Playground 101: Learn the Types of Safety Surfacing

The playground is a wonderful place for physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. But let’s face it. When children play, they fall! It is our goal to ensure your playground is a safe place for children to fall. To prevent injuries, we have safety surfacing options for every style and budget. In this blog, we will break down four low maintenance surfacing materials so that you can decide what works best for your project.

Poured-in-Place Rubber: Improve Accessibility

Our poured-in-place rubber is the industry-leader in safety ratings and durability: RubberBond.

RubberBond’s 16’ fall height rating makes it perfect for all playground projects, from huge towers to toddler play areas. Choosing poured-in-place rubber is a great way to ensure accessibility. Due to its unitary form, any person with a mobility device can easily access a play area on poured-in-place rubber. It also features vibrant colored blends that lasts for years with proper maintenance.

Loose Fill: Increase Shock-Absorbency

Loose fill wood fiber mulch and rubber mulch are great low-budget options for playground projects. Wood fiber is highly cost effective and is the most popular quality safety surfacing on a tight budget. Wood fiber requires ongoing raking and occasional topping off. Recycled rubber mulch is another popular option that has a bit of a longer lifetime than wood fiber. Made from 100% clean, recycled tire material, this loose fill also comes in vibrant color options. It requires occasional top-offs as well, but less than with wood fiber.

Rubber Tiles: Make Repairs a Breeze

Rubber tiles have many of the same advantages as poured-in-place rubber. There are no loose materials to refill, and they boast top safety ratings and shock absorption abilities. Rubber tiles are low maintenance and can last through years of play. Like poured-in-place, rubber tiles create a unitary surface that is readily accessible to anyone in a mobility device. With no on-site mixing required, rubber tiles are the best option for indoor play areas as well as being a superior outdoor option. 

Lush Grass: A Natural Look 

Unfortunately, you cannot build a playground directly on top of a natural area – it just isn’t safe enough. Synthetic turf offers the beauty and natural feel of grass and protects playing children with impact absorption abilities. Synthetic turf is a great lower maintenance option, needing routine raking, while also providing the benefit of quickly draining after rain. All the cool feelings of grass under your toes without any watering or mowing!

The possibilities are endless with your safety surfacing choices and design. You can even mix and match surfacing options to define different play areas. Include poured-in-place rubber walkways along a turf field to increase accessibility for all. Be creative with your design! If there is room in your budget, add a logo, symbol, or mascot to your surfacing, or create vivid patterns in rubber surfacing options. Reach out to our playground design experts if you have any more questions regarding which surfacing may be right for your project.