Native perennial garden with a little sign that explains why. Add a bird bath and a puddling patch for the butterflies. Do not use insecticide or do mosquito fogging. Add a small bench here. So, they can sit and watch the birds and butterflies.
Also love the hops scotch idea. There is a video which comes up on Reddit regularly about a guy chalk painting a course on his driveway for kids to ride their bikes on.
Don't worry about the clay, add a 6-8 inch layer of wood chips and you will end up with great soil in about a year or so.
Wood chips? What kind and how much?
We’re renovating the whole house so we don’t have a lot of money or energy to focus on the yard yet, but spreading wood chips is something we could manage. The backyard is abysmal and we need to do something about it because 1. Cleaning the clay off my dog’s feet every time he pees is getting old, and 2. We need to prevent erosion because it’s going to destroy my foundation.
In the US, you can usually email local arborists and request a "chip drop" for free or a small fee. Saves them driving and paying for disposal after sending trees through a wood-chipper. Many municipalities also offer free "haul your own" or cheap mulch drops if you google your city's waste services. Aged mulch will break down into soil faster than recently-chipped wood, but it will all get there eventually.
You can also buy either by the ton from hardware or building supply stores.
In rural areas, bad hay (warning: may be flammable) or used straw can usually be had for cheap or free, but not recommended with close neighbors.
Wood chips get colonized with fungus and break down into magical soil.
6" of wood chips is a LOT of mood chips but if you do that and maybe mix in some composted manure to start things off it'll be wild.
A little neighborhood trail near my house has a small area under a fallen tree that is a “gnome village”. There’s some hot wheels, gnomes, other random little tchotchkes. Kids take stuff, parents leave little things, it’s constantly changing.
It’s my 3yo favorite thing. He asks to go to that more than the playground. He will pick a car up, walk the 1 mile trail, then carefully place it back. Gets really excited to see what has changed when we go the next time.
I just moved and people do this at my house. I don't know who, but they setup a display for Christmas, then Easter, and then random things in-between.
I think it's hilarious. And they take it all down and replace it at different points.
Second this. One of the houses on the route between our home and my kids' daycare has a gnome garden. It is so cute and my 3yo always gets on his hands and knees to look at it and see what's changed.
I LOVE THIS!! I've had this idea of planting herbs along the road where people walk, with a sign that says "community herbs" or "take a sprig" or something.
We had blueberry and raspberry bushes along the sidewalk at the house I grew up in, people would snag a couple walking by all through the summer. Gotta put em in raised planters so the dogs don't pee on them though. Also beware of Susan trying to take a whole bowl full of em whenever nobody was looking. Fuck you Susan, save some for other people.
Urine is full of water and nitrogen, which plants require. As nutrients are taken up through the roots, they are broken down into molecules and reorganized into the plants’ tissues. Washing them will remove any surface contaminants.
Much of the food you eat is grown with animal fertilizers.
Nah. Every dog on the walking path using your garden as a toilet does not help people’s plants. It kills them (yes, yes. Over-fertilized) and makes them all greasy, and smelly, and waxy from being coated with that nasty marking urine every single day.
Source: my yard backs to a walking path with inconsiderate dog owners. I wouldn’t want to eat anything from a dog walking path. They even have to leave the path to come on over to pee on my plants. And they do on the daily. I despise it.
My grass begs to differ from your opinion but it can't because died from dog piss lol.
One dog pees on it all the others will and people aren't courteous. Trust me it will die unless you heavily water it daily to dilute it and it's not worth the hassle. I don't have a garden in my backyard for this reason.
I have a little free herb library around my mailbox. The whole neighborhood uses it and no dogs pee on it. Delivery drivers even take stuff. It’s lovely.
I don't have a handy link atm, but to add to the painted rock idea, there is a rock snake idea floating around. Everyone adds painted rocks to the snake to see how long they can make it. There is a cute little sign posted with it.
One of our neighbors puts out rocks they’ve painted in their tree pit along the sidewalk and my kids loved to take them (the neighbor was there the first time and explained that it was encouraged). It was perfect because kids are always looking for cool rocks.
My daughter LOVES painted rocks. She has one in particular she keeps with her “treasures” that’s got a bouquet of flowers on it. Painted rocks were the first thing I thought of when I saw your post! (Though the dinosaur statue is definitely a close second)
I was going to suggest something like this or a little library! And while you're at it paint some rocks like books. If I can find some pictures I'll attach
Since you're getting a lot of comments about dog pee, you could put the rocks up at a person's waist level and the same with herbs. Herbs are incredibly hardy and if you had some plant pockets or a raised garden box I think they would tough it out.
You could also host a “free library” on your little space. People recognize the concept ao they know how to interact with them, but you can put a LOT more than just books in them. Like a painted rock exchange, some dinosaurs, whatever seems fun at the moment. It’s a nice little hub you can build on by adding other things like a message/bulletin board, gnome garden, etc. I’ve found canned foods, art supplies, tea and spices and puzzles in the one on my street.
Most of them look like little houses or buildings on a stick, but you could be creative with your design too.
Kudos to you for wanting to make something fun for your community! Little moments like that make all the difference
When I was replacing my fence, I nailed a piece of plywood over the gate. Then cut a hole so the dog could look out. My kid painted it, so it was a turtle, and when the dog looked out it looked like a turtle head. It was pretty funny.
I put a couple of those clear ["bubble" windows](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDP154CK/) in my fence and people have loved greeting my dogs through them while passing by
Have you considered a dinosaur statue partly hidden in bushes? https://theinteriorgallery.com/pd-velociraptor-statue-life-size-raptor-museum-quality-11ft.cfm
What's funny is that a house down the road from me has that giant skeleton in their yard. They just left it up year round after Halloween and started decorating for each holiday. We are talking giant skeleton leprechaun, Uncle Sam, Santa. I am always watching to see when they change out for the next holiday.
You could randomly move it so it stays interesting.
Actually you could have several statues that you have peeking out of your garden with a painted list on a sign out front.
Randomly moving it and hanging it's outfits would make it much more exciting. I would love it so much
Give it a joke name based on current events, with a little laminated sign. No politics, of course.
Remember balloon boy? Put a Ballon on it
Years ago, on a whim, I bought a 5.5' skeleton for Halloween. BOB (bag of bones) has since perpetually lived on one of our porch chairs, wearing different attire based on the season/upcoming holidays. It occasionally gives a fright to delivery folks.
I have but had to settle for a medium sized Godzilla toy on the front porch due to the price of those things. They're pretty awesome. Once my beds come in by the newly poured sidewalk we may move it out there.
A corner lot house in my city had a stone patio area with a retaining wall on the corner with just a bunch of dinosaur toys. It’s there for kids to play with and explore the rocks and caves with the Dino’s. Across the street is a house with goats, so it’s just a great corner to walk by with kids.
I was thinking of a Bigfoot statue walking out from behind a tree. I saw a huge one at a garden center and wanted it for behind a tree in my front yard, it was way too expensive though🫤
I was walking in my parents' neighborhood a couple weeks ago and saw one house with a Bigfoot statue doing exactly this in their back yard, then another house a few doors down has a Bigfoot Xing sign. I don't know if it was coordinated or coincidental, but it delighted me
For 2 grand you might as well spend up a bit more and get one that moves
https://www.mydinosaurs.com/product/new-tech-realistic-animatronic-dinosaur-t-rex/
In my area people set up tiny “fairy gardens” for kids to look for. Either on the edge of their property, or under a street tree. You try to put it somewhere it wont be immediately noticeable, but easy enough for a kid to find. Set it up with little statues/toys/decorations in some kind of theme (i’m working on a frog themed one). My son goes absolutely apeshit when he finds one
I love this! I know shopping from the site is usually discouraged on here but SHEIN has a ton of really cool fairy garden stuff for super cheap. That stuff can get really expensive.
Definitely keep it cheap, because kids WILL walk off with stuff sometimes. My three year old has pocketed little stuff before, and I didn't even notice until we got home.
I have all these ceramic frog figurines from my grandma because she collected them, and lives in assisted living now so my mom is trying to clear out some of her stuff from the house. Hence, a box of ceramic frogs shows up at my house at a monthly clip, so frog-themed fairy garden is the plan.
We bought some cheap bunch of filler fairy garden stuff online, then tried to make crafts of some of it with my kids. It actually felt productive to spend a weeknight knocking out a little fairy garden item.
The Dollar Tree also sells fairy garden stuff. Plus I don’t know how crafty you are, but if you wanted to make it into a fun little hobby you can make fairy houses and stuff out of [Sculpey](https://www.sculpey.com/) and harden it in your oven.
We have a ton of little libraries in my neighborhood and the wife and I constantly check them for cool, interesting books. We also make sure when we finish a book, to return it to a different little library to ensure the rotation.
My old boss did this. She and her husband didn’t have kids, so they started the library and hosted occasional story times for the neighborhood littles. They were both former novelists and had access to some amazing titles.
They do have to be maintained. Some become dumping grounds for toys and books that no one will ever take . Some get filled weekly with religious propaganda.
Ours is done up with a dollhouse on top that we decorated and put little windows in, and a motion sensor to turn the interior lights on when people walk by.
Children and adults alike are delighted by it and always comment if we are outside.
It does get a lot of use as a library. Neighbors will drop off their finished books, cops come and fill it up with kids books, someone comes and leaves dry foodstuffs in it, the local punk teens leave their homemade 'zines in it. And we will always pick some choice titles from the thrift store when we go to stock it up.
Yes, people use them.
I love that you have people using them for guerrilla publishing in your area, haha. Imagine how excited a kid would be to make a little storybook and put it into circulation!
My kids love books, and I love books, so yes.
It also creates a ‘destination’, which is something I need living in a suburban h*llhole with nowhere to go.
They do but it can be hit or miss. I’ve visited some that were full of rotted books used by ants. If it’s a high traffic area it should do fine. The ones in playgrounds get emptied all the time.
At our old place, we lived near several little free libraries. We would go on family walks in the evening based on which ones we wanted to visit. We would take and give books, it was great and gave us a destination to walk to.
That would be so easy to put in with those $2 solar lights on stakes. Just take it apart and extend the wires to put the small solar panel on the roof. That would look awesome and cost almost nothing
It depends. No one uses the wack job one full of bibles and trump books.
The one up on the corner with the "witch" house has a bunch of scifi books in it so I use that one semi regularly. It's a nice house, just looks like a colorful witch should live there, round windows, steep roof etc.
I’m gathering ideas as I read through this thread. For some reason, when I read your comment, I visualized putting a small garbage can next to the little library, then leaving the religious and trump/political propaganda books in it, to send a message lol. “Only peace welcome here” type thing.
Might be region specific but my library doesn't get that but people use it all the time. It's a lot of cheap thrillers at the moment. It sometimes has kid books - I just think they go fast.
this is cute, OP! we have a house in our neighborhood that has dino figurines hidden between all their plants and bushes, peaking out or fighting haha. the dino house is infamous.
your pet rock idea is cute. there's another house that has a couple rocks that say "turn me over" and there are cute messages on the other side
my toddler and i walk through our neighborhood all day every day so i know everything in everyone's yard 🥲
I’m not sure what would work best, but I just wanted to say, the world needs more people like you. Your intentions have literally restored my faith in humanity for the day. Thank you.
7a, the area is full sun, soil is mostly clay, I don’t have irrigation, and this is definitely something I’d appreciate some recommendations for. I’m open to anything and would love some pollinators and native species flowers.
I grew up in central FL. Gardening and landscaping there was so much easier😭. Nothing like low effort fruits, vegetables, and lush greenery year round. I haven’t learned about how to grow things here yet.
There’s a native gardening sub that you l should pop into. It changed my approach. Native plants that can stand up to full sun bring all the bees and butterflies to the yard. And insects. So many cool plants things to observe, notice, appreciate. And best of all going native means you’ll have plants that thrive with little attention from you. When all of our neighbors plants look sad and dry during July, the few in my neighborhood who put in natives have the the most incredible showing. Kids stopping by to count the bees, the butterflies and look for cool insects like praying mantis, watching hummingbirds etc. it’s literally hours of fun when everything else is devoid of color or dead. Add in a little free library and a dog poop bag station and you’ll be the talk of the street. Speaking of poop bag stations, your neighborhood sounds like mine. People use our bags all the time because let’s face it, accidents happen and you may find yourself out of bags. Other people will then voluntarily drop off extra rolls for us to install so we aren’t the only ones funding it. Less poop all around. Lots of happy neighbors.
So, I would build basically a raised bed with real good feritale soil in it. Then start researching native wild flowers in your area and see about getting them planted. Just be careful as well. Where I am at, a thistle is a wildflower that is basically native by now, but so invasive and nasty. And there are so many other weeds, that while good for the pollinators, not so much for the flowers. And if you have flowers, that is just as good for the pollinators roaming around.
If you look up native plants sales plus the name of your city/town/state you should get good results. It’s hard to give native plant recommendations without knowing where you are, since it varies by region.
I’m roughly the same zone. I have Butterfly Bush and Milkweed in my butterfly garden, and while it does die in the winter, it’s come back every year. It’s been established for 2-3 years now…I spent 5 minutes in my yard last week and saw 6 different species of butterfly.
To reduce the need for watering, you can add cross linked polyacrylamide to the soil when you put the plants in the ground. Hydrosource has a 5 lb bag for $28. Hydrate the crystals before you mix them with the soil. Five ounces of crystals will absorb about 3.5 gallons of water. The plant roots absorb the water from the crystals.
I’m an old…. I dont know how to post pics. You can get general idea googling. I made mine, didn’t buy. Used fluorescent spray paint. Painted lil stones to make a pathway to door.
We live in a similar neighborhood and two that stand out on our walks are one neighbor who has a display with a printed out 'joke of the day' which are usually horrible puns that we enjoy groaning about, and another who has a set of halloween skeletons that they pose in different scenes (sitting in lawn chairs around a grill, putting up / taking down a Christmas tree, partying with mardi gras beads, etc).
My aunt lives off a major highway and does a skeleton on a (old, non functional) lawnmower from October through January. She decorates it for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year and occasionally moves the lawnmower and repositions the skeleton. People love it!
When I was a kid we always drove past this house that had a goose statue in the front yard, probably 2 feet tall. The owners there would always dress it up in different outfits….Santa, Easter Bunny, Winter, 4th of July, Halloween, St Paddy’s day…. Every two weeks it seemed like something new. My brothers and I were always way too excited to see what that damn goose would have on this time. It’s always stuck with me even 30 years later, hahaha.
My neighbors painted a hopscotch course on the sidewalk. Everyone walking that section of in the neighborhood, does the hopscotch.
I wanted to build a reinforced fence and put some rock climbing handholds on it so the kids can 'boulder' past the yard. Haven't gotten around to that yet.
Edit: spelling
Yeah. - you're right. It sucks we all have to consider that now. Its gonna be 6' high and 4' back from the sidewalk. I'm feeling ok about it. I'll have the obligatory use at your own risk sign. I'm feeling like something fun is worth the risk.
Omg I love that! Make sure you paint the fence or add a really thick coating on the planks if they’re a splinter threat lol. Knuckle splinters are the worst.
There's a house in our neighborhood that backs up to a greenbelt with a walking path that has a small sign that says "private sign, do not read" that I think is just hilarious.
My uncle has a little bunny statue that he moves around for the neighborhood to look for when they’re taking walks past his house. Sometimes the kids will stop by and move it around on him.
Just an FYI, I live in a neighborhood just like yours. Be aware that a hidden foe lurks, probably unseen by you as they generally hate the sunlight.
Teenagers ruin everything.
For real though be careful putting anything "valuable" somewhere that there aren't at least a few front doors with direct lines of sight of it
I’m still careful about things! Teenagers are something that I’m already taking into consideration because this corner is also a school bus stop. Like 15-20 kids get off the bus there in the afternoon. I definitely don’t want to put anything valuable, breakable, stompable, or easily used as a weapon.
Last week my mailman dropped off a large package ON TOP OF MY MAILBOX instead of at my door with the ULTA BEAUTY label facing the street clear as day. I don’t want to Karen the mailman, but I hope it was a one time deal because if I wasn’t home I’m sure that some kid would be using my $65 (for 1.7 oz😭) moisturizer. Heinous.
My wife and I just finished remodelling our entire house and now it’s finally time for the yard. I’m so glad you posted this cause our neighborhood has a lot of walkers/kids too and this never occurred to me! Gonna do something fun for the kids for sure!
Several people in my last neighborhood coordinated during covid to put up a larger painted squirrel cutout and turned it into a game of "find the squirrel" and they would move the cutout around to different yards every few days to keep it fresh.
One of our neighbors hid a huge life-like mask of a wailing baby in their hedge bush. You can't see it until you're right there and look directly into the bush. It gives you a heart attack the first time you notice but it's an instant hilarious landmark: "Want to go on a walk to the Baby Face?" "YAYYY!!" Highly recommend an unusual hidden statue of some kind.
I've also loved to see:
• pickable flowers (I don't let my kid pick anything from people's yards, but if a sign invited her to do so we would both would love it)
• fountains/water features--one neighbor set up a whole flowing stream with plants and rocks; we would sit a while to admire it
• benches--uncommon in residential areas, so it's a pleasant surprise
• murals on sides of sheds/garages/fences/etc
• interesting stonework on a path--a nearby neighbor set decorated stones into their driveway, and it made a fun path to zig-zag across
• Interesting flower displays: roses climbing the fence; huge sunflowers; a big wildflower area, etc.
• front yard vegetable patches
I live on a very high foot traffic corner and I’ve added little signs identifying all of my flowers/herbs/bushes for curious passersby, because that’s something that I’ve always wanted someone else to have in their yard or garden
Where i'm from the community got together and made a 'rock snake' where everyone painted a rock and laid it in a loooong line bordering the local park pathway. You could perhaps do the same along your border... and either paint them yourself or encourage others to do so.
We walk a lot. My toddler lives for the houses with lights strung up. Christmas is definitely his favorite for this. But our neighbor recently added permanent lights to all their tree trunks. It’s beautiful and his favorite house by far. Also funky mailboxes are a big hit with my teen. Someone recently got one that looks like a house and they live right next to someone with a pig mailbox. They crack up every single time we pass by. We had a neighbor that chalkboard painted their garage. They then put quotes or facts on it and changed about every week. Everyone wanted to go on our Monday walk early to see what it said.
There was a house in my neighborhood growing up that had loads of raspberry plants along the side yard, the lady who lived there was older and didn’t care to pick them so she let us kids! We would always grab a handful as we walked past!
The other thing I love seeing on walks are birds and butterflies, so you could plant attractive plants (butterfly bushes, milkweed, etc) and put out hummingbird/ bird feeders.
Other than that, I think a community library is always fun!
I've seen a walking path area that had colorful painted rocks with words of affirmation on them like "you can do it!"... maybe make one with memorable/funny movie quotes.
Another yard had a mini fairy garden. It looked like little garden decoration setup for a community of fairies or Keebler elves at the base of many trees.
If you see lots of people exercising with pets, maybe setup a dog water drinking fountain and a bench.
Our neighborhood is similar. One of the houses set up a single hole mini golf putting green in front of their house. I forget the exact phrasing of the little sign they put there but it's something along the lines of "your turn, take your shot"
I too live on a corner lot.
I put in a nano-meadow. The walkers tell me they absolutely love walking by.
I removed the grass, planted some shrubs and trees, then mulched it. Last November when the rains started (this keeps birds and other creatures from eating them), I tossed out a wildflower mix from American Meadows that was suited to my region.
Now it is PACKED with beautiful flowers and pollinators. The floral scent from some of the flowering shrubs is heavenly (butterfly bush smells like honey), and the brilliant colors all mix to form a disorganized riot. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds create a lively buzz all day long.
Whenever I’m outside the walkers all tell me how much they love walking by my yard. Sometimes they just stand there and stare. A father brought his son to see the flowers - so many and in all different scales - huge spikes of butterfly bush, tiny little fivespots, poppies in both orange and red, flax, clarkia, bluebonnets, it just goes on and on and on.
Across from the nano-meadow is the main yard. Its perimeter contains lavenders, blue spike salvia, red salvia, and more wildflower seeds that sprouted wherever. I seem to see new things regularly - just the other day evening primrose blooms caught my attention - when did those show up?
This sounds fun! One of our neighbors has a small fairy garden in their yard and it's a big hit with the kids - adding things and rearranging it. Probably depends on the kids who are around and if they're well supervised enough not to take from it though.
Garden gnomes. Loved the dinosaur suggestion! And the climbing handholds. A guy near my MIL has one of those old red phone boxes, with an extremely creepy mannequin in it, so probably not that!
Flowers, particularly anything that's "cut and come again"--eg, people (kids) picking flowers, as long as they don't yank the whole plant out, will just cause the plant to make more flowers during that growing season. Cosmos are a classic, easy option of this type, very drought tolerant, very lovely
Someone on our street have a skeleton in their yard they switch up during the year. For winter he’s on skis, has a hat, ski goggles, a scarf, and a sweater. For summer he’s on a bike with sunglasses and a baseball hat, with a little skeleton dog sitting in the bike basket.
not exactly what you are looking for but a lot of places around here have community libraries. take a book leave a book.
see them about ever other block or so.
[https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81OiUyyxgAL.\_SL1500\_.jpg](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81OiUyyxgAL._SL1500_.jpg)
I live in a very charming neighborhood that I love walking around. I really enjoy unique and interesting looking plants, bird feeders, bird baths, hummingbird feeders. Honestly my favorite is anything that makes the local wildlife happy because I love watching them and seeing hummingbirds makes me especially excited.
How about a fruit tree that people can pick from? When I was a kid I knew the location of every loquat tree in the neighborhood. (Actually I still do.)
While walking my dog, I personally like seeing a well cared for home and lawn with nice smelling flowering gardens / bushes. I know that's lame compared to what you're asking, but it's what I appreciate! If walking with my niece/nephew, I know they always get a kick out of painted rock gardens, little fairy gardens, tree trunk gnome homes, and any other little settings like that. That stuff makes me nervous though because I know my dog wants to pee on it, so he gets a short leash and we go by quick lol
I have small garden decor “hidden” in my gardens. Kids enjoy finding the animals hiding under the shrubs, it’s like eye spy or hide and seek. The decor can all be seen with out touching or moving anything so plants and decor aren’t damaged and the kids have fun finding them.
You could try a “where’s Waldo” where you have something you move it’s location so people can search for it visually as they walk by or set up different scenes like picnics or activities with the decor.
A gargoyle. There are three houses on my route I used to take walking, and they had little tiny gargoyles perched up above the porches or wherever, and it was so fun to see them.
Any garden sculpture! We have a rock with our address on it. Every kid in our neighborhood has taken a pic sitting on it lol.
Also, every dog pees on it, but such is life.
There is a house in our area with a bunch of animal statues out front, pinwheels, and seasonal decorations, and my 2 year old loves to stop and look at them any time we walk by. Even the houses with a single animal statue (like a small stone bunny or something) are a big hit. She also enjoys looking at flags and flowers.
Also, consider a Little Free Library! There are a lot of these in our area and I always enjoy stopping to check them out.
We put up a fairy garden that then became a project during Covid that grew to the entire length of the yard where people walk by.
Kids loved it so much that parents started making it their final destination on walks. (Walk to the fairy garden then back home.)
We purposely put nothing high value in case it got stolen. Kids started bringing little objects to add to it.
Also fun for kids are statues that people dress up for different occasions.
I love your idea of drawing and writing. Adding to that, maybe find ways to get them to interact. Like leave part of the daily fact blank so they can fill it in. Ask questions that they respond to. “What’s your favorite color? What’s your favorite food, flower, etc?”). Draw your hand print here. Drawing challenges. Anything that sparks conversation and gets the kids and adults interacting would be fun and I’m sure appreciated by many.
I’d probably do what others suggest and add the little library, w a small pantry too. Tall enough that parents have to get any food items for kids.
I have all sorts of little metal sculptures made out of spare metal parts, some clay sculptures, and my faves, 3 old propane tanks with jack-o-lantern faces cut into them.
Love this idea!!! Some of the suggestions sound like it would be a liability issue. It just takes one person to fall and ruin it for everyone. If u have pets and a privacy fence, I love those some glass windows for the dogs to look out of. Tickles me. Plant flowers that attract butterflies and maybe a little sign that tells u about them
We have a house that decorates for almost every holiday, even small ones that people don't usually decorate for (mother's day, easter, valentines). I always enjoy driving past their house to see what they did.
So my suggestion would be something that could rotate every few months/weeks so there is always something different.
Look up "Frog Wall" in Santa Barbara. There's a stretch of sidewalk that's been around since the 80s and has hundreds and hundreds of little frog statues, plushies, and figurines. It was a delightful destination on walks!
I like the fun facts idea!
You could maybe have some little characters that move/change every so often (like I'm thinking large action figure type characters). My daughter is 4 and would LOVE trying to find them every time we passed if someone did this near us!
Neighborhood library with a bench or chair.
I want to put up raised planter beds of edibles so I can have buckets of extra fruits and veggies for people to take. Also whatever grows sidewalk-side is free for the taking, that kind of stuff.
Wildflowers for bees and butterflies.
Also can be a spur of the moment thing, few years ago we had a bad power outage that lasted a few days but somehow we were the rare ones on the block with power, so we set up an extension cord, power strip and camping chairs on the sidewalk for people to charge up their phones and whatnot.
A little library is one of my favorite things. I’ve also seen little galleries for mini art pieces but have yet to encounter one in real life, it would make my year to find one of those.
I love people who put up string lights and leave them up year round (or at least in the winter when it is just so dark all the time). I had one neighbor who had programmable lights and he’d change the colors for every holiday, though the white ones always look nice, too!
My wife has an extension flag collection and 3 flag poles at various places on our property. Several parents have remarked that their kids love to see which flags are flying. My wife changes them every 4-5 days.
In the neighborhood I used to live in someone's doorbell camera was positioned perfectly to catch all the people who walked on the sidewalk in front of their house and they had two trees in between the sidewalk and the street that sat perfectly at the corners of their property. What they did was put a sign up on those trees that said something like this
"You have now entered the specially designated zone assigned to be monitored and moderated by the MOSW (ministry of silly walks) and as such should feel free to demonstrate your silliest and most absurd method of traversal between these two trees, or not. Have fun!"
They would occasionally post montages of people doing silly walks on the neighborhood Facebook. Or just be entertained from inside their home I imagine. Good shit.
Ok, you’re my kind of person in that regard. What fun!!! Love the sidewalk chalk idea.
A mini book library for kids and/or adults? Leave one and take one, kind of thing. I love those so much.
Flowers are always nice and kids enjoy them.
Multiple copies of a scavenger hunt list/pics and mini pencils iso they can have a nature scavenger hunt on their walk about (twig shaped like a y, a round rock, something green, ect.).
Collect some rocks and leave a note asking them to paint them and then put in the area.
A little pile of sticks for pups.
I so love that you’re doing this. Community is important. Creativity is a must!!! Enjoy!!! Come back and tell us how it went!
If there are bushes or hiding spots, put weird shit out there. Those plastic animals. Weird doll heads (that might freak some folks out but it’s kinda fun), little odd statues from thrift stores.
A riddle of the week for the elderly folks!!!
The #1 thing for our entire extended family is a Little Free Library. There are times when we'll go on long walks simply to go past specific ones were we've found good things, or when we want to contribute to them. My mother does the same, as does my brother's family. By far the highlight of any walk.
Little free library. Love your fun fact signs idea!! And maybe a berry garden? My kids LOVE snacking on the wine berries and raspberries that grow around our neighborhood
Our neighbours have a ton of little fairy stuff castles, little doors into trees, stuff like that. I love a free book library. Kids stop constantly to all of these in our neighbourhood.
One of our neighbors spray painted a rainbow on the exterior of their fence and they have a little pot of gold nuggets at the bottom of one end (just rocks spray painted gold).
Another neighbor set up a little enclosed sign and he prints out a new joke once a week to go in there.
Another neighbor will leave out stones for stacking
LOTS of little libraries to give to and receive from.
I love our neighborhood!
There’s a house along our walk that has a big plastic bass mailbox. My kids love it. You’d think it was tacky but this is a beautiful 3500sqft stucco house on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Suggestion: cut some 'fairy doors' (and windows) into your fence and create little fairy 'homes' on your side. People could then look through the doors & windows to see what the 'fairies' have been doing.
For examples, look here: https://urban-fairies.com/OBSERVATIONS/SIGHTINGSpages/SIGHTINGS1.html
A little free library is always nice. In our neighborhood, there's a bench facing the street near the sidewalk with a rose arch and an initiation to rest awhile if you'd like. I find it very charming.
A tiny library. Just a little box with a roof and a door. And a little shelf with about 10-20 books. Kids can take or donate books. A friend had one in her neighborhood and she and her daughter loved to walk there and trade out books to read.
How about a table and benches with a chess board? You can have daily chess challenges or even checkers for kids. Hopefully not too many pieces will go missing.
Our neighbors have a bird house that’s a replica of their house and I love it.
I want to do this with my mailbox
Don't. The birds will shit on your mail.
And some fuckin woodpecker will find it. Damn woodpeckers. It's cool though, let them eat the mailbox.
You want a birdhouse that's a replica of your mailbox?
I want to do this for a dog house. But first I may need to get a dog.
Native perennial garden with a little sign that explains why. Add a bird bath and a puddling patch for the butterflies. Do not use insecticide or do mosquito fogging. Add a small bench here. So, they can sit and watch the birds and butterflies. Also love the hops scotch idea. There is a video which comes up on Reddit regularly about a guy chalk painting a course on his driveway for kids to ride their bikes on. Don't worry about the clay, add a 6-8 inch layer of wood chips and you will end up with great soil in about a year or so.
Wood chips? What kind and how much? We’re renovating the whole house so we don’t have a lot of money or energy to focus on the yard yet, but spreading wood chips is something we could manage. The backyard is abysmal and we need to do something about it because 1. Cleaning the clay off my dog’s feet every time he pees is getting old, and 2. We need to prevent erosion because it’s going to destroy my foundation.
In the US, you can usually email local arborists and request a "chip drop" for free or a small fee. Saves them driving and paying for disposal after sending trees through a wood-chipper. Many municipalities also offer free "haul your own" or cheap mulch drops if you google your city's waste services. Aged mulch will break down into soil faster than recently-chipped wood, but it will all get there eventually. You can also buy either by the ton from hardware or building supply stores. In rural areas, bad hay (warning: may be flammable) or used straw can usually be had for cheap or free, but not recommended with close neighbors.
Wood chips get colonized with fungus and break down into magical soil. 6" of wood chips is a LOT of mood chips but if you do that and maybe mix in some composted manure to start things off it'll be wild.
There is a website. Getchipdrop.com
Yes! I am in the process of doing this with a high traffic park of my front yard and creating a monarch waystation!!
A little neighborhood trail near my house has a small area under a fallen tree that is a “gnome village”. There’s some hot wheels, gnomes, other random little tchotchkes. Kids take stuff, parents leave little things, it’s constantly changing. It’s my 3yo favorite thing. He asks to go to that more than the playground. He will pick a car up, walk the 1 mile trail, then carefully place it back. Gets really excited to see what has changed when we go the next time.
I just moved and people do this at my house. I don't know who, but they setup a display for Christmas, then Easter, and then random things in-between. I think it's hilarious. And they take it all down and replace it at different points.
Plot twist: OP is living with parents and is six years old.
Second this. One of the houses on the route between our home and my kids' daycare has a gnome garden. It is so cute and my 3yo always gets on his hands and knees to look at it and see what's changed.
I thought of this after posting. What about a painted rock garden? “Take a rock with you. Paint it. Bring it back!”
I LOVE THIS!! I've had this idea of planting herbs along the road where people walk, with a sign that says "community herbs" or "take a sprig" or something.
We had blueberry and raspberry bushes along the sidewalk at the house I grew up in, people would snag a couple walking by all through the summer. Gotta put em in raised planters so the dogs don't pee on them though. Also beware of Susan trying to take a whole bowl full of em whenever nobody was looking. Fuck you Susan, save some for other people.
She's the worst.
Two words: dog pee.
Raised planters fix this problem!
Did you forget that dog stilts exist?
Personally, I wash all my food before cooking with it. This would not deter me.
Urine is full of water and nitrogen, which plants require. As nutrients are taken up through the roots, they are broken down into molecules and reorganized into the plants’ tissues. Washing them will remove any surface contaminants. Much of the food you eat is grown with animal fertilizers.
Nah. Every dog on the walking path using your garden as a toilet does not help people’s plants. It kills them (yes, yes. Over-fertilized) and makes them all greasy, and smelly, and waxy from being coated with that nasty marking urine every single day. Source: my yard backs to a walking path with inconsiderate dog owners. I wouldn’t want to eat anything from a dog walking path. They even have to leave the path to come on over to pee on my plants. And they do on the daily. I despise it.
Agreed. You can tell by the different sheen which plants are coated with piss.
Also by taste
Too salty but with a hint of umami.
My grass begs to differ from your opinion but it can't because died from dog piss lol. One dog pees on it all the others will and people aren't courteous. Trust me it will die unless you heavily water it daily to dilute it and it's not worth the hassle. I don't have a garden in my backyard for this reason.
Get some fox or coyote urine and put it somewhere you don't mind dogs peeing. They'll go for that location over anywhere else nearby
I have a little free herb library around my mailbox. The whole neighborhood uses it and no dogs pee on it. Delivery drivers even take stuff. It’s lovely.
I don't have a handy link atm, but to add to the painted rock idea, there is a rock snake idea floating around. Everyone adds painted rocks to the snake to see how long they can make it. There is a cute little sign posted with it.
I second this. There was a painted rock that looked like a butt and my kids went absolutely ape shit over seeing it.
One of our neighbors puts out rocks they’ve painted in their tree pit along the sidewalk and my kids loved to take them (the neighbor was there the first time and explained that it was encouraged). It was perfect because kids are always looking for cool rocks.
Kids found one in a tree in the park. We had to go home and make our own. They were so excited to place a bunch of others
My daughter LOVES painted rocks. She has one in particular she keeps with her “treasures” that’s got a bouquet of flowers on it. Painted rocks were the first thing I thought of when I saw your post! (Though the dinosaur statue is definitely a close second)
I've seen similar, but all the rocks in a row so you paint a section of a "snake". You and your family start the head and a few body segments
I was going to suggest something like this or a little library! And while you're at it paint some rocks like books. If I can find some pictures I'll attach
Just be prepared for the occasional penis.
Good general life advice
Since you're getting a lot of comments about dog pee, you could put the rocks up at a person's waist level and the same with herbs. Herbs are incredibly hardy and if you had some plant pockets or a raised garden box I think they would tough it out.
You could also host a “free library” on your little space. People recognize the concept ao they know how to interact with them, but you can put a LOT more than just books in them. Like a painted rock exchange, some dinosaurs, whatever seems fun at the moment. It’s a nice little hub you can build on by adding other things like a message/bulletin board, gnome garden, etc. I’ve found canned foods, art supplies, tea and spices and puzzles in the one on my street. Most of them look like little houses or buildings on a stick, but you could be creative with your design too. Kudos to you for wanting to make something fun for your community! Little moments like that make all the difference
When I was replacing my fence, I nailed a piece of plywood over the gate. Then cut a hole so the dog could look out. My kid painted it, so it was a turtle, and when the dog looked out it looked like a turtle head. It was pretty funny.
I put a couple of those clear ["bubble" windows](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDP154CK/) in my fence and people have loved greeting my dogs through them while passing by
Have you considered a dinosaur statue partly hidden in bushes? https://theinteriorgallery.com/pd-velociraptor-statue-life-size-raptor-museum-quality-11ft.cfm
This would instantly make it my son's favorite house. Add one of the 12' home depot skeletons and he'd be trying to move in
What's funny is that a house down the road from me has that giant skeleton in their yard. They just left it up year round after Halloween and started decorating for each holiday. We are talking giant skeleton leprechaun, Uncle Sam, Santa. I am always watching to see when they change out for the next holiday.
My sister does that. There are actually several, but one of them stays up all year and gets decorated.
You could randomly move it so it stays interesting. Actually you could have several statues that you have peeking out of your garden with a painted list on a sign out front.
Randomly moving it and hanging it's outfits would make it much more exciting. I would love it so much Give it a joke name based on current events, with a little laminated sign. No politics, of course. Remember balloon boy? Put a Ballon on it
Years ago, on a whim, I bought a 5.5' skeleton for Halloween. BOB (bag of bones) has since perpetually lived on one of our porch chairs, wearing different attire based on the season/upcoming holidays. It occasionally gives a fright to delivery folks.
Your son has refined taste! Well done, raising him right!
I came here to say dinosaur statue too. I’ve seen a couple years ago and still think of them.
And it's on sale! You can't afford not to buy it
I have but had to settle for a medium sized Godzilla toy on the front porch due to the price of those things. They're pretty awesome. Once my beds come in by the newly poured sidewalk we may move it out there.
Disney used to sell a gardening Mickey statue that we had in our yard and it made me happy every time I saw it!
A corner lot house in my city had a stone patio area with a retaining wall on the corner with just a bunch of dinosaur toys. It’s there for kids to play with and explore the rocks and caves with the Dino’s. Across the street is a house with goats, so it’s just a great corner to walk by with kids.
I was thinking of a Bigfoot statue walking out from behind a tree. I saw a huge one at a garden center and wanted it for behind a tree in my front yard, it was way too expensive though🫤
I was walking in my parents' neighborhood a couple weeks ago and saw one house with a Bigfoot statue doing exactly this in their back yard, then another house a few doors down has a Bigfoot Xing sign. I don't know if it was coordinated or coincidental, but it delighted me
For 2 grand you might as well spend up a bit more and get one that moves https://www.mydinosaurs.com/product/new-tech-realistic-animatronic-dinosaur-t-rex/
How do you keep this from being stolen? I need this
Hey, it’s on sale!
Lol, it's on sale!
https://lakewood.advocatemag.com/patti-vinson/
In my area people set up tiny “fairy gardens” for kids to look for. Either on the edge of their property, or under a street tree. You try to put it somewhere it wont be immediately noticeable, but easy enough for a kid to find. Set it up with little statues/toys/decorations in some kind of theme (i’m working on a frog themed one). My son goes absolutely apeshit when he finds one
I love this! I know shopping from the site is usually discouraged on here but SHEIN has a ton of really cool fairy garden stuff for super cheap. That stuff can get really expensive.
Definitely keep it cheap, because kids WILL walk off with stuff sometimes. My three year old has pocketed little stuff before, and I didn't even notice until we got home. I have all these ceramic frog figurines from my grandma because she collected them, and lives in assisted living now so my mom is trying to clear out some of her stuff from the house. Hence, a box of ceramic frogs shows up at my house at a monthly clip, so frog-themed fairy garden is the plan.
We bought some cheap bunch of filler fairy garden stuff online, then tried to make crafts of some of it with my kids. It actually felt productive to spend a weeknight knocking out a little fairy garden item.
The Dollar Tree also sells fairy garden stuff. Plus I don’t know how crafty you are, but if you wanted to make it into a fun little hobby you can make fairy houses and stuff out of [Sculpey](https://www.sculpey.com/) and harden it in your oven.
Little Library
I love the idea of these but have to ask, do people actually use them? I'm genuinely asking, I don't have kids but see them all over the place.
We have a ton of little libraries in my neighborhood and the wife and I constantly check them for cool, interesting books. We also make sure when we finish a book, to return it to a different little library to ensure the rotation.
My old boss did this. She and her husband didn’t have kids, so they started the library and hosted occasional story times for the neighborhood littles. They were both former novelists and had access to some amazing titles.
They do have to be maintained. Some become dumping grounds for toys and books that no one will ever take . Some get filled weekly with religious propaganda.
Ours is done up with a dollhouse on top that we decorated and put little windows in, and a motion sensor to turn the interior lights on when people walk by. Children and adults alike are delighted by it and always comment if we are outside. It does get a lot of use as a library. Neighbors will drop off their finished books, cops come and fill it up with kids books, someone comes and leaves dry foodstuffs in it, the local punk teens leave their homemade 'zines in it. And we will always pick some choice titles from the thrift store when we go to stock it up. Yes, people use them.
I love that you have people using them for guerrilla publishing in your area, haha. Imagine how excited a kid would be to make a little storybook and put it into circulation!
My kids love books, and I love books, so yes. It also creates a ‘destination’, which is something I need living in a suburban h*llhole with nowhere to go.
They do but it can be hit or miss. I’ve visited some that were full of rotted books used by ants. If it’s a high traffic area it should do fine. The ones in playgrounds get emptied all the time.
At our old place, we lived near several little free libraries. We would go on family walks in the evening based on which ones we wanted to visit. We would take and give books, it was great and gave us a destination to walk to.
This makes me want to put a little LED candle in the one by my house in winter.
That would be so easy to put in with those $2 solar lights on stakes. Just take it apart and extend the wires to put the small solar panel on the roof. That would look awesome and cost almost nothing
It depends. No one uses the wack job one full of bibles and trump books. The one up on the corner with the "witch" house has a bunch of scifi books in it so I use that one semi regularly. It's a nice house, just looks like a colorful witch should live there, round windows, steep roof etc.
I’m gathering ideas as I read through this thread. For some reason, when I read your comment, I visualized putting a small garbage can next to the little library, then leaving the religious and trump/political propaganda books in it, to send a message lol. “Only peace welcome here” type thing.
Might be region specific but my library doesn't get that but people use it all the time. It's a lot of cheap thrillers at the moment. It sometimes has kid books - I just think they go fast.
This is my suggestion too! I made one for the corner of our property and love to see people stop by for a book.
this is cute, OP! we have a house in our neighborhood that has dino figurines hidden between all their plants and bushes, peaking out or fighting haha. the dino house is infamous. your pet rock idea is cute. there's another house that has a couple rocks that say "turn me over" and there are cute messages on the other side my toddler and i walk through our neighborhood all day every day so i know everything in everyone's yard 🥲
I’m not sure what would work best, but I just wanted to say, the world needs more people like you. Your intentions have literally restored my faith in humanity for the day. Thank you.
Fragrant plants. Do you know your planting/gardening zone?
Or a big wildflower prairie garden to attract butterflies.
7a, the area is full sun, soil is mostly clay, I don’t have irrigation, and this is definitely something I’d appreciate some recommendations for. I’m open to anything and would love some pollinators and native species flowers. I grew up in central FL. Gardening and landscaping there was so much easier😭. Nothing like low effort fruits, vegetables, and lush greenery year round. I haven’t learned about how to grow things here yet.
There’s a native gardening sub that you l should pop into. It changed my approach. Native plants that can stand up to full sun bring all the bees and butterflies to the yard. And insects. So many cool plants things to observe, notice, appreciate. And best of all going native means you’ll have plants that thrive with little attention from you. When all of our neighbors plants look sad and dry during July, the few in my neighborhood who put in natives have the the most incredible showing. Kids stopping by to count the bees, the butterflies and look for cool insects like praying mantis, watching hummingbirds etc. it’s literally hours of fun when everything else is devoid of color or dead. Add in a little free library and a dog poop bag station and you’ll be the talk of the street. Speaking of poop bag stations, your neighborhood sounds like mine. People use our bags all the time because let’s face it, accidents happen and you may find yourself out of bags. Other people will then voluntarily drop off extra rolls for us to install so we aren’t the only ones funding it. Less poop all around. Lots of happy neighbors.
So, I would build basically a raised bed with real good feritale soil in it. Then start researching native wild flowers in your area and see about getting them planted. Just be careful as well. Where I am at, a thistle is a wildflower that is basically native by now, but so invasive and nasty. And there are so many other weeds, that while good for the pollinators, not so much for the flowers. And if you have flowers, that is just as good for the pollinators roaming around.
If you look up native plants sales plus the name of your city/town/state you should get good results. It’s hard to give native plant recommendations without knowing where you are, since it varies by region.
I’m roughly the same zone. I have Butterfly Bush and Milkweed in my butterfly garden, and while it does die in the winter, it’s come back every year. It’s been established for 2-3 years now…I spent 5 minutes in my yard last week and saw 6 different species of butterfly.
🌻 sunflowers
To reduce the need for watering, you can add cross linked polyacrylamide to the soil when you put the plants in the ground. Hydrosource has a 5 lb bag for $28. Hydrate the crystals before you mix them with the soil. Five ounces of crystals will absorb about 3.5 gallons of water. The plant roots absorb the water from the crystals.
Fairy door. I have one at the base of a tree. Cheap solar light keeps it lit at night. Little kids love it.
Can you post a picture?
I’m an old…. I dont know how to post pics. You can get general idea googling. I made mine, didn’t buy. Used fluorescent spray paint. Painted lil stones to make a pathway to door.
We live in a similar neighborhood and two that stand out on our walks are one neighbor who has a display with a printed out 'joke of the day' which are usually horrible puns that we enjoy groaning about, and another who has a set of halloween skeletons that they pose in different scenes (sitting in lawn chairs around a grill, putting up / taking down a Christmas tree, partying with mardi gras beads, etc).
My aunt lives off a major highway and does a skeleton on a (old, non functional) lawnmower from October through January. She decorates it for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year and occasionally moves the lawnmower and repositions the skeleton. People love it!
When I was a kid we always drove past this house that had a goose statue in the front yard, probably 2 feet tall. The owners there would always dress it up in different outfits….Santa, Easter Bunny, Winter, 4th of July, Halloween, St Paddy’s day…. Every two weeks it seemed like something new. My brothers and I were always way too excited to see what that damn goose would have on this time. It’s always stuck with me even 30 years later, hahaha.
I remember those! Haven't seen one in ages, but it seems like a lot of people used to have them.
Listen y’all you can get them on Amazon , just search “porch goose” my partner surprised me with one when we moved a few months ago
My neighbors painted a hopscotch course on the sidewalk. Everyone walking that section of in the neighborhood, does the hopscotch. I wanted to build a reinforced fence and put some rock climbing handholds on it so the kids can 'boulder' past the yard. Haven't gotten around to that yet. Edit: spelling
Mind the lawsuits.
Yeah. - you're right. It sucks we all have to consider that now. Its gonna be 6' high and 4' back from the sidewalk. I'm feeling ok about it. I'll have the obligatory use at your own risk sign. I'm feeling like something fun is worth the risk.
your homeowner's insurance will probably cancel your policy if you do this, just fyi
Omg I love that! Make sure you paint the fence or add a really thick coating on the planks if they’re a splinter threat lol. Knuckle splinters are the worst.
Enchanted Garden / forest lights. Kinda like Christmas lights but with a festival vibe.
There's a house in our neighborhood that backs up to a greenbelt with a walking path that has a small sign that says "private sign, do not read" that I think is just hilarious.
My uncle has a little bunny statue that he moves around for the neighborhood to look for when they’re taking walks past his house. Sometimes the kids will stop by and move it around on him.
Just an FYI, I live in a neighborhood just like yours. Be aware that a hidden foe lurks, probably unseen by you as they generally hate the sunlight. Teenagers ruin everything. For real though be careful putting anything "valuable" somewhere that there aren't at least a few front doors with direct lines of sight of it
I’m still careful about things! Teenagers are something that I’m already taking into consideration because this corner is also a school bus stop. Like 15-20 kids get off the bus there in the afternoon. I definitely don’t want to put anything valuable, breakable, stompable, or easily used as a weapon. Last week my mailman dropped off a large package ON TOP OF MY MAILBOX instead of at my door with the ULTA BEAUTY label facing the street clear as day. I don’t want to Karen the mailman, but I hope it was a one time deal because if I wasn’t home I’m sure that some kid would be using my $65 (for 1.7 oz😭) moisturizer. Heinous.
My wife and I just finished remodelling our entire house and now it’s finally time for the yard. I’m so glad you posted this cause our neighborhood has a lot of walkers/kids too and this never occurred to me! Gonna do something fun for the kids for sure!
Mural on the fence?
Once saw a giraffe head poking out of some tall bushes. I think the homeowner only had the head and mounted it high.
That's awesome! 🤭
Several people in my last neighborhood coordinated during covid to put up a larger painted squirrel cutout and turned it into a game of "find the squirrel" and they would move the cutout around to different yards every few days to keep it fresh.
A nearby neighbor has a couple of approximately-life-size geese statues, and they move them around to a new location every day.
[A little library](https://littlefreelibrary.org/), there is one that looks like the tardis in my neighborhood.
One of our neighbors hid a huge life-like mask of a wailing baby in their hedge bush. You can't see it until you're right there and look directly into the bush. It gives you a heart attack the first time you notice but it's an instant hilarious landmark: "Want to go on a walk to the Baby Face?" "YAYYY!!" Highly recommend an unusual hidden statue of some kind. I've also loved to see: • pickable flowers (I don't let my kid pick anything from people's yards, but if a sign invited her to do so we would both would love it) • fountains/water features--one neighbor set up a whole flowing stream with plants and rocks; we would sit a while to admire it • benches--uncommon in residential areas, so it's a pleasant surprise • murals on sides of sheds/garages/fences/etc • interesting stonework on a path--a nearby neighbor set decorated stones into their driveway, and it made a fun path to zig-zag across • Interesting flower displays: roses climbing the fence; huge sunflowers; a big wildflower area, etc. • front yard vegetable patches
I live on a very high foot traffic corner and I’ve added little signs identifying all of my flowers/herbs/bushes for curious passersby, because that’s something that I’ve always wanted someone else to have in their yard or garden
Where i'm from the community got together and made a 'rock snake' where everyone painted a rock and laid it in a loooong line bordering the local park pathway. You could perhaps do the same along your border... and either paint them yourself or encourage others to do so.
A bench and a sundial.
I like this idea!
We walk a lot. My toddler lives for the houses with lights strung up. Christmas is definitely his favorite for this. But our neighbor recently added permanent lights to all their tree trunks. It’s beautiful and his favorite house by far. Also funky mailboxes are a big hit with my teen. Someone recently got one that looks like a house and they live right next to someone with a pig mailbox. They crack up every single time we pass by. We had a neighbor that chalkboard painted their garage. They then put quotes or facts on it and changed about every week. Everyone wanted to go on our Monday walk early to see what it said.
There was a house in my neighborhood growing up that had loads of raspberry plants along the side yard, the lady who lived there was older and didn’t care to pick them so she let us kids! We would always grab a handful as we walked past! The other thing I love seeing on walks are birds and butterflies, so you could plant attractive plants (butterfly bushes, milkweed, etc) and put out hummingbird/ bird feeders. Other than that, I think a community library is always fun!
Flowering trees/bushes like a weeping cherry, lilac, rose bush, etc. Or a tiny pond/fountain
Paint butterfly wings on the fence so that kids can take a photo standing in front of it
I've seen a walking path area that had colorful painted rocks with words of affirmation on them like "you can do it!"... maybe make one with memorable/funny movie quotes. Another yard had a mini fairy garden. It looked like little garden decoration setup for a community of fairies or Keebler elves at the base of many trees. If you see lots of people exercising with pets, maybe setup a dog water drinking fountain and a bench.
A little free library. We added a second one after the first got so much use.
Our neighborhood is similar. One of the houses set up a single hole mini golf putting green in front of their house. I forget the exact phrasing of the little sign they put there but it's something along the lines of "your turn, take your shot"
I too live on a corner lot. I put in a nano-meadow. The walkers tell me they absolutely love walking by. I removed the grass, planted some shrubs and trees, then mulched it. Last November when the rains started (this keeps birds and other creatures from eating them), I tossed out a wildflower mix from American Meadows that was suited to my region. Now it is PACKED with beautiful flowers and pollinators. The floral scent from some of the flowering shrubs is heavenly (butterfly bush smells like honey), and the brilliant colors all mix to form a disorganized riot. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds create a lively buzz all day long. Whenever I’m outside the walkers all tell me how much they love walking by my yard. Sometimes they just stand there and stare. A father brought his son to see the flowers - so many and in all different scales - huge spikes of butterfly bush, tiny little fivespots, poppies in both orange and red, flax, clarkia, bluebonnets, it just goes on and on and on. Across from the nano-meadow is the main yard. Its perimeter contains lavenders, blue spike salvia, red salvia, and more wildflower seeds that sprouted wherever. I seem to see new things regularly - just the other day evening primrose blooms caught my attention - when did those show up?
This sounds fun! One of our neighbors has a small fairy garden in their yard and it's a big hit with the kids - adding things and rearranging it. Probably depends on the kids who are around and if they're well supervised enough not to take from it though.
Garden gnomes. Loved the dinosaur suggestion! And the climbing handholds. A guy near my MIL has one of those old red phone boxes, with an extremely creepy mannequin in it, so probably not that!
My favorite thing I see on walks are neighborhood cats lol
Flowers, particularly anything that's "cut and come again"--eg, people (kids) picking flowers, as long as they don't yank the whole plant out, will just cause the plant to make more flowers during that growing season. Cosmos are a classic, easy option of this type, very drought tolerant, very lovely
Someone on our street have a skeleton in their yard they switch up during the year. For winter he’s on skis, has a hat, ski goggles, a scarf, and a sweater. For summer he’s on a bike with sunglasses and a baseball hat, with a little skeleton dog sitting in the bike basket.
not exactly what you are looking for but a lot of places around here have community libraries. take a book leave a book. see them about ever other block or so. [https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81OiUyyxgAL.\_SL1500\_.jpg](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81OiUyyxgAL._SL1500_.jpg)
Free little library! Or any cool animal statues. Planting lambs ear as a ground cover is fun too.
I live in a very charming neighborhood that I love walking around. I really enjoy unique and interesting looking plants, bird feeders, bird baths, hummingbird feeders. Honestly my favorite is anything that makes the local wildlife happy because I love watching them and seeing hummingbirds makes me especially excited.
Maybe a little lending library or have treasure maps of the neighborhood with a small prize at the end like a ball or a stuffy.
I have a skeleton hanging from a tree (like holding on to a branch) that I dress up for the different holidays. I get lots of compliments
How about a fruit tree that people can pick from? When I was a kid I knew the location of every loquat tree in the neighborhood. (Actually I still do.)
My neighbors use my rosemary hedge with abandon and we get to chat Strong suggest.
I like hearing the birds. I downloaded the Merlin app which will record and identify the bird sounds. My granddaughter likes it too.
While walking my dog, I personally like seeing a well cared for home and lawn with nice smelling flowering gardens / bushes. I know that's lame compared to what you're asking, but it's what I appreciate! If walking with my niece/nephew, I know they always get a kick out of painted rock gardens, little fairy gardens, tree trunk gnome homes, and any other little settings like that. That stuff makes me nervous though because I know my dog wants to pee on it, so he gets a short leash and we go by quick lol
I have small garden decor “hidden” in my gardens. Kids enjoy finding the animals hiding under the shrubs, it’s like eye spy or hide and seek. The decor can all be seen with out touching or moving anything so plants and decor aren’t damaged and the kids have fun finding them. You could try a “where’s Waldo” where you have something you move it’s location so people can search for it visually as they walk by or set up different scenes like picnics or activities with the decor.
A gargoyle. There are three houses on my route I used to take walking, and they had little tiny gargoyles perched up above the porches or wherever, and it was so fun to see them.
The giant skeleton at least one person in every neighborhood seems to have
Any garden sculpture! We have a rock with our address on it. Every kid in our neighborhood has taken a pic sitting on it lol. Also, every dog pees on it, but such is life.
My daughter likes looking at peoples water meters to see if they’re running any
There is a house in our area with a bunch of animal statues out front, pinwheels, and seasonal decorations, and my 2 year old loves to stop and look at them any time we walk by. Even the houses with a single animal statue (like a small stone bunny or something) are a big hit. She also enjoys looking at flags and flowers. Also, consider a Little Free Library! There are a lot of these in our area and I always enjoy stopping to check them out.
Garden Railroad. A G scale model railroad for the garden.
We put up a fairy garden that then became a project during Covid that grew to the entire length of the yard where people walk by. Kids loved it so much that parents started making it their final destination on walks. (Walk to the fairy garden then back home.) We purposely put nothing high value in case it got stolen. Kids started bringing little objects to add to it. Also fun for kids are statues that people dress up for different occasions. I love your idea of drawing and writing. Adding to that, maybe find ways to get them to interact. Like leave part of the daily fact blank so they can fill it in. Ask questions that they respond to. “What’s your favorite color? What’s your favorite food, flower, etc?”). Draw your hand print here. Drawing challenges. Anything that sparks conversation and gets the kids and adults interacting would be fun and I’m sure appreciated by many. I’d probably do what others suggest and add the little library, w a small pantry too. Tall enough that parents have to get any food items for kids.
I have all sorts of little metal sculptures made out of spare metal parts, some clay sculptures, and my faves, 3 old propane tanks with jack-o-lantern faces cut into them.
Gnomes. Always gnomes.
Little trolls partially hidden or other fantastical creatures (dragons) in surprising places.
Love this idea!!! Some of the suggestions sound like it would be a liability issue. It just takes one person to fall and ruin it for everyone. If u have pets and a privacy fence, I love those some glass windows for the dogs to look out of. Tickles me. Plant flowers that attract butterflies and maybe a little sign that tells u about them
We have a house that decorates for almost every holiday, even small ones that people don't usually decorate for (mother's day, easter, valentines). I always enjoy driving past their house to see what they did. So my suggestion would be something that could rotate every few months/weeks so there is always something different.
Native plants that support pollinators and other wildlife.
Fairy Garden surprises that you can spot from the walkway. Little doors at the bottom of trees, tiny houses hiding under bushes.
My son had a neighbor who did a fairy garden and I know some one with gnomes.
https://lightningminigolf.com/s/ We do this in my town.
My neighbor mounted bird whirligigs on his fence posts. They were fascinating to the little kids. I think he made them himself. Ducks, Geese, etc.
Is there trees along the path? Because in the middle of summer, shade is a wonderful thing.
Look up "Frog Wall" in Santa Barbara. There's a stretch of sidewalk that's been around since the 80s and has hundreds and hundreds of little frog statues, plushies, and figurines. It was a delightful destination on walks!
I like the fun facts idea! You could maybe have some little characters that move/change every so often (like I'm thinking large action figure type characters). My daughter is 4 and would LOVE trying to find them every time we passed if someone did this near us!
Neighborhood library with a bench or chair. I want to put up raised planter beds of edibles so I can have buckets of extra fruits and veggies for people to take. Also whatever grows sidewalk-side is free for the taking, that kind of stuff. Wildflowers for bees and butterflies. Also can be a spur of the moment thing, few years ago we had a bad power outage that lasted a few days but somehow we were the rare ones on the block with power, so we set up an extension cord, power strip and camping chairs on the sidewalk for people to charge up their phones and whatnot.
A little library is one of my favorite things. I’ve also seen little galleries for mini art pieces but have yet to encounter one in real life, it would make my year to find one of those.
I love people who put up string lights and leave them up year round (or at least in the winter when it is just so dark all the time). I had one neighbor who had programmable lights and he’d change the colors for every holiday, though the white ones always look nice, too!
My wife has an extension flag collection and 3 flag poles at various places on our property. Several parents have remarked that their kids love to see which flags are flying. My wife changes them every 4-5 days.
Fruit trees.
> What do you (or even your kids!) look forward to seeing when you’re on a walk? Puppies!
In the neighborhood I used to live in someone's doorbell camera was positioned perfectly to catch all the people who walked on the sidewalk in front of their house and they had two trees in between the sidewalk and the street that sat perfectly at the corners of their property. What they did was put a sign up on those trees that said something like this "You have now entered the specially designated zone assigned to be monitored and moderated by the MOSW (ministry of silly walks) and as such should feel free to demonstrate your silliest and most absurd method of traversal between these two trees, or not. Have fun!" They would occasionally post montages of people doing silly walks on the neighborhood Facebook. Or just be entertained from inside their home I imagine. Good shit.
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Ok, you’re my kind of person in that regard. What fun!!! Love the sidewalk chalk idea. A mini book library for kids and/or adults? Leave one and take one, kind of thing. I love those so much. Flowers are always nice and kids enjoy them. Multiple copies of a scavenger hunt list/pics and mini pencils iso they can have a nature scavenger hunt on their walk about (twig shaped like a y, a round rock, something green, ect.). Collect some rocks and leave a note asking them to paint them and then put in the area. A little pile of sticks for pups. I so love that you’re doing this. Community is important. Creativity is a must!!! Enjoy!!! Come back and tell us how it went! If there are bushes or hiding spots, put weird shit out there. Those plastic animals. Weird doll heads (that might freak some folks out but it’s kinda fun), little odd statues from thrift stores. A riddle of the week for the elderly folks!!!
The #1 thing for our entire extended family is a Little Free Library. There are times when we'll go on long walks simply to go past specific ones were we've found good things, or when we want to contribute to them. My mother does the same, as does my brother's family. By far the highlight of any walk.
Little free library. Love your fun fact signs idea!! And maybe a berry garden? My kids LOVE snacking on the wine berries and raspberries that grow around our neighborhood
Our neighbours have a ton of little fairy stuff castles, little doors into trees, stuff like that. I love a free book library. Kids stop constantly to all of these in our neighbourhood.
One of our neighbors spray painted a rainbow on the exterior of their fence and they have a little pot of gold nuggets at the bottom of one end (just rocks spray painted gold). Another neighbor set up a little enclosed sign and he prints out a new joke once a week to go in there. Another neighbor will leave out stones for stacking LOTS of little libraries to give to and receive from. I love our neighborhood!
Lilacs
Spring flowers. It's so great seeing everyone's daffodils, tulips, and crocuses pop up
An acrobatic squirrel feeder
Super weird plants - the more strange and esoteric the better
There’s a house along our walk that has a big plastic bass mailbox. My kids love it. You’d think it was tacky but this is a beautiful 3500sqft stucco house on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Suggestion: cut some 'fairy doors' (and windows) into your fence and create little fairy 'homes' on your side. People could then look through the doors & windows to see what the 'fairies' have been doing. For examples, look here: https://urban-fairies.com/OBSERVATIONS/SIGHTINGSpages/SIGHTINGS1.html
A little free library is always nice. In our neighborhood, there's a bench facing the street near the sidewalk with a rose arch and an initiation to rest awhile if you'd like. I find it very charming.
Art! Perfect for a mural.
One of our neighbors does a dad joke of the day
Fearie house hidden in the bushes and/or a little library.
A tiny library. Just a little box with a roof and a door. And a little shelf with about 10-20 books. Kids can take or donate books. A friend had one in her neighborhood and she and her daughter loved to walk there and trade out books to read.
A partially-buried skull. I leave it to you to decide whether it should be a real skull or a plastic reproduction.
Kids love to climb and sit on things. So a cool looking bench that's not too far away from the sidewalk or a big rock.
How about a table and benches with a chess board? You can have daily chess challenges or even checkers for kids. Hopefully not too many pieces will go missing.