outdoor play

[happy1nluv]

So... what stuff on your playset does your dc actually play with the most? I want to put together plans for a playset and I'm trying to think what we'd actually need. I know I want it to have some sort of upper level "fort" with a bucket on a pully to a window... but that's all I can really come up with. I don't necessarily want one of those rainbow clones in my backyard... but I do want it to keep kids and their imaginations alive and at play... and, if you were going to make a sand pit, how big would you make it? We have 3 boys now, and are planning at least a 4th in the future... My backyard is a blank canvas and I"m ready to play!

thanks!

(I remember my dad building us a swingset -- it was 2 swings and 3 rows of 3 boards? planks? across (so like 3 levels - probably a foot or so apart). We had SOOO much fun - and it became anything we wanted it to. AND... when my parents redid the roof and had leftover shingles, no one got mad when we put a "roof" on our jungle jim either - although it didnt stay on long)

[One_Girl]

My dd hardly ever uses play equipment at the park so I haven't invested in a play set. We do have a rock pit though and she likes to dig in the dirt outside. The rock pit is about 3 feet wide and 15 feet long and is perfect for her. She likes to bring rocks back and forth between the porch and the rock pit with her dump truck and wheel barrow.

[cedoreilly]

Swings! My kids fight over who gets to use the two swings on the swing set. The lawn swing is a big hit when they have friends over because they can all pile onto it at once.

[jenaniah]

- Swings, my 2s LOOOOOOVE to swing. Their favorite is the tire swing.
- Slides for sure. We don't have slides on our playground but sometimes I sneak them onto the big kids playset and let them slide a few times.
- Monkey bars, my nieces LOVE them and can spend hours doing them.
- climbing structures, especially rock climbing walls and ladders.

[childsplay]

Swings! Tire swings, knotted ropes and regular old swings. We have swings of some sort hanging all throughout our property.
A slide is fun too, although now that my kids are a bit bigger the like to skateboard down it!

[staceychev]

Swings and slides, swings and slides. Sometimes the playhouse. Mostly swings and slides.

[gmvh]

A kidney-shaped sand pit is great, if you can. It gives one big area if needed and two more partitioned areas if that's what's desired. Ours is 2' deep, 10' long, and between 5' and 6' wide. All the dirt I dug out became a hill. The hill is great in our otherwise flat yard. It gives great perspective, is fun to roll down, and works for playing in the snow.

We have a fort built out of forsythia. It's been growing for a few years and this year the pieces should be long enough to tie over the top.

We have swings. That's it.

[momasana]

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else about swings and slides.
A window and pulley system is pretty sweet, too. I know my DS would spend hours with something like that.

[ann_of_loxley]

He has a wooden wendy house he plays with the most.
For added fun we bought one that came on stilts and has a slide going down one side...but really he just likes playing inside the little house! lol He doesn't like slides but hes not a thrill seeker lol ... We have a baby swing as wel that he loves (and it has the 'bigger' swing seat attachment as well - so not the baby swing seat just a normal swing seat...)...but he has outgrown the baby seat and has no interest in sitting on a normal seat as he finds that really scary.

We also have a sandpit but don't put that on grass...I think he has more fun chucking sand out that actually doing anything with the sand. A lot of people I know really love those sand/water tables! We just got the little tikes turtle sandpit as someone offered it on 'freecycle'!

[sweetpeppers]

Originally Posted by jenaniah

- Swings, my 2s LOOOOOOVE to swing. Their favorite is the tire swing.
- Slides for sure. We don't have slides on our playground but sometimes I sneak them onto the big kids playset and let them slide a few times.
- Monkey bars, my nieces LOVE them and can spend hours doing them.
- climbing structures, especially rock climbing walls and ladders.

A large sandbox is must (with old tonka trucks). We have a pond, and my dad had a dump truck load of sand dumped on the edge of it. We loved our beach, and now my son loves it too (and all his friends that come over).

[pjs]

we love our swings (esp the tire), our slide and our fort/playhouse

[eepster]

Our swingset came with the house. It's a very basic homedepot one. I would like to replace it. I don't really let DS play on anything but the swing, which we did buy new ones of, b/c though our carpenter said it was basically structurally sound, the rungs on the ladders are breaking and such.

DS really wants to play on it more which is a frustration to both of us.

I really enjoyed playing with the online design program from Cedar Works. Unfortunately when we actually got a quote for our dream swing set it was totally out of our price range.

I think what your DSs will want on their swing set will deppend on personality and playing style more than anything. Some kids will really want enclosed ply house/fort areas to be club house and such. Other kids would mostly want climbing areas. Still others just like to swing.

For my DS, I would focus more on climbing and sliding than on swings, I'd just have a couple. He also already hase a separate playhouse.

[darcytrue]

as she gets older it's the swings. when she was younger she loved the slide more.