How to Create a Summer Sunflower Outdoor Playhouse

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By Lori Soard
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A summer sunflower outdoor playhouse garden offers hours of inexpensive fun.

Summer time is almost here and keeping kids entertained can be a challenge, but with a summer sunflower outdoor playhouse you can provide your kids with hours of entertainment for very little cost. As an added bonus, the sunflower seeds can be harvested for a healthy treat. Children's playhouses can be very expensive to purchase, but this affordable alternative is easy and fun. Also, there is no need to get rid of a bulky playhouse when your children outgrow it. With a sunflower playhouse, you simply rework the soil and plant grass seed to get rid of the playhouse.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Sunflower seeds
Morning glory seeds (optional)
Twine

Step 1

Choose the location for your summer sunflower outdoor playhouse garden. If your yard is large, you may want to choose a location close to the house, so you can easily keep an eye on your children as they play. The spot you choose needs to gather plenty of sunshine in order for the sunflowers to grow.
Step 2

Till or dig an row that is shaped like a rectangle with one end left undug. Leave the grass intact on the inside of the rectangle and the one side undug to serve as the door.
Step 3

Plant sunflower seeds. You will need either the giant or intermediate variety. Try to stay away from the miniatures as they may not grow big enough to make a playhouse garden. For the giants, sow the seeds into the soil about three feet apart. For the regular sizes (intermediate), plant the seeds about two feet apart. While you should start your garden two or three weeks before the last frost estimate for your area, if you did not yet start your playhouse garden and are past that date, you can get pre-potted plants or the garden will simply spring up closer to the end of summer. Most sunflowers take 70 to 80 days to mature.
Step 4

Plant morning glories between the sunflowers. Between each sunflower seed, plant a few morning glory seeds. As the morning glories grow, wind the vines around the sunflower stems.
Step 5

When the sunflowers are tall enough, use the twine and tie the two sides and back of the rectangle together. Tie the twine loosely to avoid damaging the plants. The sunflowers should bend only slightly toward the center of the floor of playhouse if at all. The end result should be a web of twine between the stalks of the sunflowers, similar in appearance to a spider web.
Step 6

Continue to weave the morning glories as they grow. Once they reach the top of the stems of the sunflowers, wind the morning glories onto and through the twine web at the top of the playhouse. This will create a morning glory "roof" for the playhouse.
Step 7

Let your kids enjoy their summer playhouse of morning glories and sunflowers. This is a memory they will likely take with them into adulthood and share with their own children one day.