Blog

Funding the construction of playground equipment for schools can be a daunting task. Commercial playground equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, making playground equipment out of reach for many schools. Playground Ideas offers designs, resources, and guidance to help communities around the world build playgrounds from low cost, local materials. Building locally can dramatically reduce the cost of school playground equipment.

But even when building from low cost materials, funding can be a challenge for many schools who don’t have playground equipment in their budget. Don’t let funding stand in your way! With a bit of creativity and persistence, any community can find the funds to build playground equipment for their school. Over the years, we’ve been inspired by the creative fundraising ideas we’ve seen in our community:

+ On Donna’s playground in Azerbaijan, she got local businesses to sponsor different playground equipment and then painted the business name on each element as a thank you.

+ On Julie’s school playground in Thailand, the parents of different classes each got together to raise the funds for a different piece of playground equipment on the playground.

+ Tom and Carla host university student volunteers on their playground builds in Uganda. Before their trip, each volunteer is required to fundraise a portion of the costs of the playground build.

+ Josh and Jane, two Peace Corps Volunteers, got a grant for their school playground in Morocco from World Connect (www.worldconnect-us.org).

+ Rabi got funding for her playground from the federal government of Nigeria by writing a detailed proposal on the advantages of early childhood play.

+ In Timor-Leste, we worked on a school playground project that was sponsored by a Rotary Club (www.rotary.org). There are Rotary clubs all over the world – consider reaching out to your local chapter!

In addition to these creative ideas, you can also start a crowdfunding project on our site to help you drum up the funds for your playground equipment. Click here to create a free account to get started. 

CHECK OUT PLAYGROUND IDEAS OWN Nüdel Kart – A GREAT WAY TO GET KIDS PLAYING OUTDOORS!

(more…)

Since 2007, Playground Ideas has supported over 1400 communities build playgrounds in 85 countries impacting over 700,000 children. We’ve built playgrounds of all shapes and sizes and developed a design library with over 150 kids playground equipment designs.

While we love all the designs in our library, a few stick out as our favorite, time-tested designs that we end up building over and over again. Check out our top eight low-cost kids playground equipment designs—all of which can be built from low-cost, local materials, tools, and skills. If you’re building a playground on a budget, these elements can’t be beat.

1. Swing Truck Tire Hammock

A rocking hammock is a corner of peace and calm on the playground. Kids will love swaying & chatting, or even taking a nap. Bonus – it can be built from a couple used truck tires and bolts, so it’s way cheaper than traditional swing sets.

2. Sensory Garden

Incorporate plenty of textures, colors, and smells into your playground with this simple garden structure. Gardens are a great way to incorporate the local community in the construction of the playground as parents, teachers, and community members can donate starts from their own gardens.

3. Motorbike

Vroom vroom! This imaginary play element is a hit with kids around the world. Imaginary play is incredibly important to children’s healthy development – it promotes creativity, social interaction, and even lays the foundation for early literacy skills. Make sure to incorporate elements that encourage imaginative play on your playground.

4. Shop Front

A market? Hair salon? Mechanic? You choose. Try painting it up to look like a real shop in your community. This element makes a great addition to a sandpit, where kids can mould and model things to sell in the shop.

5. Balance See Saw Hybrid

A balance beam with a twist! These planks see-saw in a fun cause and effect movement. Unlike traditional see saws, this piece of kids playground equipment can accommodate many children at once.

6. Earth Mound Small

Every playground should have hills! Add dramatic height and dimension to your space with this low cost feature.

7. Sandpit Double

Sand play is an essential part of any playground for young children – it provides hours of open-ended, tactile, creative play.

8. Half Tire Square

This element is easy to build and leaves itself open to children’s imagination. In no time they’ll be creating their own games and rules.

Get all eight of our top favorite kids playground equipment designs when you download our Playground Starter Kit, a beautiful, low-cost design scheme that inspires active, imaginative, social, creative, and open-ended play.

The site was designed with a small preschool in mind, but it’s adaptable to different ages and group sizes. In this design kit you’ll find the DIY step-by-step plans for each element, as well tips and advice for adapting the design to your own space and needs.

Click here to download the free Playground Starter Kit.

Across the globe, kids love the adrenaline rush of swinging high up into the air on swing sets. And with the right tools and designs you can build kids swing sets that will be loved for years to come. Playground Ideas has over 150 free DIY playground element designs that can be built anywhere in the world from locally sourced, low-cost, and recycled materials. These designs are free of common safety hazards and each design comes with downloadable step-by-step pictorial instructions. Here are three of our favorite DIY kids swing set plans from our design library:

1. Bucket Seat Tire Toddler

This kids swing set is perfect for young kids who aren’t yet ready for traditional swings. Plastic bucket swings can often be expensive to purchase, but this version can be made with just two car tires and a handful of bolts. Click through for full DIY instructions. 

2. Swing Seat Nursery No Welding

This kids swing set is one of the simplest elements to build! The best part? No power tools needed. Click through for full DIY instructions. 

3. Swing Seat Tear Drop

The Swing Seat Tear Drop is like a robust version of a rope swing. It’s perfect to hang from a tree! Click through for full DIY instructions. 

Looking for a full playground design? Check out our Playground Starter Kit. This playground design scheme puts together some of our favorite, time tested designs into a beautiful space that encourages active, imaginative, creative, and social play. Best of all, every element can be built from local, low-cost and recycled materials, commonly found tools, and local labor. And each design comes with full DIY step-by-step instructions.

Click here to download our free Playground Starter Kit.