Most kids dream of having a backyard playground at home. The high costs of playground equipment often make this dream impossible to fulfill for many parents. However, an eco-friendly playground for children can be built easily without spending a dime using recycled and reclaimed materials. Old tires, unused sheets, broken twigs, empty wooden boxes – all these discarded materials can be turned into fun and exciting equipment for a backyard playground for children.

Scout your house and neighborhood for possible playground materials. Visit your attic, basement and garage and look for unused sheets, wooden boxes, old pillows, and poles. Your attic will most likely be a haven for a number of possible playground materials. Check your garage for old tires, pieces of wood, some rope, and so on. Your neighbors may have items they need to get rid of that you can score for your playground.

Make a sandbox. Take an old wooden box or a reclaimed tractor tire big enough to contain your child comfortably. Fill it with sand from your yard or from a store. Add a few toys, and you now have an instant sandbox. Just make sure you thoroughly checked the sand and cleaned it of bugs and insects.

Build a camp in the yard. You can use sheets to make a camp in one corner and make it look like a tepee. Bury a pole into the ground, put the sheets on top and your kids can now have a tent in the yard. Put old pillows around the tent to make it look like a real military camp.

Use an old tire to make a swing. Take a strong rope, secure it around your tire and secure the other end to a stable tree branch