Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Playgrounds

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

Former preschool teacher here:

First find out if you have to comply with a zillion safety 
specifications. As a preschool we did, and I don't know if these were 
local or universal. They may be required by insurance companies, or even 
by the manufacturers of the equipment. Check with a local private school, 
preschool, or childcare facility that has play equipment. And of course 
that will give you ideas of what you like or not, also. The safety 
regulations have to do with clear areas around moving equipment, such as 
swings, and soft landing zones all around stuff too. 

Now for what children like:
sand, with a way to keep all the neighboring cats out of it
water--- at least a hose hook up, and a place or places  where there can 
be water play--
       a water table, or dishpans or a sand pit, or dirt pile, or a 
plastic pool to be gotten out when there is supervision
moveable stuff--lots of  dairy crates, tires (with holes drilled in the 
side walls so they don't pool stagnant water), planks, old sheets, 
sawhorses: this will become a ship one day and a palace the next, and 
chipmunk nests after that (obviously with such stuff you have to have 
rules, like how high they can stack things and what they can climb up on, 
and not to stack tires with a child in the middle.....).
well built weatherproof chairs or stools
a place to play with protection from rain or strong sun

A lot depends on whether there is going to be much supervised childcare 
happening there. Because you can do almost any kind of activity outside-- 
painting (try a piece of plexiglass attached to a fence-- hose or sponge 
it off afterwards), playhouse, dress ups, reading; hammering nails into 
the flat top of a stump, bubbles 

Places to sit, some of which are comfortable for adults to sit on. 
If you want stuff like little cars to ride around in, the Little Tykes 
stuff is sturdy and functional.

In terms of structures, multiple levels are cool, as are platforms. A 
simple platform by itself becomes a stage, or a place to sit, or a place 
to build with blocks. A few props like a steering wheel are good. With 
little ones they like a sense of enclosure, but the trick is to come up 
with something in which THEY feel enclosed, but an adult can tell if a 
child is in there and more or less what they are doing! 

Tire swing is a perennial favorite. There are also other variations on 
swings that can be made from old tires. 

Things that are a challenge to walk on, but not dangerous if you fall. 
Cut logs (big enough in diameter to step on)  in various lengths, from 6 
inches to 2 feet, and set them on end, one after another, touching, like 
stair steps up and down and up again, making a trail to follow. Sand 
around it. Curbs to walk. Big logs on their sides. A giant tractor tire , 
on edge, half buried (in concrete?)

If you have grass, a small hill to roll down, or a berm to climb up and 
run down. 

For older kids a tether ball. 
A good preschool slide, if you are making your own: sheet metal, very 
wide, wide enough for three little kids side by side, and only about five 
feet high at the top where it adjoins a wooden platform of the play 
structure. You get up via a wooden ramp, with cross cleats, that is right 
next to the sliding surface. Like walking up the slide, except it's to 
one side, and wooden. 

A climber-- I like the arch shaped ones, that you can climb on the inside 
or outside. 

Be aware that play equipment manufacturers are covering their behinds 
from lawsuits, and so they will often label stuff as for kids who are 
older than will really enjoy it. I've seen stuff labelled for 4-5 year 
olds that no one over the age of 2 would find any challenge to. A healthy 
kindergartener can be quite a little monkey...

With a big budget, there is some excellent stuff out there. I can't 
remember the brand names, but your local preschools probably have 
catalogues you can see. And there is the Internet nowadays. Our Head 
Start and public school preschool had "Big Toy" stuff. Colored plastic, 
along with wood, with a whole array of platforms and tunnel and regular 
slides and places to get underneath, and cargo net, and wobbly bridge and 
all. Probably beyond your budget, and it uses plastic, but it is very 
durable and consciously designed.

Things kids use in pairs or small groups are good. Teetertotters can be 
dangerous, but there are some fun spring-mounted ones now. At Head Start 
we had one that had a creature at each end, each of which seated one or 
two children, and you could make it bounce very satisfactorily, and had 
to cooperate.  ( I think a Scandinavian company made it -- Kombi?) It 
seemed fairly indestructible also. 

On a small budget, you can do well with some wooden platforms, dairy 
crates, a sand pit, and a hose. When you can, add a "trick" bar or two 
(for pull ups or hanging by your knees) , at various heights, and a 
couple of swings. 

Safety is the bottom line. If there are not experienced child care folks 
in your group, go over your proposed set up with a teacher of little kids 
from elsewhere. And once you get the equipment, watch carefully for quite 
a while how they use it. They always think of stuff to do that you don't 
anticipate. A storage shed is an excellent idea, so certain stuff can be 
taken out when it's supervised, and put away for safety and security in 
between times. 

For fall zones, I do not like wood chips -- too many splinters, and you 
can't dig in it. I prefer sand or pea gravel. 

Bigger kids enjoy a rope swing, zip line, stuff they can climb up on and 
hang out together. If you have platforms that are high enough that you 
don't want little kids up on them, then make it so the access to them 
requires a certain height and strength, and little kids along won't 
easily access them. 

PS Adults like play equipment too. An adult size glider swing is a treat! 

Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend
where we hope to have some small children by the time we get our common 
house built next year---- but the little ones we had when we embarked on 
this adventure are teens now!