Free Downloadable CAD Blocks For Playground Equipment

Are you an Architect or Landscape Architect? Then you’ll know the pain of trying to ensure you get the computerised design for new projects just right. But why make life harder than it needs to be when you can get free downloadable CAD blocks for our entire range of natural wooden playground equipment? We are here to make you life easier. Our website has all the information you need. Prices, specification and Free CAD blocks.

What are CAD blocks?

Quite simply, they are an architect or landscape designer’s dream. 3D images of our play equipment range in a downloadable file for digital layout drawings that you can easily work into your design, allowing your clients to get a great view of how the finished space will look. Our playground equipment CAD blocks are free to download and fully scaled, making it simple to create your design using actual products that will look in person just as good as they look on screen. We have even added prices to simplify budgeting and ordering.

Recently we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of architects using our playground equipment. They tell us this is because our free downloadable playground equipment CAD blocks made it easier for them to create the perfect digital play space layout. They designed with actual equipment in mind and could easily show clients their vision and work within budgets more efficiently, as we even priced the items for them. They also had the option to work with us to create custom items and layouts where existing landscape factors or design features needed a more bespoke approach. Our attention to detail means we work closely with architects and designers to find the best equipment, whether from our standard range or bespoke build. We can work within existing landscapes, such as offering protection for tree roots and other areas of an outdoor space.

We want all children and adults to have the best experiences in the great outdoors, which is why we work closely with designers on every project. For some, it is simply ordering our standard equipment. For others, we become heavily immersed in collaborations to reach the perfect result. Either way, your client will be satisfied with the finished look, as using our CAD blocks means it will be identical to what they see on screen.

Organic Natural Playground Equipment Design That Feels As Good As It Looks

Our equipment includes gym and playground equipment constructed of high-quality natural chemical-free wood. Architects and designers can now clearly see how our pieces fit in an area using our gym and play equipment downloadable CAD blocks. We build using the best Oak, Larch and Robinia, naturally resilient to rot, with no drawbacks of working with chemically treated wood. Oak works best in our climate, where playground equipment is in contact with the ground. With high resin natural antiseptic, Larch is as durable as treated timber whilst not chemically corroding fixings. For a perfectly natural look, Robinia offers rustic aesthetics whilst being incredibly durable. Where green space or natural materials are rare, our equipment provides the authentic feel of the great outdoors.

Is It Really Free Of Charge?

We have made our playground equipment 3D CAD downloads available free of charge. By assisting outdoor designers, we are delighted to say that our vision of a world where every child can experience natural outdoor play equipment is becoming a reality. Our organic approach is excellent for the environment and even better for health. Not only that, but you can be sure that the equipment we supply conforms to strict safety standards. As play equipment specialists who work in parallel with an independent play safety inspector and other professionals, we ensure that every aspect of a design meets every safety consideration.

Looking to create a design for an outdoor space with the wow factor? Why not download our CAD block to give your garden or playground design the perfect finishing touch. We are here for your assistance. Should you need anymore information or have any play design questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

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.

Kids, wherever they are, love to play and are naturally attracted to playground swings and equipment. You may be surprised to learn though that there are many differences around the world in what constitutes a suitable and safe play area.

Here in the UK we are very aware of the need to keep our children as safe as they can be whilst playing outside and at the same time we prefer natural environmentally friendly products. This is why natural wooden playground equipment is becoming more popular. We like our children’s outdoor playground equipment to be as safe and as sustainable as possible, but how do the rest of the world do it?

Japan

In contrast to the ‘safety first’ attitude we have here, the Japanese are perhaps not so hot on this. In fact the Japanese tend not to use safety surfaces as they don’t think it teaches a good example to children! A school in Tokyo has built a playground/sports area on the roof of the building. It could be described as semi-outdoors as it has a retractable roof which closes in bad weather. There is no outdoor play equipment though and definitely no safety flooring! There unique approach doesn’t just stop there. Many of their design can’t be seen anywhere else in the world and are truly inspiring. Check out this great article to see what we mean

Bethlehem

Sadly, children here learn to play behind the thickest walls they can find to protect themselves against gunfire at their school on the West Bank. Even though there’s no sign of any play equipment at all the children still somehow learn to play. An example of how play is innate in children and always finds a way no matter where children are. Activities such as parkour have become popular too as children find any means to challenge and entertain themselves using the environment around them.

Bhutan Monastery

Even though the children live under strict rules they are still allowed outside for play and socialisation and although there is no obvious sign of any play equipment, they have the spectacular scenery around to inspire them.

The USA

In America, the emphasis is very much on athleticism rather than academia in many high schools, and to this end schools pride themselves on the provision of gym space for cheerleaders to practice in and outdoor sports fields and running tracks. The benefit of outdoor wooden and natural play equipment has yet to take root in many US schools. Perhaps this as deemed too risky in a society where litigation and compensation is more common.

Averoy, Norway

There is a small island school which is connected to the mainland by a recently built tunnel and which has pupils from the ages of 5-13. These children are lucky enough to be able to play outside in the brisk fresh air among the trees but with rudimentary play equipment provided. Scandinavians are famed for their natural playgrounds which have been proven to create healthy minds and bodies

Russia

Despite Russia’s reputation for stern austerity they do set great store by encouraging their children to play, and playgrounds are provided all across the country in parks and public areas as well as in schools. Their playgrounds are very creative and often build very creative and natural playgrounds. Some of their playgrounds contain some quite wacky ideas! One playground is contained within a scaled down copy of Moscow City Kremlin while others have statues of bears, mermaids and even dragons beside the swings. By and large though Russian playgrounds are definitely not designed with ‘safety first’ and believe in the benefits of ‘risky play’.

The best eco-friendly playgrounds

Many countries are becoming keen to ditch plastics and unsustainable metals in favour of re-using and repurposing what they already have to make play equipment. The Wikado Playground in The Netherlands uses old windmills and modern wind turbines to construct a maze-like play area while in Thailand the Rubber Tree Playground features play equipment made from discarded tyres and bamboo.

The Lion’s Playground in Alabama, USA makes interesting use of 2000 recycled steel drums while in Brazil one children’s play area features a labyrinth made entirely from recycled cardboard.

We think way playgrounds are designed and built in each country is a true reflection of their society. When it comes to sustainable and natural outdoor playground equipment it’s good to know that some parts of the world at least are coming around to our way of thinking!

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