Effective Techniques To Make Your Home Playground Safe

If you have children then building a playground at home is always going to be a popular option. If you take your time deciding how to build it and what items to add you’ll find that it can last for years. The best home playgrounds can be adapted as your child grows, ensuring they are always happy playing there.

Of course, swings, slides, roundabouts, and other playground equipment can be dangerous. That’s why you need to take steps to ensure your playground is as safe as possible for your children.

Fortunately, this is easier to do than you think.

Start With the Floor

The first thing to consider is the flooring. This needs to be designed and installed before you add your playground items. In order to protect the children, you need a floor that absorbs shocks and will minimize any injury to the children.

The best approach for this is rubber playground flooring. You’ll need to check the manufacturer’s specifications regarding the depth of rubber needed, it is dependent on the exact product you pick and how high the equipment is from the ground. The higher the equipment the deeper the rubber needs to be.

Don’t forget, you’ll need to design your playground before you can install the floor. It needs to be large enough to accommodate all the equipment you want to install. It should also give approximately 6ft of space around all the equipment. This will help to ensure your child lands on the rubber regardless of what accident they have.

Keep the Area Clear

It can be tempting for you or the children to add ropes and other items, such as dog leads to the equipment. However, this increases the likelihood of a trip, making it undesirable.

Check Regularly

When you first create the playground you will undoubtedly check all the equipment to ensure nothing is protruding that can injure the children. However, as time passes, bolts, S-hooks, and other items can become exposed. It’s important to check the equipment regularly to ensure there are no protrusions.

If you find any fix them before you let the children play again.

Add Guardrails

While the floor will cushion the impact of a fall, you would probably rather your children didn’t fall in the first place. That’s why it’s a good idea to add guard rails around any steps, ramps, or raised platforms. This makes it harder for children to fall.

Don’t forget, you can also add netting under higher equipment to catch a child that falls and remove the risk of harm.

Look At Spacing

Alongside spacing the equipment far enough away from each other, you also need to consider the gaps and spaces in the equipment you’ve installed. Make sure there are no spots where a child can crawl and get stuck or be injured when others are using the equipment.

Of course, if your children are very young it also pas to supervise them when they are playing. It won’t make the playground safer but you can make sure they are sticking to the rules and react quickly if there is an issue.