Ground covering under play equipment

[happybratpack]

I spent part of the weekend cleaning out the areas I want to use for playground equip/play area in the backyard. Now I'm trying to decide what ground covering to use on the weed-tarp. Any input? I've been researching online but was looking for some BTDT opinions. I can't use the rubber pieces because of one of the dogs so that's out. So mulch, gravel, what?

Thanks!!

 

[bananiem]

OK, color me stupid. What's BTDT?

 

[mickeyboat]

OK, color me stupid. What's BTDT?

Been there done that

Our school and town use wood chips.

Denae

 

[cepmom]

we used a gravel...I would have rather used either a smaller type gravel, like pea gravel, or mulch but we have too many neighborhood cats that like to use our mulch for a litter box and I did not want them to take over my kids play area !!

 

[bananiem]

Been there done that

Our school and town use wood chips.

Denae

Thanks!
Ok, I was the director of a child care center, on the board at 2 different nursery schools, and the pta of 2 elementary schools. All of them dealt with the playground problem.
Sand- Awful when it's wet. Kids clothes get stained with the wet sand. When it's dry it gets into the shoes and so into the house it goes unless you are deligent about teaching her to pull off her shoes before entering. Even then, when they're in a hurry to go potty, the sand goes in too!
Mulch- Good but breaks down very quickly. Needs to be replaced yearly.
Pea gravel- Easy to "re-situate" when a spot gets thin. Does not track into house. Generally need to add more pea gravel every few years, but do not have to replace entire amount. Only problem was some kids tended to want to throw it at the center. They learned quickly (by losing play time) that was not ok.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

My experience with ground cover for play areas comes mostly from working various day care/preschool settings, a family camp, and a couple church play grounds. I agree with both pea gravel and wood chips. The size of the wood chips makes a difference in if it will get tracked in or not - too small and it's just a mess. Too big and it hurts to fall on. With both you'll have to teach the kids not to throw it, but for most kids it's an easy lesson. The wood chips do break down over time, but that is also an advantage for when they find their way outside of the play area. The gravel outside of the play area can be more of a pain to get back into the "zone".

 

[LBAK]

I'm the director of a pre-school and we did lot of research on this very topic. The state gave me some writer research that said pea gravel was actually the safest so that's what we went for and I thin it's done a great job.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Sand is the safest for kids out of any groundcover--Pea gravel can do the same damage as cement when wiping out on it my DS10(then 5) found that out for us and as for woodchips they can cause some of the nastiest splinters ever seen--Ds14 (then about 7) was coming down the slide on his stomach arms outstretched he hit the bottom and kept going as you normally do well those wood chips managed to bury themselves DEEP in his arms---his left had a couple of splinters but his right had a big chunk buried deep took him to the ER and they had to cut open over the chunk to remove then clean it but it got infected they cut it open again and found that some bug that lived in the wood was in DS arm they had to debrade the skin meaning scrub the heck out of it and he was put on IV antibiotics---The whole thing was a mess so for us never again will my kids play on any equipment that doesnt have sand under it---You may have to teach them a couple of extra things like brushing themselves off or taking off their shoes on the porch but in the interest of safety sand is best

 

[happybratpack]

The tracking problem is a huge issue, mostly because of the dogs to be honest. She can learn to wipe off, take shoes off, but the brats are like a wrecking crew. I have very small mulch in there now (they were big flower beds before) and it's a nightmare inside the house from them tracking it in, rolling in it, etc.