Patio facts for kids

A patio (pronounced PAH-tee-oh) is an outdoor area, usually paved, that's connected to a house. People often use patios for eating outside, relaxing, or playing games. The word "patio" comes from a Spanish word meaning "courtyard" or "yard."

In Australia, a patio can also mean a covered area, like a pergola. These covers help protect people from the sun and rain.

What Are Patios Made Of?

Patios are most often built using concrete or large stone slabs, also called paving flags. But you can find patios made from many different materials!

Common Patio Materials

• Bricks: Small, rectangular blocks that create a classic look.
• Block paving: Similar to bricks, but often interlocking for a strong surface.
• Tiles: Ceramic or stone tiles can make a patio look very decorative.
• Cobbles: Rounded stones that give a rustic feel.
• Gravel: Small stones that are easy to lay down.

Today, some patios are also made from modern materials like alumawood (a type of aluminum that looks like wood), aluminum, acrylic, and even glass.

Concrete Patio Options

When choosing concrete, you have a few choices:

• Plain concrete: A simple, flat concrete surface.
• Stamped concrete: This type of concrete is pressed with patterns to look like stone, brick, or wood. It costs more and can be slippery when wet. The colors might also fade over time.
• Aggregate concrete: This concrete has small stones exposed on the surface, giving it a unique, textured look.

Sometimes, patios are built with extra strong foundations if they will hold heavy items like hot tubs. They might also have steps leading from the house to the patio.

Patios at Restaurants

The word "patio" is also used to describe outdoor seating areas at restaurants, especially in Canada. Eating outdoors at restaurants became popular in North America in the 1940s and 1950s.

For example, the Hotel St. Moritz in New York was famous in the 1950s for having one of the first outdoor cafes. In the 1960s, the Toronto Star newspaper celebrated Toronto's first restaurant patio. Because many parts of the United States have warm, sunny weather, outdoor dining quickly grew in popularity there during the 1960s. Today, eating on a restaurant patio is a very popular experience in warmer areas.

Images for kids

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  A patio outside of a home

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  An outdoor seating area at a restaurant in State College, Pennsylvania

See also

In Spanish: Patio para niños