All-American Play Set
This red, white and blue fort uses a swing and slide from American Swing, and the owner added lots of personal touches including flags, a double shingled roof, and a ventilation grate in the upstairs attic. For a play set such as the fort pictured here, American Swing advises you to set aside 8 to 16 hours to cut the wood and drill holes, and another 8 to 16 hours for assembling, depending on your level of skills.
Playset Tip: Wooden playsets are a great investment for your family, and will last from the time your child is old enough to sit in an infant swing into their teenaged years. Use a pressure-treated wood to withstand the elements and termites. The new CBA-treated wood doesn’t contain toxic arsenic, but you should always paint a clear sealer over wood to seal in any chemicals and keep them away from your children. Cedar–used in the patriotic playhouse pictured here–and cypress are both durable, good-looking woods that sell for about $2 per square foot.
Approximate cost: Half-bucket polymer swing, $22.50, slide, $253, Total cost: $1,500
For more info: www.americanswing.com.
Photo courtesy of American Swing
Do-It-Yourself Play Set
Ambitious homeowners may choose to build a customized play set like the one pictured here. Companies like American Swing sell play set parts like slides, rock climbing sets and tire swings, but design, wood-cutting and assembly is left up to the homeowner. Online searches for play set designs will turn up hundreds of options for forts, swing sets and more, and many can be downloaded for free.
For a play set such as the fort pictured here, American Swing advises you to set aside 8 to 16 hours to cut the wood and drill holes, and another 8 to 16 hours for assembling, depending on your level of skills.
Approximate cost: Slide: $62, rock set: $19.60 each set, chains: 21.15 per set, tire swing and accessories: $154. Total cost: $1,089.
For more info: www.americanswing.com.
Photo courtesy of American Swing
Easy-To-Assemble Backyard Play Set
The larger the play set, the more difficult to assemble, but Backyard Discovery play sets are made for two people to easily assemble in 12 to 14 hours. The Highlander, recommended for ages three to ten, is made from high-quality cedar lumber, comes pre-cut, pre-drilled, and pre-stained with all hardware and fasteners to ensure easy assembly. Adorned with a 360-degree swiveling telescope and a fun steering wheel, the Highlander Cedar Swing Set is the perfect getaway for the avid child explorer. With a multi-tiered setup (four levels), the Highlander encourages kids to keep on climbing, whether it be up the challenging 5-foot rock wall or one of the three individual flat step ladders with safety handles. At the top, kids are shaded by two deluxe cedar roofs with sunburst sides where they can hang out before they continue their adventure. When ready to return to solid ground, children can slide their way down the towering 10-foot one-piece safe and durable slide and head over to the swings. The Highlander gives kids two swinging options: two heavy-duty belt swings or the deluxe glider with multiple feet positions for growing children. Both swing options include adjustable kid-friendly chains.
Approximate cost: $999
For more info: www.swingsetsonline.com.
Photo courtesy of Backyard Discovery
Deluxe Clubhouse
Another easy-assemble model from Backyard Discovery is the Patriot, which is the manufacturer’s deluxe offering. Kids will love the dual-height upper deck, which includes a sun porch and a clubhouse outfitted with end gables, a shiplap cedar roof and windows. There’s a rock wall and a step ladder that lead to the upper deck, and a spiral slide will have kids racing back to the ground and onto the next adventure. The two heavy-duty adjustable belt swings with kid-friendly chains and two-person glider allow kids to fly high. There’s also a shaded lower area with four-person picnic table, railing and sandbox.
Approximate cost: $1,299
For more info: www.swingsetsonline.com.
Photo courtesy of AkronOhioMoms.com
Safe Backyard Playground
Two key safety issues when planning your backyard playground are choosing the site and preparing it for a soft landing when a child falls off a swing or even just zooms down the slide. The Pinnacle Play System cabin pictured here is six feet by eight feet with a 14 foot swing beam, a 10 inch super scoop slide and three sling swings. Pinnacle recommends a land footprint of about 20 feet wide by 18 feet deep for this size system. Swing spacing should be 20 inches apart (complies with safety standards for public parks). You should allow for at least three to four feet around your play set, in a level area.
No matter how careful they are, children may fall and it’s best to prepare for a safe and soft landing. Pinnacle recommends lush turf grass, or six inches of bark mulch or shredded rubber mulch. Many commercial playgrounds are starting to use Astroturf instead of rubber because it’s just as soft and more durable, but it’s also more expensive.
Approximate cost: Cabin Loft starts at $4,018; as pictured here with accessories, $5,716
For more info: www.pinnacleplaysystems.com.
Photo courtesy of Pinnacle Play Systems
Open Air Fort
Landscaping can be a consideration when designing a play area. In this photo, the “Open Air” fort and play set, designed and built by Just for Fun Playgrounds in Hollywood, South Carolina, is set on a grassy area under tall trees for shade. Flowering bushes are set far enough away so they won’t interfere with swings and other activities, but they also add an attractive element to the setting.
The Open Air has a variety of features and materials that make this customized play set special. The 5 feet by 5 feet open-style playhouse has cypress siding, a wrap-around deck, a ramp, and a slate roof with copper ridges. Activity accessories include monkey bars, swings, a rope ladder and two rung ladders, a slide and rock climbing wall, and a steering wheel.
Approximate cost: $4,000 installed (plus cost of slate, which customer furnished).
For more info: www.justforfunplaygrounds.com.
Photo courtesy of Just for Fun Playgrounds
Shrimp Boat Play Set
A contractor can build and design a play set incorporating your own ideas that showcase your family’s hobbies, dreams, and personality. For example the “Shrimp Boat” pictured here was designed and built by Just for Fun Playgrounds in Hollywood, South Carolina, for a boat broker who wanted to share his love of boats with his two-year-old son. This is a smaller footprint of a playground based on a full-sized wooden ship that builder Philip Pinckney installed in a public space. Pinckney has been designing and building commercial and residential playgrounds for 20 years, and he offers hundreds of designs for customers to choose from and customize.
The Shrimp Boat features a cabin with steering wheel and real parts off a boat, including a working VHF radio the homeowner supplied (with the outgoing transmitter disconnected) so his son can hear real seafarers while he’s steering his play boat. Other activities include a nylon rope ladder, ramp, rung ladders, monkey bars, swings, and wave slide.
Approximate cost: $2,500 installed (excluding VHF radio supplied by owner)
For more info: www.justforfunplaygrounds.com.
Photo courtesy of Just for Fun Playgrounds
Backyard Playhouses with Character
A playhouse can be a great addition to any play set, or it can serve as a stand-alone private space for your child to decorate and discover their own unique creativity. The Kids Crooked House series was designed with a child’s world in mind. There are wacky slanted walls and windows, a kid-sized door, peep holes and plenty of space for your child to create a room all their own. (See next slide for theme-based models).
The original house (5 feet wide by 6 feet long, with a ceiling over seven feet tall) arrives in seven ready-to-assemble panels (5/8-inch T1-11 plywood siding, cedar flooring and a cedar shake roof) and takes about an hour for two adults to assemble. Then, your child is ready to move in and put their toys on the 2 X 4 plywood shelves, their posters on the wall, and even paint the plywood panels in their favorite colors.
Approximate cost: $1,449
For more info: www.kidscrookedhouse.com.
Photo courtesy of Kids Crooked House
Customized Backyard Play House
Kids Crooked House offers custom built play houses with themes that are sure to ignite your child’s imagination including a princess castle, haunted house, pirate ship, and garden shop. The Pirate’s Cove model pictured here features custom doors, a hand-painted sign over the front door, bamboo mast and other accents, a nylon rope and lantern on the mast, porthole windows, and a cannon and cannon balls that look like they’re embedded into the side of the house.
Kids Crooked Houses come in three standard sizes: Original (5 feet by 6 feet), Deluxe (6 feet by 9 feet), and double deluxe (6 feet by 15 feet, including 2 separate house spaces and a tunnel that connects the two spaces). Custom designed houses are available in all of these sizes.
Approximate cost: $3,500 to $4,000 for original size, depending on features.
For more info: www.kidscrookedhouse.com.
Photo courtesy of Kids Crooked House
Hillside Retreat
This fort and play set, built by Playhouse Adventures in Sherman Oaks, California, takes the term “customized” to the max. Designer Rick Rossi started by assessing the homeowner’s small backyard in the hills of suburban Los Angeles. Like many homes in the area, there was a hillside previously thought to be unusable. It was too steep for landscaping but, Rossi decided, perfect for a tree house and play area. After listening to what both the homeowners and their five-year-old daughter wanted, Rossi drew up plans for their backyard retreat.
This double-decker tree house, built into the hill and under two shady eucalyptus trees, includes lots of great play activities: a curvy turbo slide, rock-climbing wall, pulleys, and a telescope. There are steps leading to the upper deck, which includes a covered space big enough for a table and chairs for Emma and her friends to have tea parties and do arts and crafts, as well as a 100-sq-ft deck with a hammock for mom and dad.
Approximate cost: $4,500
For more info: Playhouse Adventures, (818) 848-2575
Photo courtesy of Playhouse Adventures
Expandable Play Set
Most play sets, like the Pinnacle Play System pictured here, are modular and the price goes up with the more modules you buy. (Pinnacle Systems start at $3,000 to $5,000 for a residential play set.) This “village,” the term Pinnacle uses for their play sets, consists of three different fort playhouse units–Summit Tower, Playhouse Loft and Gazebo Loft with a swinging bridge and 14-inch swing beam–but you can easily start small and build on as needed. Accessories in this photo include a swing set, three ten-inch super scoop slides, three ladders, and a turbo tube slide.
Pinnacle Play Systems provides color-coded instructions for do-it-yourselfers with a bit of carpentry experience. They also employ contractors, mostly on the East Coast, to set up your play set. You can likely find a contractor in your area, and the cost of installation is generally 12- to 15-percent of the total cost of the system.
Approximate cost: $12,847
For more info: www.pinnacleplaysystems.com
Photo courtesy of Pinnacle Play Systems
Starter Swing Play Set
Another great starter swing set for young children (ages three to seven) is the Playstar Play Set Champion XP wooden swing set. This build-it-yourself model is an all around playground kit that takes two people about 7 to 12 hours to set up. There are three different models available. The bronze model includes 12-square-feet of play deck, and 11 activities such as a scoop slide, vertical climber, and monkey rings The silver model has the same size play deck with 14 activities including a bronco rider, steering wheel, scoop wave slide and climbing wall. The gold model has 22-square-feet of play deck and includes a wide range of 18 activities such as a spiral tube slide, monkey rings, play handles, and a picnic table.
Approximate cost: Bronze, $549.99, Silver, $989.99, Gold, $1,3739
For more info: www.hayneedle.com.
Photo courtesy of Hayneedle