Author – Mabel Burnett

Playgrounds enable children to develop and improve essential abilities such as social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills. In addition, youngsters continuously learn as they play by meeting new friends, sharing, taking turns, and interacting with other kids.

You can build it on your own playground at home or hire a contractor to build it for you. However, when designing your playground, you should consider using sustainable materials and making it kid-friendly and eco-friendly.

Steps to build a sustainable playground for kids

Here are some tips you can follow when you are planning or building your sustainable playground at home that your kids will love.

Use soft playground mulch for the ground

The first thing you should consider when you create a playground is the safety of your children. Kids, especially younger ones, are prone to falling when playing on a playground. That’s why it’s vital to ensure that the soil where you will build your playground is soft. This way, the impact will be minimal when a kid falls to the ground. However, since we aim to build a sustainable playground, you should use green building materials.

Therefore, instead of rubberized surfaces, you should use soft fall mulch. There are various advantages of using playground mulch. Apart from being good for the environment, it is also aesthetically appealing and very effective in reducing the severity of the impact when a kid falls. Additionally, it also helps in minimizing the growth of unwanted weeds. Soft fall mulch is easy to use and reasonably priced. It is bound to make any playground a safer place for children to play.

Consider building with wood

Wood is the most sustainable material, which is contrary to what people perceive. Sustainably grown wood reduces the carbon footprint and is renewable. Wood doesn’t drain natural resources the same way as other construction materials, such as steel or cement. It can be cultivated and repeatedly harvested because it is a resource that essentially stands on its own.

As per David Venables, In addition to having a lower carbon footprint than other building materials, wood uses fewer resources, such as water, and very less fossil fuels when used in industrial applications. As a result, its sustainability can be seen and measured.

You must consider using wood to build the playground structure itself. In addition to being an excellent sustainable material, wood is softer than concrete or steel. Since wood is soft, you can ensure that the kids are safe no matter how hard they bump into the structure while playing. Wood also makes your playground look nice and trendy. You can even create a rustic-themed playground that will enhance the aesthetic value of your property.

Use recycled materials

There are so many recycled items that you will find useful when building your playground. For instance, you can use a used tyre to make a swing. Tyres are made of rubber, which is a soft material. As a result, you will be at ease knowing that the impact will be minimal, even if your kid gets hit by a swing.

In addition to old tires, old plastic containers can be reused to create some part of your sustainable playground. Use high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic containers, such as milk jugs, when making a recycled plastic playground. Further, you can paint the plastic container with different eye-catching colors to make the playground attractive for the kids.

Use eco-friendly paints

Adding color to your playground will make it come to life. First, however, you must ensure that you will only use eco-friendly paint. Eco-friendly paint is non-toxic and is best used for such sustainable construction projects.

When looking for eco-friendly paint, you should opt for paints with zero to extremely low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). Even though eco-friendly paints typically don’t have any VOCs added, some production processes may produce tiny amounts of VOCs. So go for less than 5g of VOC per liter of paint. Remember, the lower, the better.

Aside from VOCs, there is other bad stuff that you need to check and avoid such as ammonia, formaldehyde, and acrylic softeners. These substances could also be lurking in a supposed to be eco-friendly paint.

Examine the label to determine if the paint is made from natural ingredients, such as clay. It should also indicate if it’s non-toxic and is clear of acrylics, oils, and vinyl. Lastly, seek certifications proving the paint is environmentally friendly and safe to use.

To Sum It Up

Despite your apprehensions, building a sustainable playground is easy. Having a sustainable playground within your property not only provides your kids with a place to play and learn, but also helps the environment while increasing the aesthetic value of your property!