If you’re planning on designing and building a brand new playground for your community, there are so many aspects that you need to keep in mind. From the activities involved to where the parents are going to sit, make sure you are remembering all these elements during the designing process:
- Determine the exact size of the recreation space — Make sure that you get exact measurements of every part of the play area. Along with knowing the physical size of the playground space, it’s important to figure out the maximum number of children that can play in this space at one time. Without adhering to child capacity rules, your playground space could become overcrowded and even dangerous.
- Know the age groups that will use the playground — If this playground is for toddlers, it’s going to be a lot different than a traditional high school playground. You can certainly build one that is for all ages, but you have to think about age groups beforehand. Don’t make the mistake of placing your playground material down yourself — Ensure you use cedar playground chips when developing a playground.
- Work with professionals –We recommend a 1″ depth per each foot of fall height. If a child can fall 8′, there needs to be at least an 8″ depth of cedar chips installed.
- Brainstorm what types of activities will take place — Is this playground going to be fitness-based? Are there going to be climbing areas or will it be mostly slides? These are the kinds of questions you need to find answers to well before you start actually building your new playground. There are plenty of different kinds of play including social, reflective, imaginative, sensory, active, and more — it’s your responsibility to determine which of these play styles (or all) will be highlighted at your new playground.
Good luck with creating your new fun playground! If you want to work with the best cedar playground chips Portland has to offer, contact Barkdusters today! Also, keep an eye out for part 2 of important things to remember while designing a playground!