Author: Austin Stanfel
It seems like a simple and straightforward idea at first: build a playground for the children in your area. It seems like an easy enough thing to do, right? But there’s actually much more involved with the process of planning out and building a children’s playground than you might think. In this article, we will briefly outline and discuss some of the critical steps you should take before jumping straight into the building of a playground. We hope you find the information we provide here helpful in setting up a neighborhood playground of your own that the kids in your area can enjoy.
Form a group or committee dedicated to building a playground
Building a playground is actually a fairly monumental task, so you shouldn’t try to undertake all the responsibility for it entirely on your own. Instead, you should consider forming a committee to address the project. Try involving local business owners and town council members; not only can getting more people involved in the project build a greater sense of community, but it also gives you more resources to work with.
Decide on a location.
You will, of course, need the right type of space to build your park. And while acquiring a patch of land might seem pretty straightforward, there are certain factors you need to consider before just going out and snatching up the first piece of undeveloped real estate you see. Make sure that your park is in a safe area, away from fast-moving traffic and any deep bodies of water that a child could fall into. Also, try to make sure that the location isn’t too far out of the way; if there is any sort of incident at the playground, it’s important for emergency vehicles to be able to get access to the site promptly. You will also need to get the land itself evaluated just to make sure it is solid and stable enough to build a playground on.
Come up with a design for the playground.
Designing the playground is, of course, also a significant step. You need to make sure that the playground is fun and entertaining for the children while also keeping it safe for them to play on. This step should also involve evaluating different types of playground equipment; there are many different types of playground equipment (with both different designs and different building materials used), so make sure to take your time on this part of the process. It’s better to take your time and make the right decision the first time around than to make a poor decision that you later need to waste time correcting.
Build the playground.
Finally, you need to arrange the building of the playground. It’s strongly advised that you hire professional engineers and construction workers for this in order to ensure that everything is put together properly. That being said, if you do opt to build it yourself with the help of your other group members (which can also function as a great means of building a sense of community and accomplishment), make sure to follow all assembly instructions for the playground equipment. Also, have someone on-hand who is well-versed in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission guidelines, so that you can be certain that your playground is built for safety and stability.