Kids Play Area Ideas?

Hi all

Moved into my new house last year and its now time to make a start on the garden now the rest of the house is in order

The garden needs digging up and levelling first off, what were wanting to do is have the top half with grass and the bottom half with (this is what were not sure about)

Down the bottom is where my monster paddling pool is going to be, so having woodchip down the bottom would be no good, but it does need to be something soft as when the paddling pool isnt down the kids swings/slide etc will be down there

Anyone have any idea of anything else i could think of putting down that child friendly, im really new to all this, ive asked a few friends etc and there just as clueless as i am

Can anyone throw a few ideas around and ill talk it through with my better half before deciding what to do

Thanks for your time and help :thumb:

 

When ours were little we got some matting - about 1M square and an inch or so thick - in bright colours!. These were put at the bottom of slides, swings, the Entrance/Exit to bouncy castles when we hired them, and so on.

 

Thanks for the reply

We have some of the matts that we could use, guess we could use them, but we're still stuck with what to else to put down there for when the pool is up

Thanks again

 

Heavy duty groundsheet? (Its to stop the pool getting punctured, rather than the kids falling over, is it?)

 

Basically we wanted woodchip down the bottom for the kids, but in the summer for a couple of months of the year the pool will be up, guessing that will pretty much ruin all the woodchip so we need an alternative, something thats going to look nice and somewhere for the kids to play

 

Its not something I'm familiar with, why would it ruin the woodchip? Weight / Water perhaps?

 

Im guessing the water and weight would ruin it yea, very new to all this, dont want to put would chip down and it be ruined in a couple of months time

 

Hi Jimmy,

The woodchip would only compost down over time anyway and need topping up. Playpools big and small need somewhere where any escaped water will drain through-far too many sprained ankles take place if it is allowed to sit on top of any grass-only a matter of time before someone goes flying.

Overall I would choose woodchip anyway and resign myself to losing some. Unless of course you can lay your hands on some of that mesh matting you see them use on football pitches when there is a rock concert on (yeah I'm that old). The pool will wreck whatever it is on top of and woodchip is cheap really.

 

Thanks Lollipop, a little worried about smell to? i know last year where the pool had been was a big mess and didnt smell to pretty, dont mind topping up the woodchip though and it has a nice look to it, might just take the plunge

@ Wiseoldowl, ive just been reading about the rubber granuels, are these a good alternative, read that they smell quite strong?

Thanks for all the replies, doe look like we will go with woodchip unless someone convinces me to go with the rubber granuels

Thankyou all again

 

Me again

Ive been looking online for this rubber mulch all day long :ywn:

Im not sure how much i will need, looking on ebay and theres a guy selling 500kg and apparently that will only cover around 37 square metres, then i was looking on another website which had a calculator and that one says id need around 50kg :skp:

Anyone help me out, the area that needs covering is 42 square metres give or take, surely 500kg is way to much

Any advice really appreciated, need to think about ordering asap

Thankyou

 

I'm not sure but the thicker it is the better. 500kg is half a tonne approx but the rubber is lighter than slate etc so you'd cover a larger area. I personally compare prices and if the 500kg isn't that much dearer I'd go for that cause u can always just add a real thick layer

 

Could you put down the black weed matting and then sand? Like at those play areas at some family day out places, where they have big play areas on lovely soft sand. Good for the pool and the play equipment??

Like on this link if you scroll down a bit.....http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...Q_ENGB276&sa=N&um=1&ei=_1cYSqruLYiNjAe9k_39DA

 

I reckon I'd go for wood chippings. Then to stop them being washed away when emptying the pool (on purpose or otherwise), I'd just have the area enclosed with retaining walls like a giant raised bed. That way all but the largest torrent of water would simply displace a few chippings, but not carry them away anywhere, so you could simply rake them level again.

To soften the edges of this retained patch a bit, maybe some ferns or something would look good.

None of what I just said is based on practical experience though, so I can't say whether that would work or not.

 

Did you know there is a difference between play bark and wood chippings?
Apparently play bark is â??graded and cleanedâ? which means it has no bugs in it or rough edges.

I put some bark down, (Bark, not play bark) it smelt very nice, but after about a week it lost its smell and about 60% of its volume, reason is when it came out the bag it was all â??wetâ? as it dried it shrank What was left didnâ??t stay that long as worms â??take it downâ?

So if it were me (I know it isnâ??t), I would level the surface and put some form of matting down. I would also investigate the â??granulesâ? as they sound good, if they are what I think they are, they are also â??resin bondedâ? for kids play areas, and they do last for years, but I donâ??t know what happens if not resin bonded