Children's playgrounds in your own home. Children's playground in the country: what can you build for a child with your own hands? What can be placed on such a site?

Any country house will have an additional advantage if, in the yard next to it, you build a quality playground with your own hands. For every person, time spent on the playground is one of the most important stages of his life. After all, we all remember how in childhood we built sand castles, jumped rope, ran races, played hide and seek and other outdoor games. Life in the yard, as they say, was in full swing.

Times have, of course, changed, but despite this, it is important to continue to understand that every child must go through this. A children's playground at the dacha is a kind of school where children receive their first communication skills with peers, learn relationships and mutual understanding, learn the rules of behavior in society, and develop their imagination, dexterity and endurance.

Playground safety

The adjacent area should be associated, first of all, with a safe playground where you can play various games. After all, kids have such a fantasy that they can frolic anywhere for hours. In this case, the safety of the structure must be carefully monitored. This applies primarily to sports structures on which small children play.

Important! To create the safest playground possible with your own hands, it is necessary to analyze the main reasons why injuries occur in such areas. Not all injuries are inevitable, as leading experts confirm.

Safe covering for playgrounds

Falls is the leading cause of injuries to children on playgrounds. Many people believe that falls cannot be avoided, because every person often fell and got bruises in childhood. But a child can fall not only, for example, by tripping over a stone, but also from some high structure, which is much more dangerous.

The severity of injuries is determined mainly by how hard the playground surface was.

The hardest and, accordingly, the most traumatic material is concrete. Playgrounds for children, equipped on the basis of this material, oddly enough, are found in many courtyards of private houses. The second highest level of injury risk is asphalt, followed by tightly compacted soil.

Interesting to know! Until recently, sand was considered the safest surface for playgrounds. But with the development of technology, even safer materials began to appear on the market, for example, crumb rubber.

A layer of crumb rubber only two or three centimeters thick can effectively soften impacts without any consequences for the child’s insufficiently strong body. The most dangerous areas can be covered with a thicker layer of crumb rubber (up to 10 cm).

Wooden chips are a natural material that is perfect as a shock-absorbing bedding

Bruises and injuries from falling

Children, as a rule, are not afraid of swings, trying to fly as high as possible on them each time. But when a person grows up and has his own children, he develops a certain fear regarding these structures.

And for good reason, since swings and falls are common causes of injury in children. In some cases, it leads to serious consequences, so it is very important to make them as safe as possible.

Important! The greatest threat is posed by beam and rod type swings with seats made of wood or metal. For safety reasons, it is better to avoid using swings of this type altogether.

Seats in the form of rubber or leather belts, suspended using polypropylene ropes or metal chains, are much less dangerous. These are very light and practically devoid of sharp corners structures.

And even if it happens that a child accidentally hits such a seat, then this will be limited only to his fall, and onto a soft and safe surface. In this way, injury to the baby can be avoided.

Important! To make the playground as safe as possible, you can install a fence around the swing. The distance at which it is placed should not only prevent the baby from being injured if he suddenly falls, but also prevent children playing on the playground from being too close to the swing.

Smooth surfaces and no sharp corners

Rough surfaces, sharp corners and various moving elements are no less dangerous on the playground. That is why, without exception, all wooden and especially metal parts of structures must have rounded edges.

The parts themselves must have a well-polished surface and high-quality painting, using only environmentally friendly compounds.

Important! If you are planning to build a playground at your dacha with your own hands, you need to remember that all moving mechanisms must be “put on” protective covers, which completely eliminate any possibility of pinching, for example, a child’s clothes.

Do-it-yourself playgrounds in the country

A multifunctional summer cottage allows you to create comfortable areas designed both for relaxation for adults and for organizing useful activities for children.

At the planning stage, it is important to consider the basic equipment of the playground, taking into account the age characteristics and individual preferences of younger family members.

Planning a playground is an important stage of construction, which should contain a set of measures for improving the local area

Projects and drawings

To make the final decision on where to equip a playground and how to arrange it, you should calculate the optimal area of ​​the future structure. A drawing is being developed that will make it easy to mark the site.

This parameter per child depends on age:

• under 7 years old - 8-9 m2;
• 7-12 years - 13-15 m2.

Important! Given this dependence, additional space should be provided if the playground is initially created for the younger age category. For example, you can temporarily lay out a lawn there.

Ideas for a playground (photo)

Fairy town for kids located close to home in order to constantly monitor their activities. Children of early adolescence should be provided with athletic facilities, for which a site is selected near the blank wall of the house. This will prevent the ball from hitting the windows.

Advice! A good option when constructing a playground is to preserve existing trees that provide shade. In open areas, they are considering installing canopies.

1. When choosing a decorative solution for a playground, you do not need to strive to maintain the same style with the surrounding landscape and home.
2. When choosing a color scheme, take into account the wishes of children; they are known to prefer bright colors and fabulous accents.
3. On rented plots, you can install ready-made houses in the form of tents, around which you can place plastic tables, chairs, inflatable pool, collapsible trampoline.
4. Stationary structures - slide, sandbox, cozy house, swing should be planned on an area that is constantly used.

A children's playground, subject to careful calculations at the design stage, allows for rational and convenient placement of structures that are attractive to children of all ages.

This approach provides not only the opportunity to organize a variety of gaming activities, but also the development of their sports skills.

Slide

The construction of a slide begins with the development of a diagram in compliance with the exact scale. This will allow you to select the necessary building material.

Important! The main criterion when determining the height of a structure is the safety of children of different ages: 1-5 years ≤ 1 m, over 5 years - 1-2.5 m.

1. The angle of inclination of the stairs leading to the slide should be approximately 25-30 degrees.
2. The width of the steps varies from 20 to 25 cm. It is advisable to make their surface less slippery by using a rubber coating.
3. Balusters and reliable railings are fixed on the sides.
4. The handrails should extend above the top step so that the child has the necessary support when climbing the slide.

Children's slide - diagram indicating exact dimensions

Ready-made ones are considered the safest plastic ramps- screw, straight, wavy, which are selected in accordance with the calculated dimensions.

If you decide to install plywood or wooden slopes yourself, you need to pay special attention to sanding their surface, which is then varnished.

Plastic slide is the ideal solution for a modern children's slide in the country

Swing

Swing– probably the most vivid and memorable event from our distant childhood, which gave us an incomparable feeling of freedom, a feeling of flight and weightlessness. That is why garden swings have become an invariable attribute of a holiday in the country for the whole family.

Sufficient space is allocated for the swing, taking into account the maximum range of motion. It is advisable to restrict children's free access to this structure at the rear to prevent injuries.

Many people wonder how to make a swing at the dacha with their own hands. The answer is very simple. All that matters is the availability of suitable material and tools. The classic version of the swing is done as follows:

1. If the area is open, beams are dug into the ground - wooden or metal with a crossbar at the top. For reliability, their bases are concreted.
2. Reliable ropes are tied to the cross-sections or chains are fixed on which a comfortable seat is attached below. It can be used as scraps of boards, old chairs, or car tires.

The swing is built on wooden supports: 1,2 - top crossbar, vertical supports concreted into the ground, 4 - fastening element of the eye-bolt system, 5 - edged board 600x150 mm.

To make the swing more stable, and its base does not have to be concreted, you can use a support design reminiscent of the Russian letter “A”.

To make them you will need the same tools. The only difference between such swings is the presence of two supports, fastened together with a transverse tie.

A beautiful swing at the dacha is the pride of its owners

Strong tree branches, canopy beams and other strong horizontal structures can serve as supports for children's swings in the country.

For example, you can make an original swing from an old tire by hanging it with a rope on 3-4 anchor bolts fixed in the side wall of the tire.

Tire swings are an excellent budget option without losing comfort

A good option is a swing in the form of a wicker or linen hammock. For kids, a design that has the configuration of a boat, plane, or car will be attractive. They are equipped with backrests and seat belts.

Children over six years old will be happy to master a simple rocking chair that can be made with your own hands without much difficulty.

Sandbox

Even the most simple sandbox, built on a summer cottage, becomes a favorite place for children to play. This element is a mandatory component of the playground, so during design it is given a safe place.

Games in the sandbox develop fine motor skills and help children relax, so it is very important that such a structure appears on your site as early as possible.

The material for the sandbox can be logs, lumps, saw cuts, cuttings of planks and beams. You can even use uprooted and trimmed stumps.

Advice! If there are objects on the territory of the children's playground that provide diffuse shade, they try to place the sandbox in such a way as to provide children with protection from the sun's rays on a hot afternoon.

Important! The sandbox should not be placed in low-lying, humid places so that the sand does not become too damp. In open areas, a canopy serves as an escape from heat and ultraviolet exposure.

The most common sandbox design is an open box, which has a square, rectangular or diamond-shaped configuration.

With good woodworking skills, home craftsmen create from wooden parts ships, boats, cars, flowers, animal figurines.

DIY wooden sandbox

Building a sandbox at your dacha with your own hands is a simple matter and consists of several stages:

1. Marking the site and removing the fertile soil layer;
2. Organization of a drainage system for water removal;
3. Assembling a wooden frame;
4. Knocking down a shield protecting the sand.

Materials required for construction

If desired, it is possible to obtain a combined structure by digging cuttings of logs at different heights around the perimeter of the sandbox, creating a sports track.

The fastest way is to install a ready-made plastic sandbox. This accessory is portable. It is recommended to cover the sand from animals at night with covers or specially made lids.

Obstacle course

Children benefit from combining gaming and sports activities. To fulfill the need for movement, an obstacle course is installed on the playground.

It is most often created from available waste materials. A common attribute is car tires. They are dug in on the edge, creating various configurations. It is convenient to run along such safe steps, jumping over without the risk of injury.

There are many options for setting up an obstacle course. Children enjoy mastering the ascents and descents of ladders, and move while maintaining balance along the gymnastic beam.

An interesting obstacle course can be created from benches of different heights, securely fixed in the ground. You can install gymnastic hoops in a row and go through them at speed.

Often, with the help of twine or a garden hose, various figures are laid out on the ground for children, along which they can move while performing simple tasks.

DIY tree house

Surely every child dreamed of having his own house on the branches of a tall tree - his own personal space with its own laws and traditions. We will talk about the construction of such a house.

For children, a small house located on the playground quickly becomes the most attractive place to play. Here they retire, arrange hiding places, and communicate with friends.

The most mysterious and exotic option is to place the house on a reliable scaffold attached to a tree. Children, hiding among the branches, feel like heroes of adventure films. They enjoy climbing stairs, training their own dexterity.

Sequence and stages of construction work

Let's start with what the tree should be like on which we will place our tree house. First of all, strong and stable. The trunk should be thick, and the root system should be quite developed. And the branches themselves should not be fragile. They must be able to withstand the children's playhouse, taking into account various weather conditions, wind and snow.

Advice! Deciduous wood species (birch, alder, linden, maple) are perfect for supporting the structure. However, in order to protect the children and the house itself, it is better to immediately cut off fragile old branches.

It is necessary that the house be located at a height of no more than two meters, despite the fact that in American films such structures are located much higher. This impression is deceptive, and the very fact of such an arrangement is by no means plausible.

Important! A structure located at a high altitude will be unstable and pose a danger to children.

After a suitable tree has been selected, we prepare the tools and building material. In this case, for construction you will need:

• Lumber (timbers, boards, plywood);
• Chainsaw;
• Long tape measure;
• Level;
• Hammer and nails.

Advice! You can build the roof and walls of the house using artificial materials, such as plastic. This will make the structure easier as a whole.

In order for the structure to have good stability, the structure must be attached not only to the tree, but also to the ground. First, we build the floor and install reinforcing supports under it. Additionally, vertical pillars (racks) can support the structure.

Building a children's treehouse with your own hands is no different from building any other object. Therefore, the order of actions does not change - first of all, large elements are installed and fastened, then smaller ones are connected.

After the floor is ready, we move on to building the walls and then the roof. Parts can be assembled on the ground and only then attached to the overall structure.

The staircase leading to the house can be wooden or rope. You can also install a slide and a pole for descent and other game elements that children will be incredibly happy about.

• Tree building It will look nice if the reliable climb up a wooden ladder is duplicated with a net woven from a strong cord, and thick twine is placed nearby, along which the children will climb to the platform next to the house.

All these sports equipment are quickly mastered by children, training strength and endurance, and at their age they simply need this.

So, we built our fabulous Peter Pan house. You can leave it like this, or if you wish, you can continue to improve it, for example, insulate it, glaze the windows.

Such a picturesque building in your garden or dacha will not only delight little family members and their friends and become their favorite vacation spot, but will also decorate the landscape and impress your neighbors and guests.

Advice! It is better to leave the design and decoration of the house to the children. After all, this place rightfully belongs to them. With their help, the tree house will acquire a bright, unique individual look.

A tree house is the best way to brighten up your child's leisure time

A children's playground at the dacha made from scrap materials is one of the most important components of landscaping the area near the house. It not only keeps children busy with useful activities, but also contributes to the formation of their personality.

At the same time, you should always remember that such structures should be provided with the necessary safety, and only harmless materials should be used for play structures.

Every child needs movement during the period of active exploration of the world. He needs to play, run, have fun. Children usually spend their time outside on playgrounds. This place should be as safe and functional as possible. Such requirements apply to all sites, no matter where they are built.

If a vacation spot is being set up on a suburban area, you should become familiar with the technology of work and prepare the necessary materials and tools. It is better if someone who has basic carpentry and plumbing skills builds a playground in the yard with their own hands.

Primary requirements

Each playground is created to develop the child's skills and increase his level of physical fitness. The main feature of such complexes is that the child can play and move independently. Adults here act only as observers. For this reason, all playgrounds are decorated very brightly. In addition, each building in the complex can be used differently. As can be seen from the numerous photos of playgrounds, various structures can be positioned differently depending on the design idea.

The requirements according to which playgrounds must be built can be found in the relevant SNIP. The most relevant established standards are the following:

• The site should be fenced off from passages. At the same time, a distance of at least 10 m should be made from it to the parking lots.
• The playground area should be made impassable. It should be separate from footpaths.
• The site is landscaped around the perimeter. In addition, it is necessary that the territory have both darkened and sunny areas.
• The site should be located 20 m from other large open areas and waste receptacles.
• Every three months, all equipment installed on the playground must be inspected. It must be functional and undamaged.
• The sand in the sandbox should be changed every year. At the same time, the safety of sand on the playground is confirmed by certain sanitary and hygienic standards.

For children of different ages, it is necessary to divide the playground into certain zones. They are performed for children under three years of age, preschool children, and primary schoolchildren. However, often a playground for children includes attractions for several age groups at once.

The sandbox must be equipped with a lid. Therefore, it is better to make it simple. Such an element of the playground should not only be beautiful, but also functional. With a complex sandbox configuration, it will be difficult to make a lid. It is better to make it in the form of a hexagon or square. Photos of sandboxes will help you choose the appropriate option.

Advice! If there are two roof flaps for the sandbox, children will be able to open it independently. Adults will only need to supervise the process.

Ideas for creating playgrounds

The design of playgrounds for children involves the use of various equipment. If you don’t have the necessary equipment, you can use the advice of experienced professionals. You can also experiment with structures installed on the territory of the playground. For example, you can install a basketball backboard at the entrance to the slide house. If you have large tires, it is easy to set up an obstacle course on the playground (as in the photo).

The sandbox in the playground is made not only from boards. It is often surrounded by stumps. If you are using tires from a passenger car, you will need to prepare five pieces. The sandbox is fenced off with tires, laying them two on top of each other. The main thing is to securely fix the tires in place. This is usually done using metal pins. Then the tires are covered with sand. Then such a fence is painted.

In addition to the slide-house, you can equip a small house on the site in the standard version. If you know how to work with wood, you can install various models of airplanes and ships on the territory. Children will happily climb on them. You should not chase exact forms - children often complete various devices and designs in their imagination.

Children's playground with ready-made kits

A children's playground can also be made from purchased exercise equipment. In various stores you can find many designs that are made for installation on playgrounds. Here you can find houses and slides, swings and rope ladders. Installing a children's playground in the courtyard of a private house is not difficult if you have ready-made kits.

The main thing is to read the instructions that are issued along with the design. Exercise equipment for playgrounds must be installed on a rigid base. This requirement is specified in SNIP. Most often, purchased designs have a more attractive appearance than homemade ones. This is confirmed by numerous photographs of such products.

Making a platform with your own hands

No children's playground is complete without a slide. This simulator should be comfortable and functional. The design can be made of different materials:

• steel corners - they must be at least 3 m thick;
• Sheet steel;
• pipes - will be needed to create a frame;
• plywood;
• boards.

When choosing such materials, you can equip a durable and functional slide.

Creating a slide house

The slide-house is mounted on racks, which are usually made of timber. There should be 4 supports. This frame allows you to creatively approach the creation of the main children's simulator. In this case, you can make several ascents - ordinary steps, a ladder and a rope ladder. In this case, one stingray is enough.

The angle that is made when creating the slope should not exceed 30 degrees. This avoids overclocking and injuring children. With such a design, children's leisure time can be very well diversified.

Advice! If there are plastic panels, it is better to make a ramp from them. In addition, plastic slides for playgrounds are often sold in stores. You can purchase curved slides. Children get more joy from going down such a structure than from going down a straight wooden slide. The playground must be comfortable for the child, so all elements must be created in accordance with certain requirements.

Materials

To build a slide house on the site, you should select certain materials. To create such a design you will need to prepare:

• 5 bars.
• boards from 50 to 100 mm;
• boards with a thickness of 25 and a width of 100 mm;
• plywood sheets 15 mm;
• mounting angles;
• nuts and bolts;
• self-tapping screws;
• a pipe equal in diameter to the cross-section of the beam.

After preparing the materials, you can begin to create the base of the slide-house for the site.

Preparing the base

It is necessary to find a place to install the slide, and also prepare a hole that will be needed for the foundation. It is worth making a square frame. There should be a distance of 1 m between the posts. Each side of the pit should be 1.5 m long. In addition, the pits should have a minimum depth of 20 cm.

The bottom of the pits must be compacted, and then crushed stone must be poured. This layer should be 10 cm thick. It also needs to be compacted. You can dig a small hole under each block. The depth of each of them should be at least half a meter. The lower edges of the beams are impregnated with bitumen.

A crushed stone cushion must be placed at the bottom of the pit. Crushed stone must be selected in fractions of 15-25 mm. After filling the gravel at the bottom of the holes, pillars are inserted into them. They are leveled and correctly oriented. Then the concrete solution is poured.

Advice! Concrete is strong if it contains the optimal amount of water. The mixture should be thick when kneading. In order for concrete to move, it is necessary to add plasticizers to it. They are easy to purchase at a hardware store.

Ramp and bottom harness

The strapping of the bars must also be done using 50 mm boards. They are mounted at the floor level of the structure. In addition, to increase the reliability of the house, it is worth making a jumper. The boards should be screwed to the beams using self-tapping screws. Fastening elements must have a minimum length of 100 mm. In addition, it is necessary to make a tray for the stingray.

For this purpose, you should follow simple steps. First, cut 2 boards that are slightly longer than the slope. Then the angles of contact of the slope with the ground and the harness are marked. The board is cut to the required size using a jigsaw. Then the jumpers are cut. Long boards must be laid on the ground, and then the jumpers must be secured to them with self-tapping screws.

There should be a distance of about 30 cm between the jumpers. However, the first and last of them are mounted 5 cm from the edge. A cutout is made on top of the board. This is necessary to create full support for the ramp on the harness.

Then the slope is attached to the harness with corners. They are fixed with screws and nuts. The corners must be installed in such a way that children do not get scratched while playing. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that no fasteners or sharp parts protrude from the side of the slope. The slope is sewn up with plywood, which is installed on self-tapping screws. The fasteners are recessed into the material by 1 mm. Then the attachment points are puttied and sanded.

Ladder

It is necessary to cut 2 pieces of board 50 mm thick. Their length should be slightly longer than the length of the stairs. The corners of the connection with the ground and the harness are cut off. Then you need to cut grooves for the steps in the boards. Afterwards the steps are cut to the required width. All that remains is to assemble the ladder. The steps are fixed to the side boards with self-tapping screws.

The ladder must be securely fixed. It is attached to the strapping beam. Railings and supports are installed on each side of the stairs. They are processed with a plane to remove irregularities and sharp edges. Then the structural parts must be carefully sanded. The upper edge of the railing is attached to the posts.

Entrances and roof

Every slide on the playground features an extreme climb. To do this, you should make a tray of the same size as for the ramp. The part of the harness, which is located on the side of the extreme entrance, must be reinforced with steel corners.

Then cut pieces of plywood are laid on the floor of the house on the site. The ceiling is also lined with the same material. The house must be sheathed on the outside with plywood sheets. Its entrances are designed in the form of circles or ovals. Their size should be such as to provide maximum comfort for children playing on the playground. To create a roof, you need to cut 4 rafters. They are made from 25 mm boards. The angles of the rafters can be determined based on the height of the roof. They are attached to the corners of the frame, and then connected to each other on top with metal corners. The roof is covered with plywood of the required size.

Final work

When the work is completed, it is necessary to sand all the places where children can get a splinter. A rope is attached to the top harness on the side of the extreme climb. It should have nodes located every 20 cm. The house is painted in such a way that it looks attractive. You can apply various images to it, as in the photo.

conclusions

It is not always possible to buy a ready-made play structure for a playground. In this regard, a children's playground in the yard is often done with one's own hands. The main condition is that the materials used must be durable and of high quality. Wood is often chosen to construct various structures for playgrounds in the yard.

It is important to control the quality of processing of elements. Some areas should not be allowed to remain uncleaned or structural parts to have sharp edges. This can cause injury to children playing on the playground.

A small house is installed on each playground. It is usually made from scrap materials. You can build a house with your own hands with the participation of the children themselves. This will not only please the kids, but also make the designs more convenient.

The best place to relax from the hustle and bustle of the city is your own dacha or country plot, where the whole family can find something to their liking. Adults most often prefer activities that the younger generation will either not yet be able to do or are uninteresting. This leads to the fact that children are unoccupied, mischievous and only interfere with serious work. To solve this problem, all you need is an idea, a tool and some work with your hands. It is necessary to build some kind of children's corner on the site where the child will be really interested. It’s not difficult to equip a children’s playground from scrap materials, and it will be much cheaper than buying a ready-made one.

Project stage

At the very beginning, it is important to think through all the details that must be taken into account during the implementation of your project. At the design stage, it is very important to take into account the main points on which the usefulness of this building and, of course, the safety of children depend.

• The playground should be located in an open space where children will be completely accessible to the eyes of adults - this allows you to keep the younger generation under control.
• All parts and objects of the site must be completely safe, without sharp corners, ends, or jagged edges.
• It is better to build buildings at an average distance from the work area, outbuildings and vegetable garden, that is, so that during work you can monitor the child’s activities and location.
• It is better to choose the soil at the location of the playing area that is completely or partially unsuitable for growing any crops; this is necessary in order to save fertile land as much as possible.
• You can also place the playground near a fence, only in this case you will have to take care of the complete safety of small children.
• There must be a canopy over the children's corner that will prevent the child from getting heatstroke or getting wet from sudden rain.

Thus, the design stage and preliminary creation of a layout is an integral part of building a playground with your own hands from scrap materials. Of course, we should not forget about the main functionality of the children's corner - the entertainment and development of children, which is a more important aspect of its construction. Therefore, you need to approach the work with ready-made ideas and enthusiasm, planning to install not only banal swings and a sandbox on the playground, but also add something else of your own to them. Only then does the work become interesting and can please not only the children.

At the design and main – implementation – stages, the younger generation can also be involved in joint activities, but, of course, according to their physical abilities. Working together will help strengthen family understanding and develop children's creativity.

Site preparation and selection of materials

At the end of the design stage, you should definitely know the location and content of the children's corner. The site has been selected, all that remains is to process it and prepare it for new buildings. The preparation work takes place in several stages.

• It is necessary to clear and level the ground to the required area.
• You need to decide on a coating that will serve as the basis for the entire site. Most often, a mixture of crushed stone and sand is used, as it is the most budget option. You can also cover the ground with artificial grass or special rubber.
• Then you need to take measurements and purchase all the necessary materials. The main thing is not to forget that all this is necessary for small children, so all materials must be as safe as possible and comply with all norms and standards.
• After this, you need to make sure that you have a standard set of tools for the job: nails, screws, self-tapping screws, a screwdriver, a screwdriver, a hammer, a hacksaw, a grinder, a painting tool and paint. If something is missing, you need to buy it in addition, as it will all be useful throughout the construction.
• At the very end of the preparatory stage, all inaccuracies in the plan should be corrected.

Now you can get to work.

Arranging a children's corner

When choosing play elements for your playground, it is worth analyzing what your child likes to do most and focus on this. Some children prefer to spend a lot of time swinging on swings, some like to spend their leisure time making sand figures in the sandbox, and some prefer slides. All this needs to be taken into account before you start building something with your own hands.

Manufacturing of individual elements

Sandbox

One of the most common children's entertainment, which helps the creative development of the younger generation and can captivate them for several hours. Sandboxes in their modern form have been greatly transformed and look quite aesthetically pleasing, so you have complete freedom of ideas in shapes, painting and various details. But such entertainment is not suitable for everyone and this is also worth taking into account. Therefore, it is better to coordinate the construction of a sandbox with the child.

Swing

The most favorite element of children's playgrounds is the swing, and not only children, but also many adults love to swing on them. There is no child who would not love a swing, so it is necessary to install them, but it’s up to you to choose the type, shape, size and color. Swings can be either hanging or regular. Using available means, it would be better to make a hanging swing, which will be attached to the top crossbar on ropes or chains. The second option is less safe for children, as the chains can pinch the skin and spoil the child's fun. When choosing ropes, you should remember that over time they can wear out and fray, so they need to be periodically checked and replaced.

Gorki

Almost all children also like this type of entertainment, and it also gives absolute freedom in creative terms. Slides can be made of different materials:

• metal is not the best material, as it rusts very quickly;
• Stainless steel is a better option, but it is one of the most expensive, so using stainless steel is unprofitable;
• wood is a material that requires careful processing and polishing, and in the future it will have to be covered with something slippery.
• plastic is the best option, as it is inexpensive, wears out for a long time and does not require special treatment.

The important part is the size of the slide, as it should be comfortable for your child and have enough capacity for 2-3 years in advance. Often slides are built in combination with some additional elements.

Children's house or hut

There are many options for this structure - from the simplest and fastest to build to complex structures made from small logs and poles. Of course, it is better to create a real house for your child, which will look like an ordinary house with a porch, doors and windows. If this is not possible, then you can create a small tent or wigwam, the main thing is not to forget about the safety of children. The structure must be stable and not collapse at the first strong wind. In such separate houses and huts, children like to set up so-called headquarters. If the child likes the building, then he will spend more time there.

Sports section

Such a corner will help your child's physical development and allow him to conduct his own sports activities.

Additional items

The most popular elements of the playground are outlined above, then you can rely on your imagination. On the site you can place an infinite number of different elements and parts from improvised means - tires, tires, pallets and other things. Here the choice is already up to you and your child.

Placing elements on the site

The area of ​​land required for construction depends on your wishes, age and number of children. Usually this is a square corner with an area of ​​8-10 square meters. In such a site, the arrangement of elements can be very diverse. Most often, a slide in combination with a swing and other equipment is located in the center, a sports corner and some creative elements like a drawing board should be located in the corner near the fence. The rectangular area is a little more complicated; there the elements will most likely have to be installed in a row, one after another. You also need to remember about safety, especially if you have more than one child. Due to the circumstances of a large family, you cannot place a swing next to the sandbox.

Options for decorating the area

A children's corner can be decorated in completely different ways, everything also depends on you and your child, on your wishes, creative ideas and imagination. The area around the perimeter can be planted with flowers or you can create some thematic figures and place them in different places of the site, the bright color of the main buildings will also be a decoration, they can be covered with different bright colors or with a coating in the same style, there are no boundaries.

Design ideas

The design of a playground depends on creative ideas, the volume of plans, style, materials used and the time that the owner is willing to spend on this event. It is better to coordinate all steps with the children; they should highlight the details that they like and what can be improved, because the main thing is that they have fun and comfort. Since children are often bored at the dacha, the main idea of ​​​​creating such a children's corner is to provide children with a fun and interesting activity, which means that everything should be decorated in an interesting and colorful way.

Absolutely everything can be combined on the site, and ideally all the main elements of entertainment should be built. If there is not much space, then you can install only the most interesting and important things for the child, for example, a swing and a sandbox, a slide and a sports corner, and so on.

Why children need a playground is probably worth explaining only to someone who was born six feet tall, wearing a business-like three-piece with a tie, crocodile shoes and a cigar in his mouth. The cigar is, of course, electronic. Even the smoke from it is not chemical, but depicted by holography and is clearly visible without harmful anamorphic glasses.

There are plenty of manuals on how to build a playground for posterity. And in them - really valuable and necessary instructions on safety, reliability of fastenings, quality of materials, etc. However, having reviewed many of these, something like what appears in Fig. below. Paradise, no doubt. Okay, palm trees, a huge stump (it looks like no less than a 100-year-old eucalyptus tree). Maybe they have palm trees like we have quinoa, and they give away high-value industrial wood to everyone for free, just to take it out of sight.

However, in both cases, a middle-income householder who decides to please his children by making a playground for them with his own hands immediately faces the question: where to get the space? No less than 2 acres of land went into such a monumental structure, but what if there are only 6 of them at the dacha? Or even less in your personal local area? A playground for children is built when the economy has already been established. Therefore, next we will consider, first of all, how to correctly arrange everything that children need for joy, trying to keep it to 1 hundred square meters or less. But, of course, the very components of the playground for children will not be ignored.

The most difficult case

The most difficult thing to arrange is a children's playground in the country. In addition to the acute lack of space, she remains unattended and unguarded throughout the cold season. That is, in addition to resistance to external conditions and environmental friendliness, the material of the structure should not provide much temptation to possible thieves. At least a temptation worth the trouble of dismantling. Hence, the entire country play complex must be compact and strong and upon completion is inconvenient to approach with a tool. What if they end up being stolen or succumb to bad weather, this shouldn’t bring big losses.

A successful version of a children's play corner at the dacha made from scrap materials is shown in the photo:

The main material in this case is quite reliable, high-quality and affordable - construction pallets (pallets). Occupied area – only approx. 5 sq. m. Behind the climbing frame is a 2-story secret shelter. If one of the younger members of the family is a person of the fair sex, then the car is unceremoniously expelled to the green parking lot, and the garage is transformed into a boudoir, kiosk, doctor’s waiting room, etc. If there is sufficient area in front of the building, a ladder or slide can be attached to the captain's bridge.

About materials

The above case is not trivial. The materials at hand are used mainly for the design of the site; We will return to this issue later. But for its key structures (see below), high-quality construction materials are needed, because we are talking about the safety of the child.

Tree– coniferous without signs of rot, mold, cracks, or falling knots. Load-bearing elements – timber from 130x130 mm or log from 120 mm. Boards – edged or tongue-and-groove from 20 mm. Before assembly, the parts are treated with an oil water repellent (water repellent) or twice impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion. The best finishing coat is water-based acrylic varnish on a well-sanded surface.

The second most important material is metal. In addition to fasteners, heavily loaded elements are made of steel, for example. in sports facilities. In this case, it is preferable to connect the parts by welding: any protrusion is dangerous. The urchins manage to get caught on the seemingly completely smooth head of the bolt with clothing that seems completely unsuitable for this. Metal parts must be painted with a primer and twice. The best paint coatings are acrylic.

Plastics They are easily electrified; in the open air, microcracks appear in them within 1-2 seasons and hygiene disappears. And since plastics are also low-tech at home, it is better to avoid them altogether in a homemade playground. Perhaps the only place where plastic is appropriate on a playground is a manhole pipe. A plastic barrel works well for it. It’s better to take a white, translucent one so that you don’t get scared, start panicking and get stuck. Glass and other breakable or brittle/delaminating materials (composites, for example) are absolutely unacceptable.

Stone The material is also unsuitable for a playground: if you fall down hard, you can seriously hurt yourself on it. If borders are required on the site, then they need to be laid either soft or homemade wooden, or planted phytoborders from soft hardy plants, for example. sedum (sedum).

Separately, it should be said about ropes. In terms of childhood injuries on playgrounds, the top three are consistently occupied by rope railings/fences, entanglement mazes and climbing nets. Over the first ones, they are overweight, not yet able to correctly assess by eye the stability of the support, fall head over heels and are seriously injured, even breaking their neck. The nets do not leave parents inconsolable, but they cause a lot of fractures and dislocations. Prostitutes do not seriously injure physically, but due to fright and hysteria they can leave an indelible mark on the psyche. Therefore, ropes on the playground are applicable only as hangers for swings, stretchers of awnings and vines - a gymnastic rope with knots.

Note: fabric and non-woven textile products in children's playgrounds are used for awnings and soft fencing. In any case, the fabric should be stretched so that there are no rinsing sides.

Basic and extended equipment

A traditional typical playground minimally consists of a slide and a fungus. The latter are now most often combined in the form of a 2-story playhouse with a balcony, an air passage, an observation deck, a climbing frame and a ladder. This allows you to create a greater variety of entertainment in the same area, see fig. However, it is impossible to create a sandbox on the first floor of the house: the stomping overhead will in no way benefit the development of very young, “sand-age” children. The sandbox must be separate.

So, we get a basic set of a sandbox, a combi house and a swing. He is able to last from the first top to the time when it turns out that girls, in general, are not meant to be pulled by their braids. If possible, the following are added to the mini set:

• Free space for quiet games, children's picnics, in winter - for making a snowman, etc.
• Decorative elements for the development of aesthetic sense.
• Boom, that is. push runner.
• Inflatable pool, bathtub, trough or basin for bathing.
• A secret refuge corner.
• Sports complex.
• Playground for sports games.
• Mini flowerbed or mini flower garden.
• Hut or tent.
• Labyrinth.
• Children's carousel.

Many other additions are possible, provided there is free space and the imagination of the parents. But they no longer have a decisive significance for the all-round development of the child, so we will limit ourselves to the remark that most of them and some of the above can be quite placed in the gaps between the safety zones of the main structures, see below.

Selecting a location

Ideas regarding the artistic and decorative design of the playground can be anything; Some of the combinations of business and pleasure will be discussed below. There are no regulations/requirements regarding the appearance of structures on the children's playground. However, when selecting a place for it, certain rules of safety and comfort that promote the proper development of children:

1. The site must be within sight of the most habitable room. In private households this is usually the kitchen;
2. All structures on the site, including their safety zones, must be within a 45 degree viewing angle. This approximately corresponds to the visibility of the housewife, who is busy at a stove located in accordance with fire safety rules;
3. If the site borders a passage, incl. internal (your own, yard), between him and her there must be a permanent fence insurmountable for children, regardless of the presence of a fence of a different type;
4. Reservoirs, wells, utility yards, etc. should also be demarcated. sources of possible danger. In this case, the fence may be light, but necessarily insurmountable for children;
5. The site should be located in sectors from north to southeast. Otherwise, the youngest in the sandbox and children engaged in active play should be protected from harsh afternoon light;
6. Regardless of the location of the playground, the sun should not blind the eyes of children engaged in active games or sports exercises;
7. The sandbox is located first in order of distance from the exit to the site. If he is not there, go first from home;
8. The sandbox should not be located under a tree(s);
9. The swinging directions of hanging swings and rolling out of the slide should not cross the sandbox. Otherwise, the distance between them should be at least 3 m for swings and not less than the height of the slide;
10. The same directions should not go to the roadway;
11. Between the sports complex and the sandbox there must be a playhouse or swing, or other permanent (immovable) structure, or there must be at least a 3 m distance;
12. Safety zones of capital structures should not overlap.

Note: The safety zone of a children's play structure is assumed to be 1 m by default. The slide-out zone is 1.5 x 1.5 m. The safety zone of a swing is equal in length to 1.5 times the height of its suspension, and in width is at least 1.5 m; carousel - its diameter. The safety zones of sports complexes are indicated in their projects.

Examples of layouts of the basic modules of the playground with different orientations according to the cardinal points are shown in Fig. The house is conventionally designated by a gray circle with a star of directions and half-points. The safety zone of the swing is shown by a mustard-colored rectangle; house with a slide - thick green. What is a sandbox with an awning, see below.

About sports complexes

In Fig. Below are projects of children's sports complexes with a house and a slide (on the left) and only a gymnastic complex of the most compact T-shaped design. From there you can see that less than 30 sq. area is not enough with a standard solution, and the full complex does not leave room for a sandbox. It would seem that home sports in a small area does not shine.

However, it was Russian specialists who developed projects for children's open-air sports complexes based on the conditions of the Russian Federation, namely, the high endowment of middle- and lower-income segments of the population with land plots left over from the USSR. In the West, only a very rich person can afford to have 6 acres outside the city for recreation.

Drawings of one of these children's sports complexes are shown in Fig. below. Material – steel pipe (27-30)x2. Its features are an extremely narrow, but completely justified safety zone, only 0.5 m along the contour. No matter how you play around with this design, its ergonomics are thought out perfectly: even if you hurt yourself, it won’t be too bad, but you won’t hurt the little ones nearby. The second is the correct configuration. This makes it easier to place the complex on the site, as can be clearly seen in Fig. with layout diagrams: a site with opportunities for sports does not “climb out” anywhere for 1 hundred square meters.

About fences and dividers

In addition to a protective fence, in a playground for 2 or more children, it is highly desirable to delimit zones. If the space allows, a labyrinth will provide a lot of fun and useful skills; see below for more information on it. The traditional solution to the issue of dividing zones is a fence, and tires or logs inside the area, also see below. But the fence, albeit very cheerful, as in Fig. just below is a clear prohibition, which is generally not good for children. The strongest and most reliable discipline is a conscious one, understood with one’s own mind. And from the obvious prohibition during the “holiday of disobedience” you can even tear off a board. And climb where you shouldn’t at all, without even realizing what it entails.

When you need to isolate yourself from the roadway, there is no choice, because... The safety of children in this case depends not only on them. But, for example, a pond or utility yard will not enter the site on its own. In this case, if the platform is made of wood, the ideal lightweight protective fence is wattle fence. First of all, it is not difficult to weave, and free material is found almost everywhere in nature. Secondly, a fairly high fence is very difficult to overcome even for an adult well-trained person. Don't believe me? Try to climb over. It is not for nothing that temporary fortifications - fascines - were once made from wattle fence. In the same way, a bull is not capable of breaking a properly made fence, much less a man. Thirdly, the wattle fence itself is an excellent decoration for a suburban area.

But the most important thing is that children do not perceive the fence as a prohibitive sign. Why? And you can peek through it. Just looking at the pond - well, the water lilies there are beautiful, well, a frog climbed onto a leaf and is croaking. And through a crack, stealthily, a fairy-tale world appears, populated in the imagination by amazing creatures. Okay, we don't have one yet. But then, if a gloomy pig or an angry gander turns to the fence from the other side, you can be scared to your heart's content, without really risking anything. Rest assured, children perfectly distinguish toy fear, on the basis of which reasonable caution is developed, from real fear.

About the soil

An almost ideal soil base for a playground is seeded or rolled: it dries quickly enough after rain, brakes well when it rolls and dampens when it flops, and does not overheat in hot weather. One “but”: it can turn clothes green because they don’t wash well. Therefore, the soil on the playground is often covered with fine gravel. It drains and brakes even better, but it gets hotter under the sun and can get scratched. The ideal backfill would be small, up to 1.5-2 cm in diameter, well-rounded pebbles. But, alas, this is a very expensive material, and its predatory self-procurement is punishable by law.

Modules and elements

Sandboxes

First, what is a sandbox with an awning, which is necessary when the site is located in sectors from the south to the northwest? See fig. There is no need to make the canvas very large and lower its edges too low: it is enough for the awning to shade the sandbox from the high midday sun. Closer to sunset, if the children are still playing at this time, about half of the box should be shaded so that the little ones themselves can settle down where it is more convenient for them.

The second thing that will be very useful if there are two or more children with a sufficient age difference is a sandbox-truck, or, depending on the inclinations of the older one, a sandbox-ship. In the latter case, the wheelhouse with the navigation bridge is located, like on any decent “transport vehicle,” in the stern. Then the younger ones will go about their sandy affairs without feeling intrusive guardianship, and the older “parent” will be able to fulfill his duties literally playfully, without getting bored. And if he ever takes the wheel or stands at the helm professionally, it has already been deposited at the level of reflexes: the main thing in a flight is passengers and cargo.

House with a slide

Here we will fill in something missing. The first is the slopes of the slides. They are most often bought ready-made, made of plastic. There are basically 3 designs to choose from: straight, spiral, see figure, and pipes.

It is better to ignore the latter: a children's slide is not a water park, water lubricant does not flow through the pipe. Children in tube ramps often get stuck with everything that follows. In terms of the degree of psychological trauma, tube rays are almost on par with prostitutes.

Of the others, if there is very little space for a platform, it is better to take more expensive spiral ones. Their use allows, in a standard design (see above), to abandon the roll-out zone, because it will be to the side, within the general safety zone. And rolling with a screw is more fun and “cooler” than just like that.

However, as stated above, it is best to avoid plastic in the playground. Therefore, for fairly skilled home craftsmen, we give in Fig. on the left is a profile of a children's slide made of sheet metal. The sliding line is highlighted in red, the sides of the trough-shaped chute are highlighted in brown, the straight protective side with a bend outward is highlighted in blue; green - elastic pad on it made of smooth rubber. The latter is necessary to brake with your hands. The width of the ramp gutter is 600-700 mm.

Note: It is unnecessary to remind, but for the sake of the seriousness of the moment, let us recall that the overlaps of the sheets that make up the gutter and sides should be directed down the slope. Otherwise, the overlaps will turn into knives.

Swing

The cradle (seat) of a hanging swing is often made from tires. Then, if the children are boys, it is better to hang the tire vertically, on the left in the figure, so you can “crawl” to your heart’s content. For girls, a swing cradle made from a tire, hung flat, is better suited: here it’s convenient to sit in a circle and gossip like a woman.

The cradles of sports swings, on the right in the figure, are made hard, in the form of a flying trapezoid with rings, and soft. Making rings separately is recommended only for children who are already involved in athletics and have had some success in this: many beginning gymnasts were quite seriously injured trying to make a cross on the rings without sufficient physical training.

If there is enough space, little ones will really like and find the balance swing, inset in Fig. below. If there is not enough space, and the child shows the makings of a dexterous and strong little one, they can be replaced with a spring swing. The diagram of their device is shown in the same figure. The spring is from the shock absorber of a small car or motorcycle, depending on the age and weight of the rider.

About labyrinths

A labyrinth for children's games must satisfy the following conditions:

1. To be one-dimensional, i.e. from partitions standing on the ground.
2. The partitions should not be solid or high: older people should see over them and be able to climb over them, and younger ones should see below them and crawl up.
3. Plant labyrinths are not allowed for children to play; they can get lost in the bushes out of fear and get hurt.

funny beauty

Tires

Functional, i.e. Suitable for games, decorative elements of playgrounds are most often made from truck tires. Let's leave aesthetics to the adults. Children are pragmatists, it is important to them that it is elastic, springs well, and does not break if you hit it. Try to use only solid tires: cut tires often have traumatic cord ends sticking out over time. Or regularly check the tire structure and go over the protruding wires with a grinder and a grinding wheel.

A classic product of this kind is the boom runner. It can also be a zone delimiter or a barrier between the sports complex and the sandbox if there is not enough space. So, in all respects it is better to dig tires for it not lengthwise, as is customary, but across, as in pos. 1 pic. at intervals of approx. 30 cm:

• We clearly see the gap where there is no need to step.
• If your foot slips, it will slip sideways. Anyone who knows about sports physics knows that then the first thing to come into contact with the underlying surface without any grouping skills will be not the face, but the fifth point.
• It’s convenient and safe to push: the legs themselves rise to the position of the strongest support, and if the leg slips, then everything is as before. case.
• Anyone who is pushed does not fall backwards, risking injuring his back or hitting his head, but to the side, which is safe for children.

For small ones, if there are several different tires, you can simply pile them up, pos. 2. For those who are older and more skilled - an “advanced” climbing frame in addition to the usual one, pos. 3. Pos. 4 is actually a godsend: an old, but real steering wheel, and if you sway, it’s like driving a tractor over potholes.

Pos. 5 – the well-known sun made of tires and bottles is actually not just a decoration. PET bottles are an excellent, stable target for darts, arrows and generally anything thrown. And don't be afraid that children will grow up aggressive. On the contrary, it is precisely those who in childhood did not have the opportunity to express natural male inclinations, conditioned by the eras of biological evolution, in a harmless way, when they grow up, have a much greater chance of failing to express them in an adult way, up to the highest measure of responsibility under the legislation of the place where the act was committed.

For girls, and perhaps not only for them, a mini-flower bed made of tires, on the left side of the trail, will suit well and decorate the entire area. Fig., or a flowerpot made from a worthless wheel. In the latter case, in view of the above-mentioned risk of injury from the cord, it is better to turn the flowerpot with scallops down, as on the right there. What it lacks in aesthetics here and there it makes up for in coloring.

They make a lot of other things out of old tires. For children, without any obvious functionality - different figures. For example, what kind of crafts there are for the playground made from tires in the form of different animals, see.

Video: crafts made from tires for decorating a playground

Pieces of wood

We won’t dwell on driftwood or roots painted to look like animals: everything here depends on the source material, the appearance of which is impossible to predict, and already known creations cannot be repeated either - no two driftwood are alike. Let's deal with what is more or less stable in its original form: logs. Not necessarily business measures; any dead wood or waste from tree trimming will work for crafts for children made from logs. Simply by sawing logs out of them, and not very carefully, you can already build a good zone delimiter, on the left in the figure, a sandbox, in the center, or a furniture set for a doll picnic, on the right.

And with a little more effort and skill, make figures for a composition that has independent meaning or, say, for a children's carousel. Drawings of some of these are shown as an example in Fig. below.

Another idea

The arrangement of the playground is still the same, without going beyond 100 square meters. m and without interfering with anything else there, another thing can be completed. Let’s say you still have a baby bath, but you don’t intend to have any more offspring. The old adult bathtub is too deep, it is better to let it sit. Or there’s a leaky trough lying around in the barn. Or, let’s say, you came across an ad: “Used culinary equipment for sale,” and in it – “Donut pan 1100x650x100.” In general, you need any tub with a length of 80-90 cm, a width of about half as much and a depth of up to 15 cm.

Why do children need this? Let the ships go. For adults, applying patches to construction or aquarium silicone and painting, if it is rusty, is not a difficult task. It won’t take much water, so you can simply change it more often without excessively using disinfectants that are not always safe. If you keep the baby mini-sea in the sun, and throw a couple of grains of potassium permanganate or methylene blue (pharmacy blue) into the water until it turns barely pink or blue, and cover the pond with film at night, a week of uninterrupted navigation in it is guaranteed. Children get a lot of delight and fun from it. There will also be a lot of splashes and wet clothes, but there’s no need to get angry here, or were you not like that yourself?

(No ratings yet)

What to give a 4 year old child? Our grandparents decided not to waste time on trifles and build a sports complex at their dacha. Fortunately, our grandfather can do carpentry work with his own hands. I (Lena Pavlova) got involved as a designer, drawing on the experience of the complex that Oleg Skripalev built two years ago at our home. Well, we had to do some supply work: we collected cuttings from shovels for the wall bars and monkey bars from stores all over the area. We found a metal rolling stock to buy galvanized steel for crossbars and poles. Neighbor Volodya helped weld the crossbars. Later, we waited for Oleg Skripalev himself to visit us in order to properly “equip” our frame with shells and create “multiple climbing routes.” So we built our structure “from scratch.” Here's what we got:

Friends, this post aroused so many responses that in 2019 we made a separate website dedicated to the Skripalev sports complexes https://kids-complex.ru/ where we posted a lot of materials about this sports complex, which we called the Chistov-Pavlov complex and others like it, as well as history of complexes and sports corners, individual equipment and a more detailed overview of ready-made solutions on the market. Now this site has become official for Skripalev’s sports complexes. There you can order a sports complex based on an individual project for your home or cottage, or buy individual equipment to independently build a complex similar to ours.

Why weren’t standard sports complexes suitable for us?

The very first question that arises is: why didn’t we just buy a ready-made one? Below is a picture of a typical representative of finished structures. The only advantage (in my opinion) of such (not cheap) complexes is their declared safety. The fastenings are hidden, the corners are smoothed, the tops are inaccessible - you can't fall too far.


It’s cool, of course, the manufacturer won’t have to sue the parents, but the child is unlikely to learn to climb here, there’s nowhere to climb. The shells are inconvenient. A climbing frame with a slope, minimal height and uninteresting (monotonous), a gladiator net - similar. Rings are not useful to any gymnast in any gym - they are small in diameter and plastic (and this is not the worst option seen in our yards). The rocker is also not inspiring - it is not stable for little ones, and not interesting for big ones. There are no questions only about the sailor's ladder - in itself it is normal, but for some reason it does not lead anywhere. It is not clear whether it is possible to move from it diagonally to the house, but since it rests on the climbing wall, you cannot swing on it. It seems that the option of “swinging on a sailor’s ladder” has been excluded by the manufacturer for safety reasons: it is fixed with a support at the bottom (this is often done with ropes). The small (about 5 steps) Swedish ladder leading to the house (at the back) is inclined and insufficient for full climbing. Again, it’s not the worst - usually the rungs of such ladders are so thick that it’s uncomfortable for a child’s hand to grasp, and they are made with such a large step that you can’t really climb on them - only up or down. The house could have been a springboard for climbing if it had been made of pipes rather than timber (of course, then it would not have been made of wood and the complex would have dropped in price by four times). And for a house where you can sit and hide, it is too “lighty”. Everything was done for the control of the security service, and not for real children, not on the street, not seriously. This is interesting only to a three-year-old. And our daughter is already 4 years old. Where will it develop here?

Here is another typical representative, which has an almost convenient wall bars and a set of shells lined up in a row. This complex is far from so bad in terms of its shells (the hammock was not tested, but the rest, except for the rings, looks quite usable). Linear design problem is fundamental: this is a set of projectiles, they are not in the system, they practically do not allow routes (in this case, with the exception of the trajectory: the Swedish wall - the crossbars on its reverse side - the rings). This is one standard route. Even a rat gets tired of running in a circle with three stopping points, but a child has a more complex brain. The child needs to invent, experiment, implement.


What to do? Should we abandon the line and build a square or other structure that will allow transitions from projectile to projectile? Make the shells “real”? Add heights?
If you are ready to give your child such a complication of his “climbing life”, then welcome to our club - “With Your Own Hands”. You will not find a satisfactory ready-made analogue. The aforementioned Oleg Skripalev will make you an excellent design for your house (ours, about 3 meters by 3 meters, cost us about 80 thousand in 2015 - we will write about it separately, when the summer season ends, we love it and it helps us out a lot on long winter evenings). For the house, the price tag suited us: the complex is practically eternal, in the sense that it will withstand the childhood of all our existing and potential children. But such a price tag for the street (where the shells and frame are destroyed faster) “bites” (a self-assembled analogue cost us about 20 thousand in 2017 with all the shells). That is, you should come to us again: “With your own hands.”

Specifics of the street (dacha): what will the frame be made of?

There are no walls on the street (although of course you can “attach” to the house, but for the street this is a limitation, not a benefit. At home we are forced to “cling” to the walls. Here the wall is an extra shadow (we have so little sun) and an opportunity ( unnecessary) to "smudge" into the house when rocking. An empty frame is much more practical. Then what should the frame be made of? Wood or metal? Well, here, of course, “all markers have different tastes and colors.” The tree is warm and alive. Equipment that cannot be tied on (for example, holds for a climbing wall) can be easily attached to it. It is easier to assemble a wall bars or monkey bars from wood with your own hands. Metal has an amazing advantage - it itself “works” like a crossbar, so the frame is built into the system of projectiles, and it will be possible to directly make transitions (climb) on it. A metal frame will not be expensive if you buy regular (not galvanized) pipes, sand them and paint them. We didn't bother with the price (we don't have many metal fragments) and bought galvanized pipes, which we also had to sand (but didn't have to paint). Compared to wood, metal is more convenient to use: it does not rot, is unpretentious and durable. But you need a person with a welding machine. In our case, this turned out to be a neighbor. If you don't have one, it will be more difficult. But there is always a third, in our opinion, optimal option - combined. Some are made of metal, some are made of wood. Then it is potentially possible to do without welding at all ("metal to wood" and "wood to wood" fastenings will be sufficient). The structure will be “living”, but will be enriched with unique equipment that only metal can fully provide - all kinds of crossbars for climbing.

Separate question: how to strengthen the frame so that it does not wobble. For the corner elements, we took a 100 by 100 beam and dug it in about 1 meter (with a complex height of about 2.5 meters). To make the structure “sit” more firmly, 70 cm transverse beams (cruciform in the direction of the main verticals) and additional diagonal “slopes” were dug into the ground for each support. This entire foundation structure is not visible in our photographs; it is hidden underground. Above the ground, the structure is additionally “connected” by a wall bars and two metal poles vertically and three boards horizontally (from above). In general, the design turned out to be reliably “connected”, but when used by an adult it gives a slight wobble: apparently, the second time we will prefer to do it on screw piles so that it fits like a glove. We estimate the “potential” of our complex at 10 years (then the timber may begin to be pushed out by the earth), while we believe that this is enough, but again, screw piles increase the cost of the structure slightly - so, as they say, there is no limit to perfection. The main thing is to try.

Selection of shells

In their book “We, Our Children and Our Grandchildren,” the Nikitins talk about three crossbars (they called them “horizontal bars”), which became the first apparatus installed in the courtyard of their house, when their eldest child was one or two years old. The Nikitin horizontal bar system was simple and ingenious: the lower horizontal bar is according to the height of a 2-year-old child, the upper one is for an adult (the child will not practice unless he is shown an example), the middle one is between them. Then a child of any age chooses a horizontal bar according to his strength, and if the structure is connected by a pole, then he climbs a higher and more complex one in order to be “like dad.” We immediately decided that we definitely needed this. The height of the lower horizontal bar was measured for Fun, but it was made not for hanging, but for somersaults (for hanging and “standing up” it would be just right for a child of one and a half years old).


We made the height of the upper horizontal bar maximum for the complex (here one of our adult friends is showing the children a master class on it).

We modified the middle horizontal bar to suit the carpet exhaust system of my childhood: we added another high crossbar at a height of 2.4 meters above the crossbar at a height of 1.30 meters, so that there was an additional hook on top - as a transition to the monkey bars and as a support for mastering the “perch” , into which the crossbar at medium height has turned. Looking ahead, I will say that this projectile immediately became one of the most used for Fun and guests. Built into a large number of transitions (wall bars, monkey bars, poles, ropes, trapeze, rings and climbing handholds), it has become an invariable component of many routes.


Fun later insisted that Grandfather add another “middle” bar to the pole that had previously stood idle (this improvement can be seen on the right in the picture with the three children). It was difficult for her to climb onto the pole, but the crossbar made the pole accessible and loved. I felt a little sorry for “spoiling” the pole, but I reassured myself that I knew the address of the metal rolling base and it was still possible to “repeat”.


According to the diameter of the crossbars (horizontal bars) and poles: we made them different. For crossbars (horizontal bars) we bought pipes with an internal diameter of 25 mm (external - about 28 mm), for poles - with an internal diameter of 28 mm (external - about 32 mm). It was determined by hand fitting: the horizontal bar should be grippy and it should definitely be thinner than what is on most playgrounds (those horizontal bars are thick even for adults). The pole, on the contrary, should be thicker (32 mm is enough) to make it easier to master and more convenient to grip on the ascent and descent. A couple of months after the installation of the complex, we were surprised: such a “simple” (in manufacturing and installation) set of shells as a set of horizontal bars turned out to be truly the most “favorite” for our daughter and all her guests (if love is considered the incredible amount of time that they were ready to spend hanging on it upside down and doing all the possible tricks they themselves invented). We also made sure that we definitely got it right with the diameter of the crossbars - this size turned out to be convenient for both adults and children. It’s surprising that there are so few horizontal bars of a convenient diameter in our yards and none at all in children’s play complexes (where they are much thicker).

These are two shells that we made with our own hands. Why? Again, as a child, I had a wall bars, made by my dad’s hands from the cuttings of shovels. And (for some reason) I have never had anything more convenient. Even in gyms, not to mention outdoor structures. And I did enough sports.
What was so good about her? The "correct" diameter of the bars (32 mm, maximum 34 mm) for a child's hand. Not 40 mm, as in most street structures. The “correct” (not greedy) distance between the crossbars (180-200 mm). In most street designs they are made much further apart. You can climb (up and down) on any, but you can also climb on thicker and farther ones. And for oval ones, which are now very fashionable (and which are used in Belgorod wall bars of excellent quality - we have them at home). But hanging in all sorts of positions... Climbing over one, two or three bars (what a challenge!). Use them for stretching or abdominal exercises. No. So, for my taste, purchased wall bars and monkey bars are inferior (in design, not only in price). Therefore, Zabava’s grandfather (my dad who already did this once) remembered the old days and in one day, together with his neighbor Volodya, assembled both structures. In the left picture below, the same Volodya shows Zabava the “horizons” on the monkey bars, while simultaneously testing its reliability on himself.


For the monkey bars, we took treated (painted) shovel cuttings, and for the wall bars - ordinary ones. Why? We decided to try how to survive the winter. The usual ones, of course, were coated with a protective varnish. And one more important thing: we build all our complexes (both home and country houses) for growth. That is, we didn’t even think that Zabava would master the monkey bars this year. But we are sure that she will easily master it in the next one. She has strong arms (due to the lower apparatus), and older children who come to visit show what and how.

Another everyone’s favorite equipment, without which not a single sports complex can do. You can mock the long-suffering rings in different ways - make them plastic, ribbed, excessively thick or thin, and also “soldered” with an intermediate crossbar into a rigid coupling. You can see all this in our yards. It seemed to me that making an apparatus of normal quality on any site could not be easier - this is an Olympic apparatus and for it there are years-tested standards for gyms for children and adults. But for some reason, it is rings that still receive miracles of ingenuity from manufacturers of all stripes. I was lucky again as a child (a sports dad). I had standard gymnastic rings hanging on belts at home. They hung high (you have to get from the crossbar, you won’t jump), as it should be. They were very popular, not only for hanging, but also for all possible climbing (climbing into them with your feet, standing up, climbing from them to the ceiling on a crossbar, tumbling, etc., etc.) Of course, for Fun I wanted the same. I looked at the manufacturers - no problem, you can buy it. I looked at Zabavi’s hand, I honestly looked like that. And I realized that we would have time with the gymnastics adults.


And I also realized that children love simple non-sports entertainment: hanging from rings (they should hang so that the child barely touches the ground), spinning as hard as possible, tucking their legs in or even throwing them up and... well, in general, to promoted. In my opinion, it’s amazing how useful this exercise is for a 4-year-old (and older). The child hangs for a long time, his arms become stronger, the vestibular system is trained. Why not? Why take away such joy? In short, I decided that this year is enough, next year we will hang two pairs of rings. Some are high (full-fledged), some are low (children's). Some are on the correct fastenings (belts + slings), others are on ropes (let them spin, like on a swing). On this we calmed down. This year, Fun doesn't pass by little children's rings. For the future, we made a crossbar in a good place, where there is room for the second pair of rings - the “adult” one.

Sailor ladders and expanding ladder (Skripalev ladder)

The sailor's ladder in the sports complex is an ingenious projectile. It costs three kopecks. Replaces a swing. Can be a projectile for lifting to a height (for example, into a “nest” or to another projectile suspended above). And it serves as a support (ha ha, it’s hard for an adult to see it as a “support”) for moving to any projectile suspended within a meter radius.


Plus, the swing on the sailor’s ladder does have some kind of direction (more back and forth than sideways), so you can swing on it both in the middle of the complex and next to the pole (unlike a rope or disk swing, which work 360 degrees - suspension in the center is desirable). Actually, in the first summer we had two such ladders, and in 2018 we added a third (expanding) one - the Skripalev ladder. A sailor's ladder firmly suspended horizontally from both sides at a height can become a "dynamic monkey bars", and fixed vertically - a "dynamic wall bars". Having seen how deftly Zabava climbs the sailor’s ladders vertically, we decided not to attach any of ours. Fathers of smaller children who come to visit us simply “secure” it with their feet for a while to allow the child to climb comfortably. - a completely unique projectile, one of our daughter’s favorites, no matter how it was hung.

This (expanding) ladder is attached from below and from above. In our case, it is attached to the bottom crossbar of the wall bars with a small rope loop through a carabiner, although we tried at least five different suspensions for this ladder and they were all quite successful before choosing the current one. It is difficult to climb, because at the bottom the ladder is quite unstable and it shakes a lot, but stability increases upward. My daughter loves not only to climb up and down on it and use it for transitions, but also to hang and tumble on its individual rungs (photos are below).

A complex and interesting projectile (rubber strand with reinforcement inside, resistant to outdoors and stretching, springy). Unfortunately, it is very little widespread (you will be tired of searching for it on Google), so we are sending everything to the same Oleg Skripalev (the link to his website was above). It costs a little over a thousand. The vine is hung so that the child can barely reach it with his hands. Next are the jumping options: holding with a wide grip with your hands, armpits, sitting. We have two of these at home (thicker and thinner, for adults and children), but they work worse because they are suspended somehow separately from other equipment (there will be a reason to rethink this when we return from the dacha). At the dacha, we hung only one vine, but provided an accessible “approach” to it (from a sailor’s ladder). The child cannot sit on a vine from the ground on his own (if you hang it so low, then when it swings, he will sit with his butt on the ground), but jumping while sitting is the most interesting thing. The child tries to get on it: or asks an adult (we usually don’t fall for it, why - read below). Or climbs over from somewhere.


The entire design is dynamic and requires dexterity. It can spring up and “slam” the body if you get awkward (this is upsetting, but not dangerous). But the “bonus” for successful climbing is the monkey effect. In general, the 4-year-old managed to master this apparatus in 2-3 days with minimal insurance, learned to climb onto it without insurance, and learned to spend some time on it, jumping, swinging and inspiring other children. For guests, the apparatus turned out to be difficult: obviously, in order to get the hang of climbing on it, a little practice was required, and climbing in guest mode with the whole company diverted attention to the apparatus, where it was possible to “depict” something right away.

Another dynamic apparatus that can be used both as a horizontal bar (in the case of a hang) and as a swing (if you sit on top of it). This projectile costs literally three kopecks and can be used several times in combination (we are planning to add one more). The trapezoid allows you to “fly” from projectile to projectile and is therefore valuable for inclusion in complex climbing routes. There will be no repetition, if you hang the trapezoids at different heights, the trapezoids will then “work” differently. We hung the trapeze so that Zabava could not reach it from the ground, but could easily jump from the trapeze to the ground.


In our complex, the trapeze is accessible from a sailor’s ladder, horizontal bar and wall bars, as well as from one of the upper monkey bars, and a disc swing is also available from the trapeze. Older children try to swing harder on the trapeze to reach the rings with their feet. It must be said that the suspension of the shells depends on height and, of course, we made it for our child. Observing children of different heights (the way they use our equipment), we admire their imagination: if something that is difficult for Fun turns out to be too simple for them, then they find some other way to use the equipment and the task as a whole does not become easier for them.

The rope in the complex is used in two three main ways: as a swing (for this you need to tie a loop at the bottom of the rope), as a way up or down (to a monkey bars or a nest and, accordingly, a way to quickly “slide” down from them) or as an intermediate projectile for moving along horizontally (for example, from the rings to the sailor’s ladder). Initially, the rope is difficult for a child. Even a child can climb up a pole only when he has already “gained” some dexterity and hand strength, and the rope, unlike a pole, is also dynamic.


Whether the rope will be used and loved by a child depends on several parameters. Firstly, the material from which the rope is made. In most outdoor playgrounds, the ropes are synthetic - they are not very pleasant for the hands and are not very grippy (slip). Like sailor's ladders, ropes have their roots in ship's rigging, where they were made from hemp. In construction stores we were able to find hemp rope of large diameter - it is rigid, but does not slip and is quite grippy. In our complex we used two ropes made from large-diameter cotton rope, also purchased at a hardware store. The price to finished rope ratio is approximately 1:4 (the rope is obviously cheaper than the finished product). Ready-made rope for children's complexes exists in our diameter (about 30 mm), it can be thicker (32-34 mm) and, in our opinion, thicker would be better. But, knowing that our “homemade” ready-made rope is still poorly used, we decided to experiment. We tied one of the ropes at the end with a loop like a swing, the other with knots along the length for climbing. I myself am against knots, it seems to me that they are more likely to get in the way (after all, a special pleasure in using a rope is sliding down it), but the men of our family convinced me. Another important parameter: where exactly the rope is suspended. From my point of view, since the projectile is complex (requires mastering), its place should be indispensable. That is, it should be included in some route where its use provides many advantages, and not using it creates difficulties (forces you to take a detour). The logic is obvious: if there is something to replace the rope, then it will be replaced. This is what happened with one of the ropes. It hung on one side of the middle crossbar as a "way down" and as such was regularly used. But as soon as we made an alternative path on a nearby beam - climbing holds - the rope stopped being used. Going down the holds may not be easier, but it is more interesting. Older children began to use this rope as a support for jumping down. It was scary for a child about a meter tall to jump from a 1.30 meter crossbar, but when he picked up the rope, he did it easily. Finally, with regard to the rope as a swing, everything is even more obvious. Such a rope should hang away from the support posts, then its main advantage - the ability to swing all 360 degrees - will be used to the maximum.

At the top of our entire structure there is a nesting net, which we also received to order from Oleg Skripalev (to our dimensions). The source of the idea was a small net stretched at our house (there it is the size of a hammock, here it is about 1.30 meters by 2.50 meters). The home nest has become our favorite: the children (Fun with Guests) carry toys into it, and Sasha watches movies in it. At the dacha, the idea was similar, but we implemented it, as they say, fundamentally “for growth.”


The fundamental purpose of this net, suspended at a height of about 2.5 meters, is obvious: it is the destination of high-altitude projectiles. You can get into the nest through the side of the wall bars (the path for adults) or into one of the two openings of the manholes from some high-altitude equipment: both sailor ladders, a short auxiliary monkey bars (made specifically to complicate possible paths), climbing holds on poles. Potentially, a gladiator net and an expanding rope ladder will be added, we are waiting for them. In general, so that there is a reason to climb up. The second purpose is also clear. The net is large (several children or an adult with a child can climb in), you can sit in it (grab a blanket and pillow) and read a book or play. At the height, observing the surroundings and the garden. This, of course, is not a “tree house” (we are going to have one), but nevertheless, it is quite a comfortable nest in which you can relax and retire. At the age of 4, we did not provoke Zabava to climb there, at that time her tier was middle and lower. She is careful and neat with us, and we appreciate that. Some children are put online by their parents, but we were in no hurry. But at the age of 5, she began to climb into the nest using all available methods (from all rope ladders, nets and wall bars), even those that no longer seem inaccessible to us (adults).

Climbing holds

The idea of ​​the “inappropriate” use of climbing holds came to the mind of my mother (Zabava’s grandmother) when she watched Zabava holding on to a pole while standing on the crossbar and trying to reach the rope: if only she had something extra to cling to... How What's this for? There are special things for this, resistant to moisture, winter, weather changes, made to be used anywhere, including outdoors. We were stunned and decided to implement the idea.


We bought about 20 hooks and placed them on the posts: here and there. Somewhere to help, somewhere to complicate the route. We looked at where our daughter was trying to push off the posts with her feet or hold on to them with her hands: on the way to the rope, nest or pole. Around a pillar near the wall bars, which she tried to “peel off” in order to find herself in another plane. At the rings, in order to hold on to them, move your feet along the post, lift your legs onto the crossbar, as an alternative “path” to the middle crossbar. In general, we experimented. So far, the simpler shells have “won,” but here and there, now one child, then another, will grab onto these hooks. In general, having studied the market for holds, we realized that for a price close to our complex (about 20 thousand in today’s times) you can make an excellent country climbing wall with your own hands, using an empty wall of the house (naturally, a street one). The topic is cool, and manufacturers of holds provide advice on creating your own climbing walls, and not just sell ready-made ones (the price of a ready-made and your own climbing wall will be comparable, but it’s more fun to make your own). We decided that this is our perspective for a couple of years in the future, when Zabava will develop his body and master his sports complex to perfection.

Does a sports complex even need swings (as such)? The question is controversial, because any child over two years old will be inclined to use anything that can swing as a swing. The favorite “swings” of our sports complex are sailor ladders, vines, a rope with a tied loop and even rings. Anything, anything that is dynamically suspended. Children love to swing: we have hammocks hung all over the garden; a magnificent swing-plate with a diameter of about a meter, which we bought at IKEA a long time ago, never sits idle on the veranda (it entertains our daughter when the adults sit too long at lunch or tea , she wants to be close, but she doesn’t want to sit still) and, of course, there is something to swing on on each floor of our house (in case of bad weather). Key point: all this (for swinging) hangs separately: at home or in the garden. Why sculpt a swing into a complex if they can be used perfectly separately (by themselves), but it is difficult to integrate them into climbing routes? We decided to leave only two swings in the complex, mercilessly throwing away the excess. We left a regular wooden swing for the “little ones” and a disc swing. For what?


The purpose of the “baby” swing is obvious: it is mostly needed for babies (and ours hangs very low, so that a child of Funny height (93-94 cm) can climb on it and swing, pushing off the ground with his feet). The argument is clear: many of our guests come with several children, and while those who are already able to climb are climbing on the top of the complex, the kids need to be occupied with something nearby and below. Separate, so to speak, different children into different zones. With a disc swing the situation is different.


The disc swing is an extremely simple and cheap projectile to manufacture. It's just a disc on a string. The disc is not very large (although my adult butt fits on it quite well and I was even surprised that it was quite comfortable). On a rope that is not very thick (it should not replace a rope). Swinging on such a swing turned out to be like nothing else. Firstly, the disc is not stable - you can fall off it, although the height is such that there will be no harm from falling, that is, you need to balance and hold it with your buttocks (in general, not only the vestibular area develops, but the legs and butt). Secondly, like a rope with a loop, this thing has a swing range of 360 degrees - complete freedom to fly. And thirdly, the projectile is so minimalistic and hangs so low that it does not intersect almost anything in its path: having crashed into a hanging rope, you simply deflect it, do not hit, and the disk remains below the point of collision. Hanging a disc swing in a house or on a tree is more difficult: it is necessary that the trajectory does not intersect with either walls or the trunk. It is clear that the place for such a swing is somewhere in the center of the complex. Can it fit into climbing routes? It's difficult, but most likely yes. It’s not that it’s comfortable to climb onto, but the kids are constantly trying – it’s a challenge.

Difficult climbing routes

We have already written so much here about difficult routes that I think everything has become clear. Let's just summarize. The complex will live every day and not get boring if it provides high variability of climbing. Not only equipment for arms and legs, but also “food for the brain.” When the child comes up with a plan (“Mom, come watch me climb from the ladder onto the trapeze, spin there, and then, like a monkey, climb onto the horizontal bar” - this is a level of planning that is already accessible to a 3-year-old). Such small victories, small connections and elements of routes add up over time into an integral system; if you provide 3-4 possible transitions from each projectile, then such a system remains “open” - infinitely variable, not closed. Then you don’t get tired of climbing, even if the child is alone at the complex. As the child grows (and the complex, with modifications of the apparatus, the height and distance of their suspension, can remain relevant until adolescence), the routes, of course, will change, providing the necessary challenge. Oleg Skripalev talked about the great “Magellan Journey” of his childhood: when he had to go around all the projectiles of the complex in a circle, without ever descending to the ground. All these tasks that the child sets for himself become more and more complex. This is the development of the level of aspirations and the development of dexterity and strength. In general, in order to create such a system, you need to think about it, and when the child uses it, he will develop not only muscles, but also thinking, as well as planning and setting adequate tasks. Needless to say, the attempt to simply hang the apparatus in a row is a systemic mistake in this regard: it simplifies the whole idea, reducing it to the level of simple repetitions and motor skills. What attracts us most about the performances of gymnasts and circus performers? Of course, the flow of movements, their connection into a single number, the flow of some elements into others. It's like a dance! I always admire the work of the one who invented this “dance”. Where do such inventors appear? This ability to make a single integral “flow” from elements of movements is not given from birth, it also needs to be developed. Of course, in an environment that allows for variability.

Security at the complex

1. When to start? Many parents are afraid of falls and keep young children away from projectiles. In the picture below, a 2-year-old girl is hanging on our rings; no one hung her there. She came up herself, took out the rings herself (standing on her tiptoes from the ground), hung herself, raised her legs to the rings herself, hung and lowered her legs down herself, safely descending from the apparatus. She repeated this cycle dozens of times. This girl’s mother allowed her to climb as early as she wanted, and since she is growing up with a 4-year-old brother, she had someone to “trace” behind. If they ask me: who has a higher chance of injury (not only on equipment, but also in life), this girl or those whose mothers do not allow them to climb on their own, then the answer is obvious: this girl is remarkably dexterous, knows her strengths, knows how to do it correctly fall.


Pseudo-logical judgments of mothers of 2-year-olds: “Oh, there’s a swing here, it’s just for us, the rest is too early for us!”, “Why does this swing hang so low? Is the child clinging with his feet?”, “My daughter is too heavy.” for this lasagna (about a massive child)." There are hidden contradictions in these judgments. First, if it is too early, how will she know that the time has come if the baby does not develop gradually? It’s easier to start at 2 years old than at 6 (it’s easy to fall lower). Secondly, if a child is always only pushed on a swing, then how can he learn to swing on his own? Of course, a child can and should be pushed higher on a swing. For this purpose, we have hammocks in which it is convenient to both swing on your own and swing from outside. But the skill of swinging, pushing off the ground, is difficult to obtain on a yard playground, because the swing must be adjusted to the height of a particular child. Children just have to learn to swing by moving the center of gravity (which is great in summer conditions, but difficult to do in bulky winter clothes). Thirdly, if a child is loose and (or) heavy, then he just needs to climb (and move more), otherwise how will he become more balanced and stronger? It will be difficult to make him move at 3-4 years old, but at 1.5-2 years old, when he is interested in everything, he is a little upset by falls (from the height of his height, of course) and his natural curiosity has not yet been repulsed; he perceives his (possibly excessive ) weight as a given and tries to cope with it. If you give him this opportunity, then by the age of 3-4 years there will be no excess weight and looseness left, or, if the constitution is such, it will be balanced by the gained strength of the arms and legs. Manufacturers of Early Start complexes suggest starting at 7 months. We bought an “early start” at 8 months and realized that they were right (it could have been earlier), despite the fact that we did not rush our daughter to walk early, there were just some equipment (for example, a slide) that she really loved crawl, and my arms were well trained on the first horizontal bars. The question is that by the age of 2 she had outgrown this complex. In less than 2 years (approximately 1 year 8 months) we made a full-height (ceiling-length) complex in our apartment. Of course, it began to be fully used by the age of three (Zabava had no accelerating provocations), but by this time she had already mastered the lower tier well: her hands were strong and her brains were careful. So, we believe that we need to start early.

2. Less provocation from adults and more good examples of your own.
The second fundamental question: does the child need help at the complex? The answer to this is very subtle. You can help a little, but you just need to try not to provoke the child to do something for which he is not yet mentally and physically ready, and you shouldn’t relieve him of responsibility for his safety. A good example: children were shown how to hang from a bar upside down, holding on with their hands.


The result was the complete mastery of this technique by Zabava and her guests, repeatedly shown above in the section on horizontal bars. A bad example: with the same hanging, they provoked the child to let go of his hands ahead of time (until he himself realized that this was possible and did not understand how to fix his legs). The result was a fall when trying to let go of them on their own (well, if the child is trained, then he manages to twist out of this fall and land on his haunches, and not on his back or head). To avoid such “unpreparedness” and “provoked falls,” I generally avoid helping the child physically. As a last resort (in the case of a direct insistent request from a child who himself came up with this element in advance), I stand and belay nearby (without touching the child) or substitute my shoulder or arm as additional support, without taking on the child’s center of gravity (weight). The best way to show off a new technique is to actually do it yourself - as in the example with the three Nikitin horizontal bars (or have older children do the technique). Children pick up techniques from each other very quickly, but when they do it themselves (without provocation), they usually feel their limitations and capabilities. More precisely, initially children are able to sense them, if this sense is not disrupted.

How can you knock down this natural sense of your strengths and capabilities? Elementary. We all constantly see mothers on the playgrounds lifting their one-year-old son up a two-meter slide in their arms, and then catching him at the bottom with hooting. This is accepted everywhere. When a child is lifted, rolled and caught like a thing, he gets used to the fact that he will always be caught, the instinct of self-preservation breaks down. If a child a year learns to slowly climb the steps of this same slide on his own (two steps up - one down, often he just climbs up and down endlessly), then at every moment he feels what is available to him. Thus, the fun of riding from high slides came at the age of 2, and I never pushed her up, I waited until the ascent and descent from the stairs became accessible to her and when she wanted to slide down herself. Several times I caught myself with envy when I saw that Zabavina, who was the same age, was boldly climbing somewhere up. And she immediately realized her mistake when the same girl the same age fell from a height on the descent and, for example, twisted her leg. Then I was glad that my daughter was not “without brakes,” although her brakes were internal: we not only did not provoke her to climb to heights, but also did not “cut us off” when she finally decided to do so.


Thus, we did not relieve our daughter of responsibility for safety. Now she is more careful than most children; for example, in our complex she does not climb into the nest or on the monkey bars. We don’t provoke: when the time comes, she will climb on her own, let her first train on the bottom.

This principle would seem obvious. The swing should not crash into anything hard. If possible, several swinging projectiles should be allowed to be used at the same time. Apparently those who designed linear complexes thought about this (children will not crash), but they underestimated the needs of the child and the capabilities of the complexes. There is no need to try to ensure that the trajectories of the projectiles never intersect; you need to think about where 3-4 children can climb or swing at the same time without crashing into each other, while other projectiles (requiring space) wait their turn.


Many things, for example, whether the trajectory of a swinging vine will intersect with a sailor's ladder suspended diagonally, are visible better in place than in the sketch. Our design was three-stage: sketch, implementation (checking), adjustment. Several shells were moved by us as we used them.

All this concerns, of course, more shoes than clothes; children's country clothes are usually quite comfortable. Above there are photos of Zabava swinging on a disc swing in rubber boots. This is definitely an exception. It was a rainy day and Fun just swayed as it passed by. On a home complex, the principle of “climbing barefoot” is obvious. In 99% of cases, we adhere to this principle at the dacha. If children come in sandals with thick straps, this is still acceptable, but, of course, no rubber slippers like Crocs or flip-flops. By the way, there is almost never a need to talk about this: as a rule, children themselves take off their slippers and run to climb. It is more difficult for them if the weather outside is cold and rainy and they are still wearing socks and tights under their boots. In this case, of course, sneakers or boots are better than rubber boots (we cut the grass lower under the complex). The child should feel his feet well and the shoes should not slip on the apparatus. Well, on a normal warm summer day, comfortable clothing at the country sports complex is minimal. As our Zabava says: “Today the circus performer forgot to put on her costume, but that’s okay, the performance will still take place!”

6. If whims begin, it is better to change your occupation. All parents know that sometimes children play, and sometimes they flirt. This is especially noticeable when several children are playing at the same time. Any parent feels that the happy screams have given way to hysterical ones: just a little more and they will start to hurt themselves and each other. At this moment, children need to be distracted from the complex and switched to another activity, this is obvious to us.

7. Learning to fall. The Nikitins wrote about this so well that I don’t even want to repeat it. When is a child best adapted to falling (from their own height)? Oddly enough, at the age of about a year, when he learns to walk. His body is set up for the fact that he will have to fall many times every day and endures falls without injury, his psyche is also set up for this, he hardly gets upset, he just gets up and moves on. Similarly with low implements, such as low horizontal bars or low-hanging rings: when a child is 1.5-2 years old and he does only what he can do, he will fall, but will not be injured (I do not consider cases when the child “flies away” "from the slide that his mother put him on 80% of the time). The child will gradually discover heights on his own and gradually train in the correct falls. If my daughter falls off the horizontal bar at 4 years old (from an average age, she doesn’t climb high ones), then she bends in the air and lands like a cat. This may be followed by tears, but these are tears of annoyance, not pain: she doesn’t like it when something doesn’t work out for her (of course, 3-4 year olds are already very suspicious in this regard). Similar to heights, speeds increase very slowly and gradually. When a child learns to fall, he only walks, when he jumps, rushes and runs, his falls, as a rule, are already physiological. Moreover, jumping from heights, which older children love so much. We cannot isolate, protect or prohibit (some parents can - we cannot, I would be scared, then he will not be prepared for the amplitudes of adult movements and falls from adult height). But we can allow you to train from scratch. Is it obvious? Unfortunately no. Otherwise, we would not see children on playgrounds who are led by the hood (so as not to fall) or constantly pulled by the hand (it is not the child who holds his mother’s hand or finger, but the mother who holds him tightly with her girth so that he does not stumble or slip). The Nikitins (“We, our children and grandchildren”) also have a lot about this, but all of this was clear to us even without the Nikitins. Do you need a soft mat in a sports complex? Controversial question, but the answer is similar: “As a rule, no.” The ideal surface for country sports complexes and their “working radius” is grass or sand. Naturally, this is not stone, crushed stone or concrete. A coating that you won’t get caught on and won’t scratch. The covering of urban playgrounds does not seem ideal to us for a summer residence: in the city it performs other functions; there it is necessary to maintain an oasis of cleanliness during the dirty and slushy season. The summer season, as a rule, ends long before the autumn dirt and winter slush. We chose grass.

Kindergarten in our dacha

Of course, the complex attracted neighbors and friends to our dacha. “Kindergarten” in our case is a figurative concept, because schoolchildren also climb with great pleasure at the sports complex, thus expanding the social environment of our Fun.


As for me, it seems to me that dacha children rushing around the territory and from site to site: here is a sandbox, there is a “climbing room” (that’s what they themselves call the sports complex), here is a house, there is a pond or a trampoline - this is childhood . So come, friends, before the warm summer days are over, we’ll show you, tell you, just relax together and let the kids climb! Fun and I will be delighted!

Sports complex at the dacha: second season (continued, summer 2018)

A year has passed. The shells, packed in a container for the winter, were again taken out and hung on the sports complex. We also bought a trapeze, rings, an expanding ladder and a gladiator net. Optimized suspension. We added a parent hammock to the side (not inside the structure) to spend time nearby while the children climbed.


As a result, we have a design for at least 24 projectiles (if we count the climbing holds scattered across the supports as one projectile, and each crossbeam or pole separately). So now we have: five crossbars, two poles, two monkey bars, one gladiator net, one wall bars, two monkey bars, two ropes, two trapezes, two rings, two swings, one expanding ladder, one large nest net, at least 20 climbing holds and on the side hammock. Our daughter turned five and a son was born. The games have also become more complex. Today, my daughter has mastered all the apparatus and the full height of the complex, with the exception of the monkey bars (she hangs on them, but is still afraid to go through the monkey bars, although she has already begun to pass the monkey bars on playgrounds - she has enough arm strength, but ours hangs higher and she is cautious).

We now have two favorite “long-playing” games:
1. Voyage of Magellan. Alone and in company. This is a “round-the-world trip” during which you need to go through all the shells without ever descending to the ground. The difficulty lies in the fact that the complex is, in principle, better passable for a child whose height is suitable for the projectiles, while it is difficult for taller children to pass the rings, for example, which are suspended lower and “provoke” them to touch the ground. That is, Zabava easily copes with this task (but only after she was able to rise to the maximum height of other projectiles), and older children actually get pierced in the same way, although some other projectiles are easier for them to pass. The solution is to either hang the projectiles at a compromise height, or to end with a low-pass projectile. You can complicate the problem endlessly, for example, by introducing conditions that a projectile cannot be reused more than twice, or no more than 5 projectiles can be reused, or nothing can be reused. Or that you need to leave each shell not the same way you came. Perhaps in some of these types the problem will turn out to be unsolvable, but children will find their own loopholes or optimize its rules.
2. Circus. You can play alone with spectators. Tickets are being sold, seats and desserts are being prepared. We sit and watch our daughter climb, who must hold out for a certain time without falling to the ground or stopping. For some reason she likes the hour time. Surprisingly, for her this hour passes quite unnoticed, and we have time to calmly drink tea nearby if we have stocked it in advance. The daughter has her favorite paths and has new numbers (calls), which she is not too lazy to shout about in advance in order to attract our attention. If I need to “add some courage,” then I turn on the commentator mode (as in Magellan’s Voyage). Instead of a “commentator,” you can turn on music for movement improvisation; this goes well with us after dance classes. Overall, there is a feeling that the daughter has made a dramatic leap in her agility and climbing ability and that there is still a lot of room for improvement. And, so that she has room to grow endlessly, from time to time we go to a real circus and show her real gymnasts and acrobats.

Links

1. Skripalev V.S. Our family stadium
2. Pavlova E.N. Do-it-yourself home sports complex or to order
3. Skripalev sports complexes. Sports complexes based on individual projects. Do-it-yourself and to order

Individual consultations