospheres returns for a focus on Ruby's Playhouse which is featured at Cookie. Built by production designer James Chinlund (husband of child cookery expert Clare Crespo) for his three-year-old daughter Ruby, it has two storeys, measures 12ft x 6ft and took a month to build using recycled timber and windows as well as cedar fencing.Via ohdeedoh with thanks to regular Shedworking reader Alan Bucknam for the alert

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