Safer Ground: Lots of Options for Play Surfaces

Joshua Barry knows that wipeouts are inevitable when children are climbing and sliding on outdoor play sets. So he placed shredded rubber under and around the climbing toys his two children use in the backyard of their Aurora, Ohio, home.

“It gives me peace of mind knowing there’s a little bit of cushioning,” he said.

Safety experts say it’s important to address the area around a swing set or climbing equipment. “Each year hundreds of thousands of children are treated in emergency rooms for playground injuries, and these are preventable,” said Dr. Brunilda Nazario, senior medical editor at WebMD, a health information website.

The key to avoiding injuries is adding surface materials that will cushion a fall, said Kate Carr, president of Safe Kids, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to preventing childhood injuries.

Asphalt and concrete are too hard, as are grass and turf, Nazario said, since normal wear and tear destroys their quality and absorption properties.

Good options include rubber mulch, wood mulch, sand, fine gravel or safety-tested rubber mat, which are more forgiving than grass and dirt are when a child falls, Nazario said.

How deep you should lay the ground material depends on what you use and how high the play equipment is. The U.S. Product Safety Commission recommends using at least 9 inches (23 centimeters) of mulch or shredded rubber for equipment up to 7 feet (2.1 meters) high. For sand or pea gravel, the commission recommends at least a 9-inch(23-centimeter) layer for equipment up to 5 feet (1.5 meters).

Mulch – either wood or rubber – is a better choice than sand or gravel because it provides more shock absorption, said Rick Jess, vice president of merchandising for lawn and gardening at Lowe’s headquarters in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Wood mulch is less expensive than rubber, but it decomposes and fades and has to be added to each year, he said. Rubber mulch, which is increasingly popular, lasts much longer. It also is more than double the price of traditional mulch, he said.

“It holds its color,” he said. “It doesn’t wash away. It doesn’t decompose.”

Although cheaper than mulch, sand and pea gravel have become less popular surfaces for backyard play sets because they don’t stay put as well, added Ace Hardware’s Lou Manfredini in Chicago.

“With sand and pea gravel, it’s a mess issue. Sand moves around the yard quite a bit and can even get tracked into the house on kids’ shoes,” said the Ace Home Expert. “Rubber mulch has gotten quite popular over the last 10 years. It tends to look good longer.”

Regardless of what surface parents choose, Manfredini suggests first installing a weed protection barrier – a durable fabric that prevent weeds from growing up through the ground cover. He recommends against using weed killers near play sets.

Parents also should carefully choose the location of their set, Nazario said. She recommends shady areas where the ground is level and there are no low-hanging branches or wires.