Our house has the worlds tiniest yard. It would be lucky to be a meter squared in size- just big enough for us to sit, but that is about it. I did have a nice little (very little) flower garden out here, but seeing how much my boy loves the sandpit, I ended up buying some more planter boxes and a big bag of sand and made a tiny series of sandpits. Actually, it is a grit and sand pit (the word "suna" 砂 is used for both sand and grit). And though it is gritty and crap, compared to aussie sandpits, it still gives hours of fun.
I bought little astroturf mats from Seria- the dollar store. They are really nice plush mats, and each is about 20cm x 20cms. I bought about 20 of the them to cover the small area and the path leading up to the door. In hindsight, I would have been better off spending the same amount of money for one BIG sheet of astroturf- which can be bought from the big hardware stores like Beaver Tozan (about 2000yen for 1m2. The problem with the lots of little mats is they get separated and let rocks underneath though.
I also bought the planters and sand from the big hardware store too. I think it was about 300yen for the large planter, and about 180yen for the long thinner ones. A giant bag of sand was about 400yen.
The sand toys are mainly bought from dollar stores. I am actually typing this as he plays (aka, makes a HUGE sandy mess). Even on cold days like today, if the sun is shining then it is still mildly pleasant out be outside. Sometimes we even put out picnic blanket out there and have an impromptu picnic.
The sand and sunshine provide some great sensory play for him (if he is really lucky he can make oceans with the hose), and gives us a much needed time out of the house.
