Want to transform your tired schoolyard into a play haven?
With the school holidays approaching, now is the perfect time to start looking at new school playground equipment and asking your pupils what apparatus they’d like to see, come September.
Whilst you could choose a challenging climbing frame with a slide to whizz down, more and more primary schools are opting for adventure trails. Perhaps you could do the same?
These trails can be tailored to suit your exact specifications and allow pupils to practice a broad range of skills. For example, Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) can develop low-level balancing and coordination skills whilst Key Stages 1 and 2 can challenge their physical and mental strength with climbing activities.
In this article, you can get some pointers on how to create a fun-filled activity trail for your school children.
Four factors to think about when designing an activity trail
- Space
Though trails can be linear in shape, they are great for joining irregular spaces in the playground. That means, if you have any unused spaces, you can transform them with exciting new school playground equipment.
How much available space you have can also determine what type of components your trail consists of, which leads us on to the next point.
- Activities
From balancing beams and stepping logs to scrambling nets, rope bridges, monkey bars, climbing walls, and tunnels, you can make your activity trail as challenging as you like.
Of course, you want to encourage youngsters to set themselves targets – but you need to be realistic, so keep in mind their ages and abilities to ensure they can use the activity trail safely.
- Budget
When investing in any new playground apparatus, you need to think carefully about how much you can afford to spend.
It’s worth arranging a meeting with the board of governors to explain your ideas and to explore your fundraising options. Alternatively, you may consider applying for a grant.
- Safety surfacing
Although it’s perfectly possible to install an adventure trail directly onto grass, it’s advised that you opt for some type of safety surfacing – i.e. rubber mulch, synthetic grass, rubber bark, mats, or matting.
In doing so, you can relax knowing that your students can play safely in wet weather, without the play area becoming flooded or waterlogged.
Seek expert advice
By far the best thing you can do when investing in new play equipment for your school – be it a single unit or an activity trail – is to arrange a consultation with playground specialists, like Setter Play.
They have been designing, manufacturing and installing playground equipment for schools in Bedfordshire and the surrounding area for more than 20 years, and consider no job too big or too small.
During the consultation, you can share your initial ideas with their design team, and they will create a plan – taking into consideration you and your pupils’ requests. They can even offer tips and recommendations in this appointment to ensure that you create the most exciting activity trail for your students.
So, why not get in touch with them today?
