Ride on Toys ride on what Surface?

[ebhappydc]

Hi - I have a chunk of my backyard fenced in for the dc with swingset, jungle gym, and a few other items, and have some ride on toys. The ride ons would ride better on my long side driveway but I worry about the safety if some of the bigger kids pick up speed. Also I'm not keen on the hard surface for the little ones just learning to walk. This summer I have 5.5 yr old returning as his 2 siblings will be here. But the grass isn't that great to ride on either.

When my own kids were younger, I made a large track around our maple tree that they rode scooters, tractors and trikes around. They loved it. I skimmed off the grass and put down limestone gravel. When we moved, the pple buying our house wanted to keep the track for their 4 kids. I'd like to put another track in this back area, like an 18 to 20 ft circle, but no limestone as a top surface as I did have to wash it out of scrapes a few times. I'm thinking of putting a type of outdoor green rug (?) not sure what it's called or short artificial turf cut into strips on top of a level track. Something that's better than the grass for scooters but they can't race on.

What surface do your dc kids ride on and does it work well for you? I know I have the choice of declining care for older kids but I don't mind putting in some sort of track. Plus I had him since baby. Neighbours wouldn't be able to see the track as I'm on half acre so their houses aren't too close. I know there's that soft pavement you see at playgrounds and I'd love to get my hands on that but it's only installed by the company at extreme cost. Any ideas? Tx!