garden playground Archives - PlayEquip

We all know how important play is for children, but have you ever been put off purchasing play equipment for your garden because those garish primary colours make your garden look less than welcoming for anyone who isn’t a child? Playground equipment that is great for children does not have to be bright and garish. Choosing natural playground equipment could be the perfect alternative when you want to retain the natural look for your garden but still want to provide great play equipment for your children to play on.

Easy on the Eye

Not only is wood a natural material, but it is also beautiful to look at. Here at PlayEquip, we offer highly durable natural wooden playground equipment perfect for any home garden, park or public space. With our equipment, even inner-city homes, where there is little green space can have the delight of natural wooden equipment in their backyard.

With natural playground equipment, parents no longer need to give over vast expanses of space to equipment and furniture that spoils the natural lines of their garden. Choosing natural wood allows synergy with the rest of the garden that is difficult to achieve with plastic.

Wood also offers a durable, high-end feel that, combined with other natural wooden features such as planters, seating and dining equipment and even fencing, means your children’s play equipment need not become an unintended focal point. And natural playground equipment is something that all the family can enjoy too. If you are young at heart or enjoy exercising outside, we have some great natural outdoor fitness equipment that can be used by young and old alike.

Quality shines

Playground equipment shouldn’t be all about how good it looks, but given the choice, many of us would rather eschew the blocky, bright equipment for something rather more natural. In reality, natural wood is often the more practical choice too. It offers years of faithful service and is easy to keep clean and sustainable, making it possible to achieve a ‘green garden’ without disappointing the children.

Kind to the Environment

People are recognising the detrimental effects that man-made materials like plastic are having on our planet and taking steps to reduce their plastic use.

Whether it’s biodegradable products, reusable shopping bags or even play equipment, people are looking for sustainable sources. By choosing a natural outdoor playground equipment made from sustainable sources, you’re taking small steps towards protecting our planet for future generations to come!

Encourages Physical Development

It may seem obvious, but it’s one of the most important benefits of natural outdoor playground equipment for your garden.. By encouraging children to spend time outside playing, climbing, jumping and running; playground equipment will benefit the physical health of children. Wooden outdoor playground equipment encourages social and psychological development promoting creativity and improves communication skills.

Our wood and steel equipment is ideal for gardens where green space and trees are unfamiliar sights to many young children, particularly in urban environments. Wooden equipment brings a vitality that children do not get from modern plastic alternatives, allowing them to interact with the natural materials of the world. Feeling different textures and the warmth of stunning wild oaks is something that could be unfamiliar to some, yet natural play equipment can redress the balance.

Playground equipment made from natural materials will encourage children to connect with the environment, explore and become more aware of nature. This is particularly important in today’s society, where many children would rather be inside playing on a technological device rather than exploring the outdoors.

Triple Platform Robinia climbing frame photo 1

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.

The Return to the Bespoke Playground

Once, not so long ago really, every playground looked rather similar. They all contained the same type of slide, the same swings, identical roundabouts and of course that old familiar seesaw in the form of a horse that gently rocked backwards and forwards rather than up and down; often catapulting one of its users off!

Comfortable, but missing something?

There was something safe and reassuring about a visit to the playground – it didn’t matter where you were, the equipment in the playground equipment would be exactly what you were used to. But as with everything new designs were created, and the playground equipment began to change as well. Each one beginning to have a wider selection of equipment, brighter colours, special safety floors to help prevent accidents – the playgrounds of our children’s childhoods were infinitely different to those we remembered from our own childhood.

Appealing to a new generation of players

Children today have had far greater access to technology and want more adventure, more choice and more fun in their lives. This means that playground equipment needs to change in order to stay in touch with the needs of the people who use them. The face of the playground has changed completely, there is no longer a “one size fits all” approach to how a playground should look. The type of equipment it contains, its layout and even its location are only limited by the practicalities of where is will be, the budget that is on offer and, of course, the imagination of the person designing it. Bespoke playgrounds have taken off, and as anyone who has taken their children to use outdoor play equipment recently will tell you, it isn’t difficult to see why the bespoke options are proving such a popular draw for the younger crowd.

The benefits of bespoke

A well-designed playground containing bespoke wooden playground equipment is becoming an increasingly popular choice in all kinds of locations, from tourist attractions to public parks and even schools who want to offer something a little more to the people who use it. Whilst the off the shelf option is often the first choice for anyone who is constrained by their budget it is worth spending that little bit more for the value that is derived by those who choose to visit. Not only can this make them an attractive place for local people to visit but also those who are prepared to travel.

Studies have shown that children learn so much through play and when this is combined with fresh air it really is worth making the extra effort. If you’re considering an upgrade to your playground equipment and want something that is attractive, natural and fits well with the space you have, one that contains bespoke playground equipment tailored specifically to your needs could make your playground more popular than you’d imagined!

The changing nature of children’s playgrounds over the decades has had to encompass not only the changing trends in playground equipment but also new ideas around health and safety. In some cases, the extent of this means that in some inner cities, equipment has been removed to help keep children safe.

However, play can never be entirely risk-free. Children will always need to play, to push themselves and to compete with others and, yes, they will sometimes injure themselves. Thankfully the more enlightened local authorities are collaborating with playground designers to ensure that playgrounds and playground equipment is not only safe but also fun, educational and challenging for older or more adventurous children. This is also the challenge for playground equipment designers like us

Working with Nature

The rapid expansion of towns and cities means that millions of children now live in heavily populated areas with little or no access to the natural world around them. Town and city planners realise that children need to have the opportunity to connect in some way with nature, and this is increasingly reflected in playground and playground equipment design.

Playground designers are turning away from old-style plastic, and metal equipment bolted into concrete wastelands. Instead, they are embracing natural playground equipment that is made from more sustainable and environmentally friendly natural wood and increasingly siting equipment within wooded and grassy areas. The natural playground equipment itself is designed to be stimulating and thought-provoking, often coming with information attached for children to read showing where the wood came from. Playground equipment goes through rigorous testing before a design is deemed suitable for use, and it manages to balance the need for safe, exciting play without entirely eliminating all risk.
Sustainability is now a key part of any modern design. A buyer is now better informed about sustainability and would expect any playground equipment supplier to do their upmost to supply equipment that is both durable and eco friendly.

Working with the surroundings

Going totally natural of course, doesn’t suit every circumstance. Sometimes injecting colour into the design helps to make playground equipment standout. Often an addition of colour brightens a space and makes it more welcoming. In a way playground has no restrictions on shape or form. This mean we can let loose and create bold and thought provoking designs that inspire and induce creativity. The creativity is one of the most important parts of children’s play

Play for All Ages

To help combat a growing obesity crisis, many local communities have got together with local councils to design and facilitate play areas where people of all ages can gather. One of the newest trends is to combine traditional-style children’s playground equipment with fitness equipment such as static bicycles, rowing machines or weights. Monkey bars, stepping stones and easily navigable obstacles can be used by families who enjoy playing and exercising together.

The very latest ideas in outdoor playground equipment use technology such as lights and sounds along with multi-sensory apparatus to stimulate motor and thinking skills in young children and improve coordination and reflexes. These work alongside physical activity to improve mental as well as overall health.

It is clear that city playgrounds are beginning to encompass more of the need for communities to come together and access the outdoors while ensuring local children have somewhere to safely play

custom made playground equipment elephant and castle

Over recent decades, local authorities in the UK have been busy closing children’s play areas; in some cases selling off the land for commercial purposes. Schools and parks have been dispensing with playground equipment either to optimise space for classroom buildings or, in the case of parks, to save on maintenance costs.

But at what cost does all this come and how does it affect the nation’s children?

Effects on Health

According to research carried out by the Association of Play Industries, hundreds of playgrounds have been closed since 2014 in England and this is undoubtedly one of the factors contributing to the increase in child obesity. And with almost a third of children aged 2-15 officially obese or overweight, according to government statistics, outdoor play areas with dedicated playground equipment has never been more necessary to counter the decline in physical and mental health. Children who are cooped up indoors with no outlet for their energy are more likely to suffer from depression and feelings of isolation.

Why Children Need to Play

Play is essential for the healthy development of life skills. Through playing with others, children learn how to safely interact and communicate with others; they learn skills such as problem solving and social skills such as sharing and helping others. Outdoor play also allows children to learn about the environment and can give them a lifelong love for the outdoors. Crucially, being able to play outdoors especially where robust natural playground equipment is provided, allows children to use their natural and often exuberant energy constructively.

How Outdoor Playgrounds Benefit Children

Children love having the opportunity to run around and play games as much as possible in the fresh air with their friends. When playground equipment is incorporated into outdoor play areas the benefits increase massively. Physical fitness improves through active play and through the use of diverse pieces of playground equipment groups of children learn to work out routines amongst themselves whereby they can take turns on the equipment and even invent games. You will often see a sense of healthy competition creep in which encourages them to push themselves that bit further in a bid to improve their fitness levels, especially amongst older children.

Motor skills, balance and coordination all begin to improve the more children are allowed to play outdoors and by interacting with dedicated play equipment young children especially can develop their multi-sensory needs. As physical abilities and motor skills improve levels of confidence in their abilities and social skills usually improve too.

All of this contributes to a healthy dispersion of energy levels and a lowering of stress and over time improves a child’s ability to concentrate and apply themselves to whatever task is in hand. This means a boost in productivity and success in the classroom and in relationships with friends and family.

What Will Future Playgrounds Look Like?

Thankfully, the government, local authorities and schools are belatedly waking up to the damage done to our children by closing down playgrounds and are taking steps to remedy this by reinstalling play equipment where feasible. And with increasing concern for the environment the trend is towards more sustainable, durable and attractive natural playground equipment.

Many town halls are now designating cordoned-off areas and streets specifically for children to play in with, for instance tons of sand laid out as a city centre beach scene. In recent years even London’s Trafalgar Square was temporarily grassed over to create a family-friendly environment. Traffic is increasingly banned from urban streets to allow children to play and schools are turning to woodland play settings.

The new trend is to encourage creativity and independence among children to foster a healthier sense of wellbeing.

With more and more of us becoming aware of the consequences of weight gain and lack of exercise, particularly after the enforced lockdown many of us have recently had to endure, the need to get fit and have fun again has never been more important.

It is for this reason that trim trail equipment is enjoying a boost in popularity among adults and children alike as we all rush to embrace the great outdoors. Both families and schools are now returning to traditional ideas of mental health-boosting outdoor play for children, and what better way to do so than to install outdoor play equipment.

What is Trim Trail?

Trim trail has its origins in obstacle courses designed for military training in which participants run around an obstacle course navigating as many different obstacles as possible. Trim trail training is uniquely adaptable to all kinds of outdoor spaces large and small, which makes it a perfect choice for outdoor play equipment in schools and parks.

What Trim Trail Equipment Do You Need?

Usually consisting of monkey bars, benches and beams made from natural, sustainable wood you could also throw in ropes, tyre stepping stones and wobble boards to increase the fun and challenge factors. Wooden playground equipment with its much more natural and aesthetically pleasing appearance has a greater attraction for kids than formulaic, cheap-looking plastic. What’s more, it can help to encourage children to think and plan how best to use the equipment and can foster a spirit of friendly and fun competition.

Is Trim Trail Good for all Ages?

Undoubtedly yes it is. There are so many different pieces of equipment to choose from and so many ways in which you can formulate an obstacle course to suit your particular environment and the space available to you. Your trim trail can be made less challenging and more fun-filled for younger children or more complicated and more challenging for older children who may be ready to push themselves a little harder.

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The Benefits of a Trim Trail

By taking part in trim trail, children will not only massively improve their physical fitness levels but also their mental wellbeing too by being out in the fresh air and engaging with others. They can become more motivated to push themselves towards greater fitness while at the same time improving motor skills, strength and coordination. A hidden benefit is that children also learn how to take risks in a safe, supervised activity.

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