10 year old boy building castles in yard?

Question

my friend's ten year old son is taking over the yard with his gnome, fairy, etc. villages and such.

he says he is colonizing the yard.

did anyone else build things in their yard when they were a kid?

he wants some ideas or tips on building?

maybe even include pics of things you have built???

by the way, he does do other things in his spare time, this is just one of his hobbies.

Answer 1

I wish I had digital pictures to post, but this was so many years ago I only have film...

My brother and I were very much into the native Americans. so we built wigwams, tepees, fire pits, skin racks (w/o skins of course...) all in our front yard. I think I was 11-12 and my brother was 13-14. we live in the middle of the woods so it was easy to find limbs and small trees to use. we actually made the tepees 12-15' high.  we did it one summer, took it down and did it again the next summer, bigger and better the 2nd time.

we never used any ropes, nails, or screws. we made ropes from vines, and used different shaped limbs to fit together whatever we needed. and we did it all on our own while our parents were at work.

those times were great. I wish I could do it again for my sister (now 8). maybe one day I will...

Answer 2

Heck yeah I did stuff like that. I dug a hole in the yard, and filled it with mud, and played "Willy Wonka" for a week.

I built tents, and tree forts. I played in my sand box, and used cardboard boxes... Some of the things I built were sheer genius. Tell you friend to let him have at it! Imagination is such a rare thing these days.

Answer 3

Sounds cool.  I don't have any ideas but he should go into the landscaping business.  He could design and build ponds and such.

Answer 4

I did the same sort of thing. I went around the neighborhood getting HUGE numbers of big cardboard boxes and after three weeks of collecting, I had made a huge labyrinth inside (it was a giant maze with several levels, they were stacked and went up over picnic tables, etc). I was 9 and all the neighborhood kids wanted to play in it, so we charged $1 admission per kid. We made over $100 that day, and we donated it to my mother's church.

After 3 days it rained and the whole structure collapsed, but it was such a fun summer.

Answer 5

I use to build my dream home out of leaves I would rake rooms , I would make it bigger than my real house going down the hill being a basement up hill was the 3rd level and so on.tell him to make sure he has everything in the community homes, school, police station, library, hospital, fire station, wal mart, grocery stores,post office businesses, etc.  make sure you take pics in case it rains or something happens so he can still be proud and not be heart broke when its gone and maybe even can start over. too cool.

Answer 6

wow it sounds like that lad has a fertile imagination and is very creative

it sounds like he has great ways of keeping himself occupied that don't solely rely on the computer/TV 24/7

maybe find some pics on-line and print them out for him to adapt in his own style

when the weather draws in again in the autumn you could find him a supply of matchsticks where he can start to design/build more gnome buildings

there is 'no place like gnome' after all eh!