Playground Equipment: A Buyer’s Guide

When you are setting up a new playground or refreshing and updating an old one the emphasis must be on getting the right mix of playground equipment, especially if you intend to cater for all different ages.

Classic Choices

No playground would be complete without classic pieces of playground equipment that never go out of fashion. Let’s have a look at these classic choices:

Playground Swings

While swings appeal mainly to younger children, there’s something about swings that are

tempting to older children too. The cantilever swing for example, also provides a hang-out area for older children. It can be used both actively and passively. Playground hammocks are great for adults wanting to send a little time reading a book whilst the children or grand children play. There’s literally a playground swing for everyone. Swings can be provided with or without safety bars to prevent a small child from falling out.

Wooden Climbing frames

Climbing frames can be built as small or large as required and can incorporate a number of features such as balance bars, tyre swings or pull up bars, whatever is needed to suit the ages of the people who will be using them. A smaller, compact climbing frame incorporating non-slip material is more suitable for younger children. Our modular designs can be adapted to suit any space. This is why our range of robinia climbing frames are so popular with landscape architects and teaches. We can adjust the climbing frames footprint to make the most of ever spare inch.

Monkey Bars

Sturdy monkey bars are a great addition to any playground as the action of moving along them from one end to the other can help to develop upper body strength and hand to eye coordination. Monkey bars form the core of many an assault-style course and when used as part of an outdoor gym are a useful tool to build fitness in children and adults alike. Plus this sort of playground equipment is great fun to play on! Monkey bars aren’t just for play either. A large proportion on the monkey bars we deliver are for use by adults too. They are now part of many adults outdoor workout routine too.

Trim trails

Trim trails are not just for grown-ups either. These can be as simple as a spring disk, which is a sturdy wooden platform on springs to help build up your balance and core strength or a cross rope frame which is great for improving grip strength, hand to eye coordination or simply to jump over. A balance seesaw is slightly different from a child’s seesaw in that most people would use it to test their balancing skills, or you could sit on it and seesaw if you really wanted!

Stepping Stones/ Balance Beam Trails

For older children and adults who prefer to test themselves through their fitness regime stepping poles or a balance beam trail are alternatives to the balance seesaw. For ease of set up, a combination trim trail which combines a series of playground equipment including monkey bars, stepping poles or stumps and a grooved balance beam or rope is the perfect choice for larger play areas. Up and under bars can be used as part of your trim trail. These are set at varying heights to test speed, agility, coordination and various muscle groups.

Getting quality playground equipment to fit your space and needs

Good quality, durable playground equipment can help benefit the physical and mental wellbeing of all who use it. Whether you opt for standard sizes outdoor playground equipment or have bespoke made-to-measure play equipment, we’re happy to help you find the perfect solution for your playground.