Posts Tagged ‘swingset’
multiactivity playset safety
A multiactivity play piece is something that children seem to enjoy a lot. A place to swing, slide, a little cubby hole to play and where they can meet , and maybe a rope to climb up. All this can be expensive.
Some things to consider are the size of the links if using chains to hang the swings. You may want to make them small enough so a child can’t easily put their finger in them. A child jumping out of a swing with their finger in a link might pull it off. Have an area around the play piece that will be safe for the children to fall or jump into. If you have a climbing rope have the lowest knots spaced farther apart than the rest so that a younger child can’t make it past them and get higher up the rope than they belong. Look out for things that children can get arms or legs stuck into while playing and avoid broken bones. ( Remember the old monkey bars made out of pipe and the damage they caused.) Metal slides can get extremely hot in the summer sun.
You also need to inspect your play piece on occasion and keep it maintained and safe.
There are a lot of things to consider and of course the more activities available and the sturdier the piece is built the more money you are going to spend. I hope this is helpful. I received training about these things in an Outdoor Recreation program at the University of Missouri in Columbia Missouri from Marshall Masek who had built several play pieces and kept records on them about their safety although my training was many years ago.