Play Sets: Enjoy a Park in Your Yard

When today’s parents and grandparents were growing up, many backyards boasted a simple, inexpensive swing set made of hollow steel with a slide and perhaps a glider, cemented on grass or dirt. Today, families have many more choices, and wooden play sets that can be added onto as children grow offer multiple options for hours of outdoor fun from spring through late fall. But before you buy or build, do your homework.

Site and Sight

Another industry safety standard is to leave six feet of open space around the stationary part of the set. For the swings, take the height of the swing beam and multiply times two. So, if the beam is eight feet high, you’ll need 16 feet of open space with protective surfacing in the front and back. This zone helps prevent collisions as kids swing and shoot off the bottom of slides. Even if you’re starting with a small set, you may want to add to it later, so leave extra room to maintain that six-foot clearance around a larger set.

Plan a site you can see out a window, especially if your children are younger. Don’t plant the play set in the center of the yard either. Off to the side is better so the kids have enough room for a ball game, too, says independent builder Jeff Corner, of Grafton, Wis., who has been building play sets since 1989.

Ground Work

You’ll want something — not just grass — underneath the set that looks good, can handle plenty of wear and tear, and will cushion falls. The recommended ground cover depth is nine inches, Hendy says. To have nine inches after settling, for instance, start with 12. “Seventy-nine percent of injuries are from falls,” she says.

The most popular ground cover choices are playground wood chips certified by ASTM and pea stone. Wood chips are less expensive, but they will eventually rot and you’ll have to add more every year or two. Pea stone is harder to install, but drains better, lasts longer, and is less likely to get tracked into your home, Corner says. One danger from pea stone, however, is that your lawn mower can pick it up and spray it out like missiles.