Backyard playgrounds

Hello,

Spring will be coming soon enough and I was wondering, what kind of backyard playgrounds and playhouses are you personally using ? I've seen a lot of people use the Little Tikes ones... Are these the best in terms of quality vs price ?

:D

I would love to know as well. I'm researching on what to buy (get hubby to install). My budget is under $300 though - so I know I won't be getting anything big!

I have the cottage and climber from Little Tykes I guess they are called "Endless Adventure" now but they are the ones that are brown/rust/look like logs and stones so they blend into the yard better than the pink and blue ones although I was given a smaller white playhouse. My sandbox is by far the favourite activity - just a basic wooden box full of sand. Also have a swingset made with one of the swing-n-slide kits. We put a bench seat in the middle section and a regular swing on each side. The bench can hold an adult too so I can sit there. I put the little ones on there and use the harnesses to tie them to the back piece and it works much better than infant swings - I can push them all at once.

What about the difference of having a sandbox under the swing set/play structure vs mulch? Hubby wants to put play mulch down because it looks cleaner.

Problem with sand under the climber is that you end up with lots of days of mud and it is impossible to cover it so you have to check it constantly for cat feces. Also if you have the climber/swing combo it is harder to keep the kids from playing too close to the swing area. SOme have the gravel that they have at some parks but if you have little ones that put stuff in their mouth. The mulch looks nice but has its own issues. Some say it attracts ants and earwigs and some find it sticks to the kids if they sit on it, kids get splinters etc. In various houses we have had the mulch. The bigger stuff lasted better and didn't pack down like the finer stuff did and there were less splinter issues. Didn't find the bugs were any worse than anywhere else in the yard. Biggest things was keeping the mulch where we wanted it and putting a wood frame around the play area helped.

I like to keep my under 2's away from the swings when possible... so putting a sandbox under the climber swingset is not a good choice for me. In my yard I have a separate over 2 and under 2 area aswell as a sandbox (large enough for 4+ kids) and a space for soccer/ball activities. Each area is in a different part of the yard. My liitle one know that they are not allowed to go near the swingset/climber/fort thing, and the bigger kids know that they are not to play in the toddler area.

Here in the Lower Mainland of BC, it is against the safety regulations to have sand under a climbing structure or swing set. It is considered unsafe to land on. Falling from a good height onto sand can have the same impact as falling onto concrete as it is so compact. We are also required to have a 6 ft clearance at the end of a slide, and all around the swinging area. Good materials to use are bark mulch, pea gravel, and commercial playground surfacing tiles. The mulch and gravel also need to be so many inches deep depeding on the height of the structure. I believe it is up to 9 inches deep. But don't quote me, I don't have my papers handy :)