Build Your Kids a Home Playground
If you’re thinking of building your children a playground, there are quite a few things to take into consideration. You should always have a plan, that will start and end with safety, as this is a major factor in any playground, then you need to think about the equipment, different age ranges, sturdiness and even cost. The surface of the playground is just as important as the equipment and the location of the play area, for example can you see it from the house? These are only a few things to plan for and I’m sure you can think of a lot more.
Lets take a look at the surfacing of the playground. You should never have concrete, tarmac or just grass, these types of surfaces are way too hard and can cause serious injury. The types of thing you want to be looking for are rubber mulch, regular mulch, sands, fine gravel, poured in place and other rubber compositions. You can see there is a lot of rubber surfacing mentioned, as this is probably the safest, in my point of view. Personally I don’t even trust the wooden mulches, and they will need replacing more often.
The size of the playground that needs to be covered is up to you, whether you want one big area or separately surfaced areas for each piece of equipment. What ever you decide on it is good to have at least six feet extra, around the equipment, also the depth of surfacing, especially with loose fill materials, should be at least 12”.
The equipment you buy should be of a good standard and quality, this may be expensive, but this is for your children. Make sure that it is fitted firmly in place and does not have any odd bits protruding, you may wish to cover the bolts (if any), on the ground with a sturdy rubber compound.
There are so many things to work out, for your kid’s playground to be good and safe, that it is worth spending a lot of time on it and even getting help to build the playground and the only cost you should really think about, is the cost to your children if you don’t build their playground properly.
