Playground Ground Cover

Hey Ladies!
Just looking for advice/ideas for a backyard groundcover. We currently have boring, wet, muddy grass. Thanks to the fall/spring rain and constant running and playing on it, it is less than ideal for playing on.

my first idea was covering everything in landscape fabric and then 2 inches of cedar chips.
My husband thinks cedar chips will be really slippery to run on.
Our backyard is very small btw!
Most of it is taken over by our fenced-in low deck. (3 feet off ground). The grass covered space is about 40 feet by 10 feet.

Any other ideas for a cushy, soft and mow-proof solution for kids to play on?

Thx all :)

My experience with cedar chips:
They track in everywhere!! Cling to boots, clothes, etc. You will probably have to replace them sooner than anticipated if the kids are playing in them. I found that they "collected" random, gross stuff. Cigarette butts and garbage flying in the wind, bugs, etc. It was icky, LoL. And I am thinking you will be asking the little ones to spit out the pieces on a regular basis?
They sure do smell good, though!!
Can you look into surfacing it with the rubber stuff that they are using on playgrounds these days? I don't have any clue how expensive it is, but supposedly it lasts forever, or a long time anyway. Or what about clearing the grass, levelling the ground and securing indoor/outdoor grass (some call it Astroturf) over?

Thx for the info! I never even realized that about the cedar chips!

I have cedar chips under the swing set, and don't have a problem with them.

LOL, I was just sweeping up the cedar chips from my entrance hall a little while ago that came in from the park with the boots and splashpants this morning. I see dogs using the cedar chips at the park all the time and my dckids sit and dig in them, eeeewwwww! What are you going to do? Squirrels, cats, raccoons, dogs, their pee is on everything everywhere. I just a germophobe, but I would stick with grass.