Playground Planning Guide

Most playground projects go wrong in the same few places. Here is what to think about, roughly in the order it matters.

Start here

1. Who is it for?

Age range drives almost every other decision. Equipment for 6 to 23 months, 2 to 5, and 5 to 12 is engineered differently, and if you serve more than one band you are planning more than one area. Decide this before you look at a single product.

2. How many children at once?

Not how many you serve. How many will be on it simultaneously. A structure that serves thirty children does not work for a school with a two-hundred-child recess, and capacity is the specification people most often skip.

3. What will actually fit?

Measure your usable space, then subtract. Every structure needs a safety use zone around it that must stay clear of fences, walls, paths, trees and parking. The use zone, not the equipment footprint, is what has to fit.

4. What is the real budget?

Equipment is usually somewhere between half and two thirds of a project. The rest is surfacing, site preparation, freight and installation. A budget that only accounts for the structure is a budget that will be exceeded.

The costs people forget

• Surfacing. Determined by your equipment's fall height. Frequently the second largest line on the project.
• Site preparation. Grading, drainage, and removal of whatever is there now.
• Freight. Large systems ship by LTL or flatbed and cost meaningfully more than people assume.
• Installation. Should be done by CPSI-certified installers. It is where most liability transfers.
• Border and containment. Required for loose-fill surfacing.
• Shade. Increasingly required rather than optional, particularly for young children.
• Ongoing inspection and maintenance. Budget for it annually from year one.

Timeline, realistically

From first enquiry to children playing is typically three to six months, and longer if you are fundraising or going through a committee. Manufacturing lead times run several weeks to several months depending on the product. Installation is usually the shortest part of the whole process.

If you have a fixed date, such as a school year start or a facility opening, tell us at the beginning rather than the end.

Where to go next

• Funding and financing, for how projects like yours get paid for
• Playground grants, for the programmes that fund this work
• Cooperative purchasing, if you are a public agency and want to skip the bid process
• Safety and compliance, for what the standards actually require
• Installation, for how the build works
• What it costs, for real numbers by project size