What makes a perfect playground?

[yknaps]

I'm wondering about crowd-funding / fundraising to improve the playground facilities in my local park and interested in people's thoughts on what makes an amazing playground.
(And if anyone has any experience crowdfunding for this kind of thing, please share your experience!)

Gates. I'm not sure if there is a reasoning behind it, but I've always found it strange that playgrounds have outward opening gates so its easier for kids to escape then to get in.

Our favourite park has a clearly fenced off toddler area, a roughly enclosed part for slightly older kids and a separate parcour/ adventure playground bit. It keeps all the different groups separated and reduces conflict. Parking is away from them all so dog walkers are welcome but also kept away from the play equipment.

Agree no sand please!

And we love letters and numbers painted on the ground, hopscotch, paths to follow - probably cheap to install.

If there are large house builders developing locally you may get some guilt money out of them.

A big fence around it so you know kids can't escape. Not near a road or open water.

Lots of benches.

Equipment for older kids like 10+. A large playpark near me recently had a very expensive refurb but now there's nothing for over 5s it's all tiny toddler equipment. It was great before it had zip wire, high climbing frame, obstacle course now it has nothing but toddler stuff and my 6 and 10yr old were bored.

Wheelchair accessible equipment/ sensory. My DD is 3 and severely disabled - never take her to the park as nothing she can use it breaks my heart

Your local council may be able to assist with grants/funding
Yes they will probably have access to grants and may even contribute some of their own funds.

A word of warning though. Check with the council FIRST. Because my local council was offered a grant to improve our village playground and they said no. They have to pay annual insurance and maintenance fees, which would increase if additional equipment was installed, and they said they couldn’t afford to pay the extra charges every year forever. So you need to check what they are willing to install and what they can afford to maintain BEFORE you raise funds.

Some members of the public have just done this to rebuild Stanwick Lakes playground, which burnt down to ground at the beginning of this year. www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/charlotte-cox-555?utm_term=KrZ9MydyY

In my village we’ve got district council run playgrounds, some of which have been done up in the past ten years. Not particularly flash but clearly well thought through . And then we have the parish council who had lots of money for flash kit but plonked bits of equipment over a muddy field that floods easily, so for six months of the year it’s a quagmire, toddlers get stuck in the mud, and they forgot benches and bins.

I’d never thought before about “good” playground design until I saw that one!

We are working on a similar project right now - on a smaller scale as it is a small village. There is a playground on our common but it is outdated and degenerating fast.

Funding-wise we have had a grant from the Big Lottery, community fund I think. We plugged the middle of nowhere and no facilities line. We also got some money from a local building firm who have been building two small housing projects in the village. And on Saturday we a re having a massive Fun Day as a fund raiser - all the usual stuff: dog show, auction, produce, teas, children's activities, tractors to climb on etc and etc and more etc.! Weather forecast is looking good!

The parish Council has made a donation.

Crowd funding is an interesting idea.

There is a bloke who is employed by the LA here to advise on funding for local projects - maybe your LA has someone similar. He has been a great help.

If I was to ask my kids they would like it to not be too babyish! They’ve done up a few parks near me and now they are much more aimed at toddlers/preschool age and my older kids 7-10 aren’t happy and don’t like going anymore! Also lots of benches I hate big playgrounds with 2/3 benches 😑

Benches, safe - fenced in, age-appropriate equipment and equipment that is suitable for a large range of abilities/disabilities.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Decent climbing equipment for older children (8+) that the younger children physically can't use, even with help, so the older children can play uninhibited.

A teens area that is safe for girls (well lit, cameras etc).

Surely teen boys would benefit from the 'safe' area too?

Trees or a big Canopy for shade

I second lot of the previous suggestions, especially about climbing frames/swings/rock climb wall for older kids.

Play equipment that isn’t (obviously) physical. I don’t know what they’re called but sometimes it’s a wooden wall with movable parts, funny ‘windows’, a built-in xylophone thing, or a tactile maze on it... we have a tiny, very battered version of this at our local play area and there’s always a couple of children very quietly absorbed in playing at it.

Trees and bushes
They built an expensive big playpark near us, whenever it bring my kids they spend more time playing in the bushes than anything else.

This is all really helpful - thank you folks. Definitely yes to accessibility and also yes to risk for bigger kids. Although I visited a newly done-up playground in St Albans recently - it had amazing zip wires but I almost got taken out by a zipping toddler, so also yes to barriers 😳

Comfy benches

Slides that are accessible by traditional steps with a handrail, or built into a slope.

So many slides these days are accessed by rope ladders/climbing walls etc which my DD (autistic, possibly dyspraxic) simply cannot manage.

It broke my heart in a local playground to see my DD trying and failing to access a slide (there were three ways to get to the top, none of which she could manage, even with help and encouragement from us).

By all means have the rope ladders and climbing walls, but easy steps/ramp up as well please.

The best playground I've ever been to was in Telford town park.

A decent size slide that's easy to climb up to! The amount of parks we go to where my 5yo DD wants to go down a "big" slide, but the way to get up is really difficult, then the smaller "baby" slide is tiny! Steps as well as ropes/poles/climbing wall etc is ideal!

@Bbq1yes boys would benefit too. But apparently research has found the the thing most off putting for girls in public parks is gangs of teenage boys. When they asked teenage girls what they wanted it was completely different to what boys wanted.

Obviously not all teenagers are the same, but girls wishes shouldn't be ignored.

Re accessibility - whilst it's lovely to see ground-level roujndabouts, basket swings, disability seat swings, often they are provided instead of non-accessible equipment. As a result, they end up being mobbed by non-disabled children (especially the basket swing), meaning that disabled children do not stand any hope of getting close to using them. Please consider the accessible items as additional items where possible, so that you have the best of both worlds.

Oh yes I agree about the slides in my local park they made a big slide but you can only get up it by climbing a rope and it’s really difficult for my children to climb, I wouldn’t mind if it has a rope but there should be options for steps too

Cafe
Fencing
Benches

In terms of equipment a roundabout and a variety of climbing-type structures.

Oh another one, if it’s a round about one of those above ground ones, I hate the new in ground ones I’m guessing for safety? But the ones near us are always rusty and you can’t push them round, never had trouble with the ones that aren’t in the ground.

I've been to a park that has a toddler zip wire (essentially a toddler swing seat on a zip wire) which was fantastic