Design a successful school playground
School Playground Design Ideas
Designing a School Playground
Designing and building a carefully thought-out school playground takes a lot of consideration and many decisions along the way.
An unoccupied playground with neglected play equipment can be burdensome for any Head Teacher. When designing a successful school playground, it's important to choose play equipment that is appropriate for different age groups and offers engaging play activities and value. By doing so, you can create a buzzing schoolyard that positively impacts your students' well-being, classroom performance, and learning skills. With some clever planning, it's easy to achieve this.
School Playground Planning
Planning a school playground has great potential for promoting physical activity, socialisation, and imaginative play. To ensure that you select age-appropriate play equipment for your school, we have put together some of our best design ideas. We categorise play activities based on the study of play and recommend playground solutions in the following categories:
Primary School
Secondary School
Special Educational Needs School
School-age children have an impressive ability to learn and absorb information. They excel at developing basic coordination skills like running, climbing, and balancing. To ensure that they continue to learn and grow, it's important to provide a diverse range of challenges when designing and developing school playground ideas. This will help them develop and refine a broad range of skills.
1. Playground Ideas For Primary Schools
Natural Playgrounds
Incorporating a natural playground into school grounds is an excellent way to inspire exploration and interaction with natural elements. This is particularly beneficial in urban areas where access to nature is limited. 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
When selecting play towers for your primary school playground, it's best to opt for more challenging options. School-age Towers are a great choice as they encourage children to engage in developmental play activities during the school day. Each play system provides numerous cognitive, social-emotional, creative, and physical benefits that are tailored to specific age groups and play activities. For children aged 6 and up, the exciting Cliff Rider is a particularly popular play activity.
Clever Climbing
An excellent method to create a competitive, secure, and lively school playground is by integrating climbing equipment to provide a comprehensive physical activity experience. You can opt for the widely-known Monkey climbing trails or dynamic climbing equipment to encourage active play among your students during recess. Climbing is an enjoyable developmental activity for children that helps to enhance their muscle strength, motor skills, as well as cognitive development.
2. Secondary School Playground Ideas
Climbing Structures
Consider selecting visually appealing climbing structures such as GALAXY Play systems or climbing BLOQX. for an exciting playground experience. These play systems offer additional areas for children to socialise away from the main play area. Climbing, crawling, and balancing through these structures help develop children's ABC motor skills - Agility, Balance, and Coordination. These skills are crucial for children to navigate the world with confidence and focus.
Multi-Use Games Area
A Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) is a must for secondary school playgrounds! During break, areas designated for ball games and other free activities can keep pupils entertained and help them release their energy. Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs) are ideal spaces to encourage children in your school to associate having fun with a healthy and active lifestyle.
Tweens do Love to Play
To encourage tweens to engage in physical activity during school, it is suggested to create play areas that cater to both performers and spectators. Additionally, it may be beneficial to designate activity zones separate 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.
3. Special Needs
1. Accessibility - Can I get there?
Start by ensuring accessibility to the playground and the surrounding area. Plan for easy access to transportation, parking, and toilets with ramps and wide pathways to and from the playground. If you are planning a gated playground ensure that gates are wide enough to facilitate assisted access and assistive devices. Avoid physical obstacles such as curbs and gates placed out of reach. Accessible safety surfacing around play equipment is necessary for social play value and peer communication.
2. Inclusive - Can I stay?
Next, ensure everyone feels comfortable in the playground, especially children with sensory or physical challenges. Children have differing needs for socialising and retracting, and so do their caregivers. Additional facilities nearby will encourage longer visits, i.e. toilets, water fountains, café, electricity etc. Make sure that the playground caters for young, old and all abilities by providing shade to avoid overheating, seating and tables for a break, also for caregivers and create a layout with transparent sight lines for easy supervision and contact across the play area.
3. Usability - Can I Play?
Lastly, getting around the play area is hugely important. So, ensure users with mobility difficulties can get around the playground and easily reach the play equipment. Implement play equipment that provide play from all sides and spaciousness to support diverse body, sizes, abilities and positions.
Also make sure that elevated-level and ground-level play activities are accessible and usable for users with mobility difficulties, either by a ramp structure or easy access surfacing materials. Ramp structures provide access to levels of play otherwise not reachable by, e.g. wheelchair users.
Let's Plan your School Playground Together
It's a Smart Move
Plan and Work With KOMPAN
Our team takes great pleasure in bringing your school playground ideas to life. We are always ready to assist you in brainstorming and designing your dream playground, whether it's a quick improvement or a large-scale project. We are committed to helping you select equipment that meets your interdisciplinary requirements.
When it comes to improving or creating a playground, the budget will always be a determining factor. However, even small investments can have a significant impact. Additionally, there are various options available to obtain funding for school playgrounds. You can find more information on 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.
Our process for working with you
1. Free Design Consultation
To book a free consultation with one of our school playground experts, please fill out the form provided. We'll get back to you within 1-2 business days via phone or email. During the consultation, we will discuss your needs, challenges, and budget to better understand how we can assist you in planning and building your school playground. Our approach involves listening to your requirements, exploring options, and strategising your project for optimal results.
2. School Playground Design Sketches
After our meeting, you will receive the preliminary sketches and proposal for the school playground. Our recommendations, estimated costs, and timeline for implementation will be included. We will work together to refine the proposal and make sure it meets all of your expectations.
3. Installation and Afterservice
Finally, after we have determined the best solution for your needs, we will turn your outdoor school area into a safe, enjoyable, and stimulating space for students to play, learn, and grow. Additionally, we will assist you in maintaining the playground equipment, conducting inspections, and providing after-service to guarantee that the equipment remains in excellent condition and complies with safety regulations.
4. Safety
At KOMPAN UK, 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 UK safety standards are met. 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.”
Elevate School Playgrounds with Proven Success
Reach out to KOMPAN for solutions that children adore and schools trust.
View other school case studies
Clyde Primary and St Brendan’s Primary School within Clyde Campus
