Need Advice on Buying a Playscape for Our Backyard.

I am a grandmother of a 4 year old granddaughter (with a grandson on the way), we bought her the swing, slide, tunnel, playhouse combination made from wood at Sam's for her 3rd brithday. She has absolutely loved playing on it and everyone that comes over plays on it with her. It was a bit expensive ($1,000.00) but worth it since she will use it for years to come. When we have her birthday parties or family gatherings all the children enjoy playing on it. It seems to be very safe and the wood does not splinter. It is very tall and we are careful to watch the children when they climb to the tunnel. Good luck.

I found the one from Costco to be the best all around and reasonably priced compared to Rainbow and other systems.

Don't forget to have pea gravel or some kind of shock absorbent material under the playscape.

Good luck

Hi we bought a Rainbow play system from kid structures off of the beltway in 2000. My kids are now 7,4, and 8months and they love it. We went ahead and invested in a larger one, the huckelberry hidout. there are 2 rooms in the club house, a pinic table under the club house, slide, monkey bar, 3 swings and a rope swing. It has also been moved from our first house to our second house by kid structure and everything is fine. Once a year we have it pressured washed, restained, and sealed.

We just got a playscape this summer from a company in San Antonio - SturdyCo. We live in Kyle.

They have different sizes. The price was the best we found...$995. It's a wooden playscape with 2 swings, a rock wall, a fort, and a slide.

Their website is www.sturdyco.com

Good luck!

in my neighborhood the most popular one is the one from costco...super cute. if money is no object, rainbow is one of the topo f the line ones. we bought one that was being discontinued at loew's for super cheap, @ $200! if you or hubby are handy, you can put one predrilled together @ 10 hrs. ours was not, @ 22 hrs. or you can pay someone to do ____@____.com luck!

Hi Luz. My in-laws just purchased the Cedar Ridge Playscape from Toys R Us for our 15 month old son and he absolutely loves it. It was very time consuming for my husband and friend to put it up, but it was all well worth it to see our sons face when he saw it completed and played on it. It includes a slide, monkey bars, 2 swings and glider type swing (not sure what it is called). Because our son is too young for the regular swing I purchased the Little Tikes swing seat for him that includes the harness and it works great with the set. we just had to hook it on where one of the original swings went. This particular playscape goes up to 10 years of age. I know they probably paid half the price that you would probably pay for one at Lowes. Not sure if this works for you, but thought I would share with you our recent experience.
Good luck in your search.
M.

My husband is a general contractor and has lots of experience with playscapes, from building them to installing them. If you hve more specific questions he can answer them. His current advice is this. All playscapes are good products, you just need to pick out the one your kids like and go to a Home Depot or Lowes and ask the pros there to help you pick a kit. They should be able to walk you through everything. Have a great day!!

Hi Luz,

My husband did an extended search on playscapes before we bought one. Our kids were about the same age 6 an 2 then. We looked into cost, wood quality (durability and toxic paint), safety issues and more.

We got more for our money bu buying a Rainbow system. We chose one that had a ramp instead of the ladder since the kids were small. It has been the best choice we could've made. It's been 4 years and my kids still enjoy it. The thing is solid as the day it was installed.

I have friends who bought cheaper ones and they don't even let the kids play on it anymore because is so wobbly.

Good luck!
A.

We bought a Rainbow and our three children love it. Buy a good one, that will be safe and last.

whatever brand you decide on, check craigslist!
we got a (old) Rainbow structure for $100. We had to disassemble and move it ourselves, but it was worth it for us!

hth
K., mama to
Catherine, 4y
Samuel 15m

Safety is the first concern. Don't get one too tall that a fall could be a major problem. As the kids get older they have so many other interests that they don't spend that much time on them. In other words they don't need one to grow into. Check consumer reports for safety concerns.

We bought our playscape at Sam's and our kids 4 & 6 love it. The only problem is it took forever to assemble it. We bought it during a rainy patch and it took my husband 3-4 weeks to put it together. He did it pretty much by himself a little at a time in the evenings after work and on the weekends, but the girls absolutely love it. My advice is after you do your research and find the one that suits you is find someone who can put it together for you. Toys R Us have a great selection in a variety of price ranges. Rainbow are kind of expensive but really cool. They do have an end of season clearance, but you have to wait until the end of season. If you go to someplace like Lowes they sell you the kits and you have to purchase the wood seperately. That was just way too much work for us.

Good luck.

Hello. We purchased a playset (actually Santa brought it), for our daughter when she was seven (older siblings were ten, eleven, and sixteen at the time). Alot is going to depend on your price range. We went through a company in Haltom City near Fort Worth (not sure where you are). There sets are equivalent to the Rainbow systems, but so much cheaper! They let you pick each piece you want from the base fort to swings, slides, accessories, etc. You can pick each item you want and add to the basic pieces. They also gave discounts for cash payment. The most important thing we learned was, don't have it built or purchase one based just on your childrens ages now. Make sure it is something they can grow with, or at least that there is room on it for you to add larger items. You can replace baby swings with larger swings, or tire swings. They may not be ready for a rock wall, but you could place it in advance, etc. Our children are now nine, thirteen, fourteen, and nineteen, and they ALL still play on it. Even the nineteen year old, when he has friends over, they will sit on the picnic table, or on the platform and just hang out and talk. Hope this helps! Here is the information on the set we got...Backyard Fun Factory 2202 Carson St. Haltom City, TX 76117 ###-###-#### and their website is www.backyardfunfactory.com

We bought a playscape when our children were the ages yours are now. We spent entirely too much. My advice is to pick one from ToysRUs, Sams, etc. that is not over $600. My children are very active and love to be outdoors BUT the only thing they really use on the playscape are the swings, slide and sandbox. The little playhouses look really cute but don't get much use.

We purchased a playscape from Backyard Adventures which is based outside of San Antonio but the vendor is located at Jeff's Backyard off of Nakoma and West Ave. It is a bit pricier but very well made and solid. They came out and assembled it in one day and said they would come disassemble and reassemble it if we moved. We found out about them at the Blue Cactus Cafe where they have an outdoor playscape for the kids and tons of children were climbing all over it (various ages too) and it was taking quite a beating. I was impressed with how secure it seemed so investigated it and bought one. They look really nice too! Also, the price varies depending on the accessories you want on it (types of swings, slides, etc.) Good luck.

We bought a rainbow, ask to see what they have available called "factory seconds", you'll get a discount. It basically just has some extra holes drilled in them from the factory. It doesn't compromise the integrity of the structure and you'll get a sweeter deal on it just because they messed up and drilled holes in the wrong place. This playscape is rock solid!

We have a Rainbow. Our daughter loves it!

The BEST if you can afford it is the 100% white cedar, they are by nature pest and rot resistant, which means there is practically no upkeep. A big bonus for me is that they have no yucky paint with chemicals and such for kiddos to put their hands on and then put in their mouths, eyes, etc.

I heard from a lady who installs these thing professionally that you want to stay away from the brand Sam's and Wal-Mart sell, because the plastic coated pieces are not solid wood, but pieced together. Since those plastic coated pieces are the support, well, that's a big deal.

Best wishes!

We bought the one from Costco as well. We bought it 3 years ago when our boys were 3 and 1. The 3 yar old could play on it right away and the 1 year old could only swing, but now they bouth use it. I have never regretted the purchase. We shopped around quite a bit and chose this one because it was a lot sturdier than the others. It has a double thick slide which is strong enough for my husband and myself to slide down. The other ones we looked at seemed they would break if we even dared attempt it. It comes with a DVD that has step by step instructions on putting it together so my husband and Uncle had no problem with assembly. It took about 2 full days to assemble. Good luck with your search. It really all depends on how long you want to keep the playscape and how much room you have in your backyard.

I bought a Rainbow playset...used. The one i got would cost about $4000 brand new, and i paid $750 for it! We just love it! Just thought i'd tell you about that option too...there are alot of people out there selling their playsets that their kids don't play w/ anymore. We got a lot more for the money we wanted to spend by buying used.