The Playdale Journey – Part One

Don’t know how to start building your playground? Let us help you! We can guide you from start to finish. Part one of the Playdale journey continues below…

With no experience, building a playground of your own can be a daunting prospect. Without knowledge of the processes involved, it can feel like throwing a dart at a map. With this in mind, we’d like to walk you through how Playdale goes from zero to completion, and what you can expect when working with us to bring your playground concepts into reality. 

Gather Your Ideas

Now is the time to dream! Imagine what you’d like your ideal playground to look like, and what your children would dearly like to see. What age group are you aiming it towards? Do you want to factor in educational elements? Are you aiming for naturalistic, or bright and colourful? How much space do you have? These are all things that are good to have clear in your head before you begin. Of course, there is a huge element of fantasy when thinking about a playground – they are supposed to be fun! However there are also practical concerns to think about, and getting these straight first and foremost will help to guide your thinking. Ultimately you want to use your space in the best possible way, and get the best out of your footprint. You also want to consider what context your playground is in; for example, a playground in a school may be different from one at a visitor attraction. Look around for examples to emulate, see what might work for you and what you’d like to change. This is the sketching stage, so have fun with it!

Browse Our Catalogue

Playdale have an enormous range of equipment. From adventure trails and multi-play towers, to swings, roundabouts and educational pieces. Browsing our catalogue will give you a broad idea of what is available, what role each piece of equipment performs, and how they can be combined for different effects. Different age brackets have different needs, so think of your target audience and who is likely to be using the play area. Also it’s worth considering things such as your context and budget, and being realistic about what you can fit and afford. When thinking about the space you have, dimensions are crucial. Ensuring each element gets enough space while making the whole playground cohesive can be a hard trick to pull off. Bringing us nicely into…. 

Meeting Your Local Area Manager

The next step. With no obligation, we’ll arrange for you to meet your local area manager, who can advise you about your space and your options for what you want to achieve. We can discuss timescale and budget, as well as the overall vision for your playground and what you would like to see. We will then measure your site accurately, to ensure you know what is possible. This is a chance for you to ask any questions, and to get an idea of how best to bring your playground to life. While we are partly there to talk about the real world implications of your ideas, we really want to facilitate the best possible playground – making smiles is what we do! There’s no reason why the project can’t be ambitious, and we can help you squeeze the maximum fun out of your available footprint.

Playdale can assist every step of the way as you gather ideas for your perfect playground, giving guidance and structure to the whole process. We can help you take it from the seed of an idea, into the final completion..

From an abstract concept to getting the ball rolling, you’re now at the point where the site is measured and ready for design. Part 2 will cover the next part of the process – visualisation and building!