Play Bark Alternative

[BigGingerBob]

Hi everyone,

We recently spent a lot of money and effort redoing our garden (thanks to the heatwave, the grass has gone!) and we made a play area for the kids with a climbing frame on it.

We put play Bark in the play area and unsurprisingly, it's a massive pain in the arse. The kids (1&2) like to pick it up and throw it on the grass, it's also fairly sharp on your feet.

So, what can we do instead?

Pics below, forgive the untrimmed edges. Finishing touches to the garden will hopefully be added this weekend.







P.s. ideas of how to finish where the patio meets the sleeper also greatly appreciated!

[biggiles]

That looks like wood-chip, not bark?

[hyperblue]

Not sure what else you can do other than accept that kids are kids and will make a mess. Wear shoes and wait for them to grow up I guess!

[Exiled Imp]

You could try inter-locking outdoor foam tiles. Not so expensive and easy to lay.

[Dave Hedgehog]

replace it with soft sand

the kids can then play hunt the cat turds lol

[Quhet]

Think I'd just accept that it's going to a bit messy until the kids are a little older. Couldn't you just suck up the bark with a mower/leaf sucker every few days if it bothers you so much?

[POIDH]

Indeed, issue is the kids not the wood chip IMO.

Sand / grit works well, but you will have cats crapping in there.

[Landlubber]

Get better kids?

[BigGingerBob]

Exiled Imp said:

You could try inter-locking outdoor foam tiles. Not so expensive and easy to lay.

This is kind of what I'm thinking and was after some sort of opinions on whether it's any good.
The heat build up if summers carry on this way might be an issue though.

A garden vacuum sounds like it could be a good shout, I always like an excuse for new tools!

[Radec]

Rubber tiles, something like this https://playgroundtiles.uk/collections/playground-...

[POIDH]

BigGingerBob said:

This is kind of what I'm thinking and was after some sort of opinions on whether it's any good.
The heat build up if summers carry on this way might be an issue though.

A garden vacuum sounds like it could be a good shout, I always like an excuse for new tools!

Indeed. I do some of this for a living. Two weeks ago I was at a play park wth rubber tiles over 75*c - burn time on skin under 5 seconds...
I would also question why you want your kids surrounded by toxic rubber from old car tyres...

[hidetheelephants]

Grass is a pretty soft surface, I've never really understood what the fuss is about, although the slide and frame does have to be moved about to avoid bald patches.

[Digger]

You have not mentioned location, or a hosepipe ban?

Water the grass!?

[Hoofy]

Seems like mulch ado about nothing.

[POIDH]

Hoofy said:

Seems like mulch ado about nothing.

Keep chipping away at the humour.

[Hoofy]

POIDH said:

Hoofy said:

Seems like mulch ado about nothing.

Keep chipping away at the humour.

Honk.

It's also a subtle hint for the OPer to try mulch.