Playground Question

[Crystal]

For me, it would not matter what the state says....I'd put in the cushioning or wouldn't have the equipment. If there is no cushioning under it, and a child falls off of the swings and hits head and gets concussion, breaks an arm, or whatever, it won't matter to the parents what the State says, they can still sue me, and I'd still feel guilty for not properly protecting children. If, as providers being paid to care for children, we choose to have swingsets or high climbers, it is our responsibility to spend the money to properly cushion the fall zone. If we do not want to spend it, we should just use smaller equipment without swings.

Yes, I have swings. I also have two areas of my backyard that we dug out the soil from and put in 8 inches of playground bark chips....it was expensive and I add a little each year, but worth the piece of mind.

BTW, I am only referring to the space with swings and high climbing equipment.....the climbers Mac has are low enough to not have to worry to much about the fall zone.

[momma2girls]

Original kat-
It looks just like cement underneath it from the picture. What is it exactly under it? maybe you can get a closer picture or something.
Thanks!!

[Carole's Daycare]

I have landscape fabric, then rubber mats under fall zones in my main play area, with wood chip mulch on top covering it to meet requirements. I do replace a little mulch each year- and it the kid-dye safe wood mulch- environmentally friendly etc- but I don't mind. I think it looks nice, it is biodegradeable, provides good cushion for falls, not really that expensive, and more edible than many other options. I like the natural look,and having a specific playground area with fall factor is not only required, it helps me designate play areas, thus enabling me to protect the rest of the yard from excessive wear & tear. I have a second separate play area under my huge maple tree with a 6x8 sandbox, cabin playhouse etc that I have small jigsaw mats for the one toddler slide- and as a floor to my playhouse. I scatter a light layer of mulch here just to cut down on dirt & so I dont have to mow. My pics of my yard are on my cell, which is a lame one without internet , so I'm going to message them to my hubby who can upload them to my FB/email via Blackberry when he wakes up this afternoon.

[Daycare Mommy]

I think it looks great! We have a much older playset, but it's similar to yours. My kids love it. I really like the outdoor carpet idea. That must really help with the grass cutting. It takes me forever to move all of our play equipment off the grass and then to mow and weed-eat around the big 'ol playset and then move everything back... Makes me tired to think about it!

[originalkat]

I have landscape fabric, then rubber mats under fall zones in my main play area, with wood chip mulch on top covering it to meet requirements. I do replace a little mulch each year- and it the kid-dye safe wood mulch- environmentally friendly etc- but I don't mind. I think it looks nice, it is biodegradeable, provides good cushion for falls, not really that expensive, and more edible than many other options. I like the natural look,and having a specific playground area with fall factor is not only required, it helps me designate play areas, thus enabling me to protect the rest of the yard from excessive wear & tear. I have a second separate play area under my huge maple tree with a 6x8 sandbox, cabin playhouse etc that I have small jigsaw mats for the one toddler slide- and as a floor to my playhouse. I scatter a light layer of mulch here just to cut down on dirt & so I dont have to mow. My pics of my yard are on my cell, which is a lame one without internet , so I'm going to message them to my hubby who can upload them to my FB/email via Blackberry when he wakes up this afternoon.

I would love to see the pictures Carole.

[Unregistered]

owner

what do you use under your playground equirment? Wood chips, bark mulch, grass or dirt, sand etc.

i'm trying to open up a daycare and need to know what i need to do

[Michael]

i'm trying to open up a daycare and need to know what i need to do

This is off topic. But start here:

You state's requirements and contact numbers located at:

https://www.daycare.com/states.html

Daycare Startup Guide Kit:

https://www.daycare.com/starting_a_daycare/index.html

Accredited Daycare Classes:

http://www.pennfoster.edu/urm.php?source=UDCA19T&url=http://www.pennfoster.edu/daycare-micro/index.html

[Kernelfernald]

Need a little help...

Im a contractor to a good sized daycare in Pennsylvania. I'm looking for a 24' x 24' outdoor carpet for a playground we built. We have been using a fake grass outdoor carpet we purchased from lowes. But the largest width size is 12' or 15' so we had a seam. It always tends to separate and fray which gets us written up in inspections. Is there any way to special order the size I need?

[Childminder]

Contact companies that do golf domes and indoor sports arenas would work, just google it. We used commercial outdoor carpet used for boats that we picked up used from a craigslist ad and it hasn't frayed or shown any wear in three years. Love It!happyface.

[DaycareMama]

can anyone post some more recent pics of your outdoor carpet? I just completed my back yard up to regs with the mulch but the small part that is left where grass should be looks horrible.

I am really considering the fake grass carpet....

Do you put anything underneth it to prevent mold, mud or anything else?

[Childminder]

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27209&highlight=playground

This thread probably will answer all your questions and has lots of photos too.

[dEHmom]

I just purchased a very large outdoor structure.

My licensor informed me that here infants/toddlers are not allowed up higher than about 2 feet (because standing at the top of the slide makes it more like 3-4 feet fall if they fell.

As for the older kids, same deal (if structure landing is 4 feet up they are more like 6-7 feet fall if they tumble over.

She suggested sand or pea gravel, as that will increase the age range for use on the structure. I'm hesitant about sand (because of animals/cats in the neighborhood) and the pea gravel to me just screams "eat me" to the littles, because I'm battling the putting stuff in the mouth right now.

I'm thinking I'll likely look into the rubber chips and see how much they will cost here.

If they fall and land on a flat surface, they can really get hurt is what I was informed. Unless you have a completely closed off fort up top, and a tube slide. But licensor told me even still, whereever they are climbing up into the fort, is a perfect place from them to fall still. OYE!

[Jewels]

I have 9 inches of playground mulch under all my equipement, I re-did it last year got landscape timbers to build the area in I think the area was like 40'X40', pretty big, I spent $900 on mulch. I at first was considering pea gravel, but we had to wheel barrel it all from the driveway all the way around to the back, and I needed 30 yards, and gravel is sooo heavy, Mulch was just the better alternative, Rubber mulch, I had quotes would have been well into the thousands, and it never goes away, it is so nice, but if you ever want to stop, its harder to get rid of, I do like that wood chips can go right into the earth, they will have to be topped off though every other year though. To me the outdoor grass unless its cushioned makes no difference as you can still get very hurt falling. I had one girl the week before my mulch was scheduled to be put down fall off the monkey bars and land on her wrist and it had a slight fracture, I have had many falls since the mulch, and everyone is always okay. And when I had the 30 yards of mulch delivered, I had 9 people come over with wheel barrels, and we got it done very fast.

[DaycareMama]

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...ght=playground
This thread probably will answer all your questions and has lots of photos too.

Thank you

[Childminder]

I have 9 inches of playground mulch under all my equipement, I re-did it last year got landscape timbers to build the area in I think the area was like 40'X40', pretty big, I spent $900 on mulch. I at first was considering pea gravel, but we had to wheel barrel it all from the driveway all the way around to the back, and I needed 30 yards, and gravel is sooo heavy, Mulch was just the better alternative, Rubber mulch, I had quotes would have been well into the thousands, and it never goes away, it is so nice, but if you ever want to stop, its harder to get rid of, I do like that wood chips can go right into the earth, they will have to be topped off though every other year though. To me the outdoor grass unless its cushioned makes no difference as you can still get very hurt falling. I had one girl the week before my mulch was scheduled to be put down fall off the monkey bars and land on her wrist and it had a slight fracture, I have had many falls since the mulch, and everyone is always okay. And when I had the 30 yards of mulch delivered, I had 9 people come over with wheel barrels, and we got it done very fast.

We have 12 inches of wood chips under our carpet and haven't needed to replace/refresh yet. If we do all we have to do is pull the landscape staples, put in new chips and re-staple.