Play areas for children
We can install a safe play area in your landscape gardening project.
Bristol, Weston super mare, Clevedon, Portishead, Nailsea, Somerset & area
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A couple of things to think about when planning to install a children's play area into your landscape gardening.
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1 How much do you want to turn into a children's garden
Do you want to combine gardening and play. This is a great way of encouraging sowing, growing, harvesting and eating fresh fruit and veg. More gardening for children, information, relevant articles and links can be found on this page create a child's garden
2 What are the most suitable surface materials to use for a play area.
I have installed most of the usual surface materials including bark and rubber chippings but in recent years with council led health and safety gone mad the cost of installing "safe" surface materials for children's play areas has become expensive and out of reach for most of people. Our councils, as usual, have led the rush to spend our money on totally over the top and unnecessary play area surface installations.
The commercially available playing surfaces you see in parks, schools and other public play areas, favoured by our councils are too expensive for most off us to install in our own gardens. They need specialist installation as most come in liquid form and are poured onto a prepared surface, in the same way as concrete, because of the prohibitive price this has put parents off installing children's play areas .
So lets look at the facts about Impact Absorbing Surfaces
This research paper prepared for the UK Health and Safety Executive by Professor David Ball (http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/) is worth reading.
Quote taken from the report "Amongst other things it found that the effectiveness of Impact Absorbing Surfaces in injury prevention is limited and there is little scientific evidence to support the claims made for it, especially in long-bone fractures resulting from body weight descending on the limb or an awkward fall. It may reduce the severity of certain types of fall, for example, onto a joint. It may reduce the severity of the relatively rare head injuries".
Although trips and falls are an everyday part of the growth and development of our kids ,and we don't want to cover our kids in cotton wool before sending them out to play in the garden, this should not mean we would not want to make our gardens children friendly.
Falling from Height
According to The Royal Society for the Prevention of accidents, the most common accidents are caused from falling from slides, climbing frames, swings etc. So if you are thinking of adding play structures that mean a child is playing at a fall height of 1500mm or over you will need to pay more attention to the surface of the play area under and around these play structures. More about suitable playground surfaces here .....
Play surface materials suitable for structures with a playing height up to 1500mm
Loose Materials correctly installed to the manufactures instructions, are as safe and much cheaper than the "pour in" type of impact absorbing surface. Sand, bark, wood or rubber chips all work well but will need raking out and topping up now and again
Sand has all the compaction properties but is a problem if the kids are in and out of the house, especially if it rains, so is probably best confined to the sandpit. More about depth and cost here.....
Wood bark or chips marketed as play bark, drains well but also absorbs a lot of water, so feels wet for some time after rain. It degrades over time so needs topping up regularly and will also need raking now and then as it will compact. The small bits can stick to clothing and be carried into the house. More about depth and cost here..... play bark surface
Rubber chips made from old car tyres, doesn't degrade, drains really well, comes in a choice of colours and wont compact as easily as bark and costs about the same. More about depth and cost here Rubber chippings surface
Grass is not an obvious choice in these, health and safety gone mad, days. Well maintained grass with at least 150mm of sub soil is a very suitable surface for falls up to a height of 1500mm. Grass is a popular choice for children's play areas in the garden because it is a natural material and has some strong developmental value for children, especially if mixed with wild flower seeds.
Allowing the grass to grow longer helps to retain moisture in the soil, keeping the surface softer and safer. During dry spells the turf can break up so its a good ideal to keep it watered and in freezing weather the turf can become quite hard, meaning the Kids may have to give it a miss until it thaws out. Although a study did find little difference between grass, rubber and bark in freezing conditions.
What about building a Boules court for you and the kids.
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Kids gardening shop
Children love helping around in the garden, especially if they've got tools of their own. These childrens garden tools have been specially designed for budding gardeners who want to help plant and dig.
Made to the highest standards in stainless steel to exactly the right proportions, the perfect miniature versions of Mum and Dads gardening tools.
The children's gardening tools in the range have been fully approved by trading standards and classified as early learning products. Recommended aged 8+ but depending on height of the child. Click the picture opposite to see the Childrens gardening tools that make great Christmas gifts and Birthday presents.
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| Childrens gardening presents |
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