How do you make a border around a playground?

Setting up a playground border is fairly straightforward. The biggest steps include staking out the approximate perimeter of your play area, laying down the frame, and filling the space with ground cover, which can come in the form of wood fiber or rubber mulch. 

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to construct a playground border: 

1. Find a Space

Ideally, you should seek out an open area with at least a 6-foot perimeter on all sides. The area should be fairly level and should be free of any natural obstructions like tree roots or rocks.

2. Stake out the Border

Use stakes and string, plastic cones, or other markers to lay out the area you plan to enclose with your playground border. Make sure to look at the space from different angles to get an accurate sense of what the finished product will look like.

3. Assemble Border Materials

Whether you’re using wood, rubber landscape timbers, or some other material, make sure you have all of the materials needed to enclose the border of your playground.

4. Use Assembled Materials to Enclose Playground Border

For this step, you’ll need to ensure that you have specific materials, like metal spikes and/or brackets. Once you have everything you need, enclose the playground border by placing the border pieces around the playground perimeter and securing them to the ground and to each other.

5. Fill with surfacing material

Once the border is in place, make generous use of loose-fill gravel or rubber mulch to fill every bare spot within your playground space, while also ensuring that the surfacing material you pour is evenly distributed and raked to maintain a consistent surface depth around the playground.

Borders are the perfect way to give your playground a more polished, finished look. Playground borders keep all of your safety surfacing material, like rubber mulch or wood fiber mulch, intact and contained, extending its use for many years. Your playground border can also be customized with a ramp to help people safely enter and exit the play space, making it more inclusive for all ability levels!

There are a handful of different types, sizes, and textures to choose from when selecting a commercial playground border. Plastic timbers and rubber edging are the main border options. Plastic borders are popular and durable playground edging option commonly seen in neighborhood parks, daycares, churches, and schools. Landscape timbers made from wood or rubber are also a common and attractive choice. Playground borders made from rubber are also long-lasting, and they’re made with rubber recycled from old tires, which makes them an eco-friendly option. If you have access to a large number of tires, you can also DIY a border by laying them on their sides around the perimeter. Or for a more whimsical and natural look, logs can be used as DIY playground borders. By vertically stacking logs or repurposing fallen trees into smaller log portions, you can create a fairy-tale-inspired border for a play area.

Think carefully about the aesthetic appeal, durability, and safety of each option before making your choice. But whichever option you choose, you can refer to this guide to ensure that your playground border is properly installed.

Learn About the Author

Kim Hart

Kimberly Hart, a native of Indianapolis, is a dedicated mother of two and a passionate writer specializing in topics such as active play, healthy lifestyles, and children's activities; she ensures her kids' health and safety through various sports and adventures. In addition to her role as a main content contributor for PlaygroundEquipment.com, she also spends her spare time volunteering and working as a life coach, helping individuals achieve their fitness goals.

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