Returning to the school playground in the New Year is a great opportunity to take stock of your school playground to identify areas where you could improve your school playground equipment provisioning. Our playground experts bring you the latest Back to School Checklist to creat the best playground for your students to enjoy.
Unsure where to start? Let The School Playground Company introduce you to what makes the perfect playground…
Safety
Before children begin to use your school playground equipment, safety should be your number one concern. Outdoor equipment for schools is often built for safety, but over time wear and tear can impact the quality and durability of your playground.
When doing regular checks of your playground equipment, you need to look out for:
- Cracks and potholes on your playground surfacing which can quickly get worse in poor weather conditions and cause tripping hazards.
- Secure fastenings on any children’s outdoor play equipment such as clamber stacks and play towers to ensure they stay durable
- If you are expecting rainy weather make sure you cordon off equipment that may be at risk of causing slipping when used, for example, trim trails.
- Remove and replace worn or broken component parts of any playground equipment.
- Ensure appropriate safety surfacing is installed across your playground. Explore your options to keep kids safe when playing.
Many repairs and refurbishments should only be done by appropriate, experienced installers like our fully qualified team. In addition to ensuring playground remain safe, repainting and re-marking can help revitalise your playground. You can learn more about your repair options, or take a look at some examples of our amazing work below.
Places to Exercise
We all know how important exercise is for childhood development, so why shouldn’t your playground design reflect that? The UK’s physical education national curriculum says that throughout school life, students require special attention to be paid around how they play and stay active and healthy.
From Key Stage 1, basic motor skills of running, jumping, and balance improves co-ordination and participation in team games develops important social skills. Our Daily Mile tracks playground markings, and Clamber Stacks and provide an avenue for this structure and non-structured active play in vital ways.
As children enter Key Stage 2, more complex forms of physical education are required emphasising flexibility, strength and control. Our wide range of individual and collaborative outdoor gym equipment for kids provisions healthy and appropriate physical development for 5-7 year olds
For older kids from Key Stage 3 upwards, team sports and tactical thinking are important considerations for playground design and sports equipment for schools. Our selection of multi sport equipment and Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs) with goal ends and playground markings for a variety of sports is a great addition to an active playground.
Places to Rest
With activity comes the equal need for rest, especially for younger age-groups. A range of playground shelter options should be available with seating areas and school canopies over exposed seating areas to protect from the elements.
This is especially important to meet the accessibility requirements for your school playground. For those with reduced mobility or other chronic conditions safe and secure rest areas are vital, and it is also important to bear in mind access to these areas must be accessible. Wet pour surfacing for pathways or grass mats to protect grassy areas makes any playground surface buggy and wheelchair accessible.
Don’t forget to inspire the imagination though! Children love a place to explore, so a creatively designed shelter such as our hobbit houses and yurts are must-have outdoor equipment for schools!
That Extra Special Touch
To really give your school playground a boost, providing a variety of engaging and creative playground equipment is a great way to keep kids engaged and excited on the playground!
Engaging Play Equipment
Interactive and sensory equipment for childhood play is vital to social and personal development. At different stages of a child’s growth, having access to a wide range of varied equipment encourages play at their own speed to make the most of the benefits learning through play can provide.
Our amazing sensory play panels and other creative equipment put emphasis on interactivity through touch. But this also includes the other senses such as sound, where musical play is an emerging focus for forward thinking school play equipment suppliers.
Educational Fun
Infusing all areas of school life with the spirit of education is an amazing way to keep kids engaged in learning throughout the day. This relatively novel idea is a great benefit for teachers who can help students learn through play in new ways, while enjoying the outdoors.
We are proud to prioritize educational outdoor play equipment for all abilities with our range of our numbers, maths and artistic play panels, as well as in a variety of playground markings.
Missing Anything? Give us a Call!
For more ideas on how to develop and grow your primary school playground explore our other blogs for some fantastic inspiration from the School Playground Company!
If you think our products are right for your playground, continue browsing our website, or contact us today. Call 01455412134, email us at info@schoolplaygroundcompany.co.uk, or book an appointment to discuss your options.
