Why Your Kids Need a Backyard Playground

Where is your child's favorite place to play? If the answer is the neighborhood playground, that's a good thing!  Research has found that playgrounds are essential not only to a child's physical strength, but mental well-being. They help kids develop cognitive reasoning and problem-solving skills, and encourage them to use their imaginations and creativity.

Even knowing that, a lot of parents find it hard to make the time to take their kids to the park, so they're doing the next best thing - building playgrounds in their backyards where they can keep an eye on the kids as they play.

Thinking of joining the trend?  If so, do some research first.  A good place to start is by deciding how much you want to spend.  Depending on the features they come with, quality wooden play sets typically cost between $2,000 and $3,000.  

That's a lot more than Karl Jessen wanted to spend back in the late 1990s when he was ready to buy a set for his boys, so he decided to build one himself; but when he started shopping around for supplies, Jessen realized the task wouldn't be as easy as he first thought.

"I had to go to different places to find the swings, slide, monkey bars, hardware and lumber.  No one was selling materials that met my standards as a kit, and that gave me an idea," he says.  

Jessen decided to go into the playground building business after realizing he had stumbled onto a niche that needed to be filled.   His company, Detailed Play Systems, www.detailedplay.com offers the cost-conscious consumer the Detailed Plans needed to build their playground along with the hardware, rooftop tarp, climbing rope, safety hand grips, belt swings and trapeze bar for less than $400.  Slides and other accessories are available as add-ons.  The wood is not included, but each kit contains a Lumber Purchase Guide that shows exactly what wood needs to be purchased to build each configuration.

If you decide to build a playground yourself, you can count on the project taking about a weekend to complete.  Jessen estimates about 8 hours for the wood processing, which includes cutting the wood to size and drilling the holes for the bolts, and another 8 hours for assembly.  

To see the playset configurations available or order a catalog, log on to www.detailedplay.com. Shipping is available in the 48 contiguous United States.

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