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The "Tire Chain Bridge" is a wobbly, flexible bridge made from layers of bolted car tires. It can be used as a stand alone element, or to connect play features. The bridge was the work of Playground Ideas guest designer, David Barry. Got your own idea for a playground element? Become a Playground Ideas guest […]

Over the years, we’ve tried and tested just about every conceivable design for building a swing seat out of a car tire. This, we believe, is the best it gets. Follow the link to get the step-by-step instructions for building your own “Swing Seat Best.” (Note: must create a free user account to see full […]

Last October, we launched “150 Days of Play”, a campaign to celebrate our design library reaching 150 designs. We set out to profile a design a day from our library on our blog, along with stories of how these elements were created and examples of how they’ve been used around the world. Unfortunately, in December […]

    Seven years ago, we started building playgrounds in Thailand. A rag-tag gang of volunteers, builders, artists, teachers, and parents built 40 playgrounds in 2 years. It was crazy, and everyone was exhausted. Then we put a few photos online and things got crazier. Playground requests started pouring in from around the world. People […]

The "Nuclear Stepper" is a a great low climbing element that can fill a large open space. The arms can transition to out to other play areas in the space. Follow the link to get the step-by-step instructions for building your own “Nuclear Stepper." Note: must create a free user account to see full instructions.) Got […]

The "Pentagon" element creates beautiful, tessellating patterns of climbing rungs from layered beams of timber. "Pentagons" can be built next to cubbies, platforms, or monkey bars to create more complex ladders to reach higher elements. They can also contain fireman's poles within. Follow the link to get the step-by-step instructions for building your own “Pentagon.”Note: […]

Meet Tha Wah, a Playground Ideas superstar. He was the first hired employee of Go Play, the playground building initiative in Thailand that grew into what is now Playground Ideas. In 2008, Tha Wah was involved in the construction of 33 playgrounds. He then went on to work forChild's Dream, an NGO which supports marginalized […]

The "Sandpit Square" is another of our "No Excuses" elements: play features so cheap and easy that anyone can build them regardless of budget or skills available. The only tool required for this element is a knife. Cut the sidewalls off a handful of tires, arrange them in any formation to fit your space and […]

  Adding amphitheater tire seats to a playground platform or stage is an enabler for creativity. A performance area provides a space for teachers to gather students for outdoor lessons or for children to engage in playground performances. This tire structure is also an easy solution to adding group seating to a play area. East […]

The "Wide Slide" is a traditional steel slide that is wide enough to accommodate several children sliding down at once. A safety tip on welded slides: the way sheet metal base is connected to sides is extremely important. The welding that connects the sheet mental to the sides must be strong and reinforced with other […]

We've mentioned beforehow much we love hills. Every playground need a hill. Playground Ideas – Brazil The "Earth Hill with Steps" is a great way to augment an existing hill, adding dimension and structure to an inclined landscape. Photo by Tory RoJo This feature is particularly well suited for toddlers and young children just learning […]

  The "Calculator" is an outdoor interactive, educational element. Painted with numbers and mathematical symbols, kids can rotate the tires to create equations. You can also make a "word calculator" by painting the tires with letters. East African Playgrounds – Uganda East African Playgrounds – Uganda In education systems the world over, "learning" happens inside […]