i pondered this 12 years ago ...

the trees are finally making shade.. and the teenagers wont turn off the computers and go outside ...

there will be no instant gratification in this project ....

as to compaction.. do you mean from the kids..??? .. irrelevant ...

and how do you play ball with trees in the way ... i solved that by having different areas for different functions.. and having 5 acres helped that ...

and over the sand pit.. i built a shade structure ...

can you favor us with a pic of the area ...

i dont like elms... and i usually favor oak ... its personal ... lol ...

ken

Hmm. I can get a pic later.

As far as compaction, considering even areas in my old yard where I kept my DOG seemed to get barren, I imagined it was due to him running around patting down the soil.

Granted, he was also peeing and pooping on it, digging, and God knows what else.

I get nervous about oak since they're always the first trees to die when well-intentioned homebuyers and not-so-well-intentioned homebuilders build on wooded lots and try to "preserve the trees"...

Usually, the oaks are the first to go from the months of construction equipment digging, cutting, and driving over their previously undisturbed rootzone.

I would counter that the oaks are left to "maybe make it" after all the maples and sycamores around here are cleared because either no one cares for them or they just would not survive.

Elms make me think Dutch elm disease. If you are an exoert or some tree company offers a warranty against dutch elm death for their resistant cultivar I say go for it. Elms look great in the pics I see.

Metasequoia and silver maple hybrids are fast... You can limb up the metasequoia to get a more polite trunk and play room. Still takes a decade to get a thirty plus foot tree...

My kid is two. I have not thought of this yet..... My kid loves my neighbor's weeping willow.....

Neighbor's tulip tree...lirondren(sp) whatever it is in latin, that is growing fast. Flowers, decent fall color. Good structure for tire swings a generation from now. Gets huge though.

As a joke, my juglans nigra black walnuts entertain my kid who picks up the walnuts and throws them at things. Oh lord, the thought of trying to play football with all them walnuts on the ground. Ouch! Twisted ankle heaven! DO NOT plant black walnuts lol.

i have more time now

if you want something for the kids.. that the kids can play under.. build something like at the pic below.. or a 4 by 4 tree house ...

nothing you plant now.. will be worthwhile before they leave for college ...

when we talk of compaction .. we are talking bulldozer.. etc.. not you , the dog.. or the kids ... most trees put there roots in the first foot of soil ... not where a person can crunch the first 1/4 inch ...

ken

{{gwi:250981}}

While I'm not a fan of 'em, my kids, at ages 4 & 2, loved the young weeping willow in the backyard of the house we lived in for one year in a residential neighborhood.

Back out here in the country, mulberry is a top contender - fast growth, making for good shade - and if you're not anal-retentive - good habit for kids climbing and tasty berries, to boot!
Weeping mulberry(fruiting type!) grafted high on a standard, can make a pretty neat place for kids to play underneath.

Long term, though, I'd opt for an oak.

Catalpa might be a consideration. They are fairly fast growing and usually good trees to climb on.