Our Beautiful Backyard Playground

Now that we have our game room on the inside of the house done and our patio as a nice outdoor room, it’s time to focus on creating a space in the backyard for the kids. Even though our youngest is still too little to enjoy an outdoor Play Gym, we wanted a space and equipment that could grow with all of them and last a long time. Our first step was to head over to Family Leisure (I work there) and check out the different kinds of equipment and options they had.

There were several different designs to choose from and each had features that we knew our kids would love. So we tried to take into consideration the design we thought they could enjoy the most now as well as the one most likely to grow with them over the years. After lots of discussion, we chose the Cambridge Deluxe by Creative Playthings. This set has a place for swings and a glider, a rock-climbing wall, large slide, a tree house above and a picnic table below, as well as a small sandbox area under the tree house. The ladder opposite the slide is sturdy and angled for safe climbing, and the tree house has a great roof to keep the space beneath dry on wet days. We love the durable feel of the materials and that we could be additional swings and accessories as we needed them.

Once we made our choice and placed the order, it was time to go home and prepare the area for the play gym. We had already chosen a nice flat spot across from the patio in the back corner of the yard. We went to the home supply store and bought enough landscaping timbers to frame out plenty of space around the play gym when it was delivered. We laid them out and used long nails to anchor them to the ground and to each other at the corners. Then we ordered a load of soft wood chips from our landscaping supply company. The truck dumped the load of wood chips in our driveway and we used wheelbarrows to haul them to the back yard and dump them in the play yard area. Then we smoothed them out by raking them into place. We wanted a relatively soft surface for the kids to play on instead of destroying the grass in the heat of the summer and being a muddy mess in the spring and fall. This way we can add new wood chips as needed each spring rather than trying to keep grasses growing around the play gym.

After the play yard was ready, the play gym was delivered and set up. The kids are really having fun with it, and even the baby is getting in on the action with her toys in the sandbox. It’s so nice to sit out and enjoy our new patio while the kids enjoy their special backyard space.