Whether you’re building a large playground for hundreds of children in your community to enjoy or plan on constructing a smaller one for your kids and their friends, you need to make sure the final product is safe, sturdy, and fun. Fortunately, the incredibly unsafe concrete jungle gyms of your childhood are gone for good.
Here are some excellent tips that should help you with both designing and constructing a safe and successful playground:
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- Acquire all the essential playground equipment — The first step in constructing your playground is also the most fun, at least until everything is finished and ready for play. You get to pick the type of equipment you want to include. In addition to playground classics — slides, swings, monkey bars, and playhouses — you can also find creative and child-safe features. Some popular options include miniature rock walls, ball pits, tree houses, and princess castles.
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- Get your building team organized — If you’re attempting to construct a successful playground by yourself, it’s most likely not going to work out unless it’s a single slide and a small sandbox. You need help, which is why it’s important to organize a team of hardworking, skilled, and experienced playground builders.
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- Use quality wood chips for playgrounds — For just about any playground construction, a 12-inch layer of bark dust is recommended at its base. Luckily, you don’t have to handle bark blowing yourself. There are plenty of skilled bark blowers that can effectively place and spread wood chips for playgrounds to create a level base. These teams can also return throughout the year to replenish the playground surface.
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- Determine exact dimensions of your site — In order to avoid complicated zoning and legal issues, make sure you know exactly where you are allowed to construct your playground. Also, it’s important to ensure that there is sufficient electrical service onsite for the duration of the construction project.
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- Remember to focus on safety — When constructing a playground, you need to always remember that children’s safety should be your number one priority. Not only do you need to ensure that every feature of your playground is constructed properly so nothing breaks apart while children are playing on, inside, or underneath, but you also have to make sure that there are procedures in place in the event of an emergency. Kids are reckless and could get hurt at any moment on even the safest playground — make sure you have first-aid kits located nearby. Finally, when designing the layout of your playground, remember that parents and adults supervising the playground should have clear lines of sight into every area of the space.
Thankfully, playgrounds have never been safer than they are today, in large part because concrete surfaces have been replaced with kid-friendly wood chips for playgrounds. So long as you follow these steps, the worst injuries you’ll experience are scraped knees.