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Winterizing Your Playground for Safe Seasonal Play

  If your church has a playground on its property, your intentions are no doubt to provide children with a fun place to play and get physical exercise year-round. However, playgrounds can present a huge liability if not maintained and operated appropriately in the winter. At this time of year, many parts of the country

How Soft Play Equipment Can Inspire Your Church Congregation

  As adults in the church congregation, we are called to guide our children in their spiritual journey through the word of God. Now that’s a tall order! How do we keep future generations engaged and inspired when they’re still learning how to “just be kids” themselves? Sunday School, church nurseries, VBS, and youth groups

Important Considerations for Your Church Playground

  There are many reasons a congregation might look at upgrading an existing play area or adding a completely new playground to their church property. There are also several things that you should consider when you’re ready to begin the process. Why Should Anyone Invest in a New Playground or Upgrade Existing Equipment and Play

How to Choose Safe Playground Equipment

  By Michele Breakfield Installing a new playground is an exciting endeavor for a church! However, it can be difficult to know how to choose safe playground equipment that is right for you. If you’ve started shopping for a playground, you know by now that there are thousands of options. So, how do you know

Active vs. Passive Inclusive Play

  It is important to consider how children of all abilities can engage in truly meaningful and memorable play experiences in every aspect of the environment. These spaces should be crafted to encourage participation and socialization between children with and without disabilities by offering opportunities that address their physical, social-emotional, cognitive, sensory, or communication needs.

Play for All

  By Jill Moore Author’s note: In recognition of the varying language preferences across the disability community and experience, throughout this article, I’ve used person-first language (i.e., children with disabilities) and identity-first language (i.e., disabled children) interchangeably. When children step onto a playground, they embark on more than just a journey of play. They dive

How Playtime Can Contribute to Confidence

  By Jaden White “I don’t think I can do it. It’s too tall,” my younger sister said, as her eyes were placed on the tower that was a part of the newest playground in our city. “Of course, you can! You got this,” I said, trying to calm the worries in her young mind.

4 Reasons to Add a Youth Ministry Play Area to Your Church     

  It’s no secret that getting kids involved in a church can be a challenge. In today’s world, so many things compete for their attention. That’s why having a dedicated space for them to play and have fun is so important. These are four reasons you should consider adding a youth ministry play area to

Why Add an Indoor Playground to Your Church?

  Indoor playground equipment might not seem like the obvious addition to your church, but there are several great reasons you might want to consider it. It Will Attract More Young Families Okay, we’re not going to say that indoor playscapes are the only reason young families will choose your church, but if they’re already

5 Unique Design Concepts for Your Church Playground

  By Michele Breakfield Church playgrounds bring families together in creative ways. They support a young congregation and help churches grow their communities. It’s important to thoughtfully plan your church playground, as it will be used by many different individuals and families. In fact, the right playground design might even be the reason why families

3 Tips for a Safer Playground

  How safe is your church playground? While it’s expected that kids may scrape their knee or get a few bumps playing outdoors, a poorly maintained playground can cause serious injuries. According to the CDC, more than 200,000 children visit the emergency room each year for playground-related injuries. Nearly half of these are severe. Use

Tips for Selecting the Right Playground Equipment

  Building playgrounds for children is an important job. However, it can be difficult picking out equipment that all the children will enjoy. Here are some tips for selecting the right playground equipment. Consider the Expected Age Group of Your Playground Users Before you research playground equipment, make sure that you know how old the

Planning Indoor Church Children’s Spaces into Your Building Project

  Healthy relationships with Christ are formed at an early age. The more ways children enjoy their time at church, the more opportunity they have to learn about God and the stronger that relationship can be. This means special planning is in order to ensure that your church building or renovation project includes effective children’s

Playground Planning and Budgeting

  By Mark Lang You want to build a playground. Great! Now what? Let’s start from the very beginning and assess your needs and budget. The first step to a successful playground project is to assess your needs and budget.  The big question is: How much does a commercial playground cost? And, knowing that a

Installing a Playground and Picnic Shelter Can Help Your Church Grow

  If your church is ready to grow, you should give some serious thought to having both a playground and a covered shelter installed. Not only would these amenities be good for your church to use and enjoy on their own merits, but they could also help your church to be more relevant and engaging

Keeping Kids Safe on Indoor Playground Equipment

  By Chuck Wellenberger For months now, those of us that cherish the involvement and fellowship of our local bodies of believers have had to do so virtually or with forced, sparsely populated worship services.  For parents traditionally attending services with young children, it is important to know that while we hear God’s message, our

What to Know About Your Playground Equipment Warranty

  When you check out a playground equipment company’s warranty, make sure you look beyond the headline. Headlines are designed to catch your attention. Whether it is a newspaper, online post, or warranty, the headline copy is interesting and easy to understand, but the true meaning of the headline requires a bit more digging. The

City Road Chapel Extends Their Focus on Quality to Their Playground

  By Eric Torrey City Road Chapel United Methodist Church in Madison, Tennessee, started with the building of a house of worship in 1848. The church moved to a new location in 1872. After that building burned down in 1899, a new church was built at the present site. Since then, the church has continued

Church Playground Equipment and Ideas

  Churches play many important roles within a community. One of those roles is as a place for families to gather and spend quality time together. Given that churches often host people of all ages—from the very young to the very old—it’s important that their facilities are designed for such duty. To cater to the

Planning an Indoor Playground

  When you decide to create an indoor playground, you may be thrilled and ready to jump right into the process. It’s also perfectly normal to have a lot of questions. Questions are actually a great sign. They show you’re taking this investment seriously and planning ahead to create the best possible play space for

Play Will Always Shape Us

Play has an invaluable role in encouraging child development. But play isn’t just one thing. It’s an invitation to explore, learn and grow. Play opens up a world of possibilities. Play—on a playground, in a soccer game or at an art studio—teaches kids how to not only exist together, but accept people of all ages,

How to Find the Best Commercial Playground Equipment Manufacturer

By Grant Riley What does it take to create the most awesome playground in town? It takes the best commercial playground equipment. It seems like a no-brainer, right? Actually, finding the right equipment for your fun-filled playground can seem pretty daunting. This is especially true if you’re unsure of which manufacturer to choose. The principle

Choosing the Best Equipment for Your Church Playground

Spending time outdoors is a vital part of children’s physical and mental development, which is why choosing the best playground equipment for your church childcare program is essential. The equipment installed on your playground should encourage physical activity and should be accessible to children with special needs. Whether your playground project is replacing playground equipment

Adding Indoor Recreation to Your Children's Ministry

By Grant Davies Increasingly, vibrant children’s ministries have shown to play a significant role in the maintenance and growth of worshipers within a church congregation. Both feedback and experience indicate the importance of creating a space within a church for children to learn, move and grow which in turn creates a sense of excitement and

The Benefits of Child's Play

When you think about the most important part of a child’s day, what comes to mind? Is it reading? Science? Math or history? What about outdoor play? Children will likely mention outdoor play as their favorite activity, and new research shows that this free time is actually a fundamental component to their future development and

Community-Built Playgrounds Give Hope to Underserved Youth

The addition of parks and play spaces can have a transformational effect on an entire community. For example, Eyes On Me, Inc., which serves the Brookshire, Texas, community and surrounding areas through their facility, The Hangar Unity Center, was awarded a grant by Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) and national non-profit KaBOOM! towards building a

Choosing Playground Equipment

As the experts put it, a playground should be a hub for kids to enhance their social, physical and emotional skills. Having an open playground in schools, in parks or in the community will help kids interact and with other kids building social connection. They also note that playground facilities develop children’s flexibility and motor

Church Chooses Recycled Play Structure for Community Build

Based in Acworth, Georgia, Four Points Church was founded September 14, 2008. Their mission is to gain disciples and change the lives of people through spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They seek to do this through their four points: love, devotion, passion, and legacy. The church describes its worship as God-focused, authentic, and contemporary.

The Importance of a Church Playground

Your church is the pride of your community, a friendly place where families come to worship, learn, engage with each other, and enjoy a respite from their hectic lives. Adding a playground to your other amenities can enhance your image in the community, attract new families to your congregation, and offer additional benefits for the

Benefits of an Indoor Play Structure

By Grant Davies The addition of a soft, self-contained indoor play structure offers many benefits to a religious facility, such as increased membership, greater enjoyment of experience and improved play and activity value. In an increasingly competitive world where every organization is vying for an advantage, adding a play structure play structure to a church

10 Facts About PVC and Playground Equipment

  This article originally appeared in the August 2009 issue. By Eric E. Torrey Eric E. Torrey is director of marketing for Safeplay Systems, www.safeplaysystems.com. Many playground manufacturers tout their product as being PVC-free. Others don’t. Either way, why is this even an issue to be considered by potential playground equipment purchasers? The fact of

5 Necessary Elements of a Church Playground

Planning the perfect playground can be a fun and relatively easy task when you have the right tools and an experienced playground contractor to partner with. You can let your imagination soar about what all you would like to include in your new play space. However, there are a few things every playground should include.

Evaluating Playground Bids and Proposals

Unlike reviewing bids for a house, or pre-designed structure, comparing competing bids for a playground can be very difficult. In most cases, no two bids will ever be the same. It is important to understand some key points when reviewing the playground bids to make sure you are getting the best possible deal. Let’s take

How to Stretch Your Playground Budget

By Cristen Shepherd Faced with a playground project for a school, church, or childcare center? It is very normal to jump in and start a wish list, and then move right into shopping mode. We get it, commercial equipment is cool stuff to look at and dream about! Here’s a word of caution at this
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