Design a successful school playground
School Playground Design Ideas
How to Design School Playgrounds
Empty schoolyards with unused play equipment can be burdensome for a principal. Successful schoolyard design requires specific playground equipment, play activities, and play value for different age groups. Therefore, choosing age-appropriate playground equipment is the key to an engaging and buzzing schoolyard design that will impact your pupils' overall well-being, classroom performance, and learning skills. And all it takes is a little bit of clever planning.
School Playground Planning
School playground planning holds immense potential for promoting physical activity, fostering social interactions, and encouraging imaginative play. To ensure you choose age-appropriate equipment for your school, we have compiled some of our best design ideas for school playgrounds: We categorise play activities based on the study of play and recommended playground solutions within the following categories:
Primary School
Secondary School
Special Needs
School-age children seem able to do and learn almost anything. They master basic coordination skills such as running, climbing, and balancing; however, because their range of skills is so broad, offering skill development within a wide range of challenges is essential when planning a school playground.
1. Primary School Playground Ideas
Natural Playgrounds
Integrating a natural playground in school playgrounds is perfect for encouraging discovery and contact with natural materials. It is especially a great way to bring nature to schools in urban environments. Combine wooden multi-play structures with climbing trails to build speed and balance while encouraging social interaction and group experiences that foster cooperation and grow friendships.
Play Systems
Choose more challenging play towers for your primary school playground. Go for School-age Towers to engage children in developmental play activities during the school day. Each play system caters to several cognitive, social-emotional, creative, and physical benefits depending on the specific play activities and age group. A thrilling play activity such as the Cliff Rider is also hugely attractive to school-age children from 6+.
Clever Climbing
Another incredible way of building a competitive, safe, and energetic school playground is by combining climbing equipment into an all-encompassing physical exertion experience. Go for the popular Monkey climbing trails or dynamic climbing equipment to engage your pupils in active play during recess. Climbing is a fun developmental activity for children to strengthen muscles, motor skills, and cognitive development.
2. Secondary School Playground Ideas
Climbing Structures
Go for “cool-looking” climbing structures like the GALAXY Play systems or climbing BLOQX. These play systems also allow hangout spots away from the main playground area. The fun climb, crawl, and balance through climbing structures train children’s motor skills ABC: Agility, Balance and Coordination. These motor skills are fundamental to school children's ability to navigate the world with confidence, but also their ability to sit still and concentrate.
Multi-Use Games Area
A Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) is a must for secondary school playgrounds! Areas for ball games and free activities will keep pupils entertained and let off steam during recess while being physically active. You can use MUGAs as an ideal space to help the children in your school create a positive connection in their minds between having fun and an active lifestyle.
Tweens do Love to Play
To motivate tweens to be physically active in the school playground, design play areas that accommodate performers as well as spectators and plan for activity areas away from the main playground. If you would like to learn more about the research behind how to motivate tweens' physical activity in playgrounds, read our whitepaper on the topic: Tweens Love Playgrounds.
包容性游乐场介绍
1. 无障碍性
首先确保游乐场和周围地区的无障碍性。便利的交通、停车场、洗手间、带有坡道和宽敞的通道，便于到达和离开游乐场，这些都是设计规划时所要考虑的。如果您计划建造一个带门的游乐场，请确保门宽度足够，便于协助进出和使用辅助设备。避免物理障碍，如路沿石和门放置在无法触及的位置。在游乐设备周围放置无障碍安全铺装是必要的，以提高社交玩耍价值和同伴交流。
2. 舒适性
接下来，确保每个人都在游乐场感到舒适，特别是有感官或身体障碍的儿童。孩子在社交和回避方面有不同的需求，照顾者也是如此。附近的额外设施将鼓励更长时间的游玩，例如厕所、饮水机、咖啡馆、电源等。确保游乐场可以为年幼、年长和所有能力的人服务，提供遮阴以避免过热、座位和桌子供休息，也供看护人使用，并创建透明的视线布局，以便轻松监督和联系整个游乐区域。
3. 可用性
最后，穿越游乐区非常重要。因此，确保行动不便的用户可以在游乐场周围并到达游戏设备。实现提供全方位游戏和支持不同体型、能力和姿势的宽敞游戏设备。
此外，确保高架和地面游戏活动对于行动不便的用户可达和可用，可以通过坡道结构或易于访问的铺装材料来实现。坡道结构为轮椅使用者等行动不便的用户提供了进入其他无法到达的游戏层面的途径。
Let's Plan your School Playground Together
It's a Smart Move
Plan and Work With Us
Bringing your school playground idea to life is what we love the most. We are happy to help you brainstorm and design your dream school playground. Whether for a slight improvement or a full-scale project, we are here to help you choose the equipment that suits your interdisciplinary needs.
Improving a playground or starting from scratch will always be governed by budget. But that's not to say that some small investments can't make a huge difference. And let's talk about that, too. There are various options to get funding for your school playground, and you can learn more about how to apply for playground grants here. If you would like to learn more about the overall planning of a playground, we have collected all tips & tricks in our playground planning checklist.
The process of working with us
1. Free Design Consultation
First, fill out the form to book a free consultation with one of our school playground experts. We will follow up with a call or an email within 1-2 business days.
We’ll discuss your needs, challenges, and budget during the consultation. Then we'll examine how to help you best plan and build your school playground. We seek to understand the scope, listen, explore options, and strategise your project.
2. School Playground Design Sketches
During or after our meeting, you’ll receive the initial school playground sketches and proposal with our recommendations, estimated costs, and the timeline for implementation. Afterwards, we’ll refine this together and ensure that it meets your expectations.
3. Installation and Afterservice
Lastly, once we've agreed upon the right solution for you, we’ll transform your outdoor school area into a safe, engaging, fun space - for play, learning and thriving pupils. We also guide you through maintenance of the playground equipment, inspections and after-service to ensure that playground equipment is maintained and meets safety standards.
4. Safety
At KOMPAN, we always prioritise safety to provide a secure environment for pupils to explore and have fun. When you engage and commit to working with us, we will ensure all safety standards in your region comply. To learn the rules and best practices for playground safety, read the Public Playground Safety Handbook PDF here provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Additionally, you can read the CPSC’s checklist of recommendations here.”
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