BS: yard & playground ideas

Subject: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Sam L
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 10:02 PM

I'm building a shed, an arbored stage, and a playground in my backyard this summer. The shed and stage are pretty well worked-out ideas, but I thought Catters might have some suggestions. I'm pretty happy I thought of building the stage--I actually dreamed it, then thought it was a good idea.

And--I'm a little foggy on how I'm going to re-work my kid's wood playground which they're outgrowing. My boy has a social network from aq game he made up called Spacekids. So I'm trying to work out a spaceship sort of thing from the swings, sandbox, and little tree-house unit. any ideas for fun devices, add-ons, or features would be nice.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: mg
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 10:05 PM

Good idea. Don't forget the Palestine playground. We have about $120 so far...even $200 should buy something better than nothing. Can you let us know prices as you go? mg

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Bobert
Date: 05 Jul 04 - 11:10 PM

Hmmmmmm? Ya say yer kid id growing up so yer gonna disquise his swing set to look like the Enterprise? Ahhhh, you think yer gonna fool him? Heck, sounds like with his creativity, all ya gotta do is turn the make-over over to the kid and his friends and get the heck outta the way, other than stuff they may ask you about....

Sounds fun though....

...and keep yer eyes out fir them pesky NASA spies...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 12:08 AM

A rope net, like they used to load landing craft in WW2, makes a good substitute for zero gravity.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 12:42 AM

Lots of ropes and nets

Suggested by the raptor above - so their little necks, in the little nets, can become entangled, so they strangle, leaving behind - those they loved.....while they are free, in the breeze to sneeze and squeese and the need arises.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Sam L
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 02:51 PM

Well, I am a little wary of rope things, having hanged myself once as a kid myself. But it's one of the things they sell, and I admit to being deeply conflicted about what I'll let my kids do. I don't want them to be helpless, but I also don't like them to do anything that might even remotely be dangerous. It's a conundrum.

I was thinking of trying to mount a dolly wheel upside-down on a beam to make a rolling hanger, but havn't worked it out yet.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 03:32 PM

Liability. Kids invite other kids, not all of whom have been raised with good survival skills.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 05:33 PM

Not letting them do something even remotely dangerous...seems to me that you're harming them more than you would be if you let them do something that seems dangerous to them, but is really only as dangerous as living is. But that's a philosophical quibble.

Anything and everything can be dangerous. Ropes, slides, even walking.

What annoys me is that all the really cool stuff seems to have been invented since I was a kid.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: akenaton
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 06:32 PM

Cant agree with you there Rapaire.
When we were kids the whole country was our playground,we were out from morning till after dark and parents never had to worry .
We were wild and knew how to look after ourselves, helped by a big portion of luck on occasions.
We went river rafting on home made rafts (oil drums and poles)
Climbing tall trees for birds eggs, sailing for miles in an old dinghy with no centreboard and a 15ft sail,(no lifejackets ).

The present culture of overprotection produces a generation of "sappsy weans".....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: open mike
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 02:48 AM

http://www.detailedplay.com/
this place (and i am sure there are others) has plans..
and this place has info on Labyrinths
http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/
I enjoy and appreciate Labyrinths, and have offered to
paint one on the local playground asphalt...
I have several, portable ones painted on tarps,
planted in the garden, with paths to walk.
here is another site with ideas..
http://www.timberform.com/themed1.cfm

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 09:29 AM

Oh, heck, Ake, we roamed from (and on, and in) the Mississippi River to the waste dumps of the factories two miles inland and from the dam south of town way, way north. We swam in the creeks, fished in the waters, and dodged deputy sheriffs any number of times. We smoked cigarettes, ate warm raw hot dogs, climbed cliffs, shot off firecrackers and .22s, and generally raised hell over an area of about 15 square miles (not counting the forays into Missouri for various things). We walked, rode bicycles and later, rode and drove cars. We camped out on the banks of the River and exchanged banter with bargees.

On the playground were giant strides, metal sliding boards, teeter-totters, swings, merry-go-rounds. Sliding down the boards head first was a rush, as was dangling from the monkey bars upside down above the asphalt pavement. Ever jump through a swing -- when it was swinging side to side? -- don't; the asphalt tore my brother's forehead open when he did and (trust me on this) your mother becomes REALLY upset to see that when she comes out of church.

I just wish we'd had cargo nets and tube-type slides and tubes to crawl through -- they look pretty cool. But then again, we'd probably had found a way to play "King of the Mountain" in the tubes, and I know that we'd have "played Army" with the cargo nets.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 11:00 AM

Fred, check out this site http://www.uni.edu/playground/home.html

I disagree with the statement that "The present culture of overprotection produces a generation of "sappsy weans"

I work retail, I have seen parents let their kids wander into the parking lot, play with box knives, handle and smash glass objects, and wander off completely out of their sight.

Two days ago I was at a baseball game where my husband got hit in the stomach by a foul ball. A few minutes later, parents were allowing their small kids to play right along the third base line, where they could get hit too.

It's called The Dumbing of America.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 12:13 PM

well the playing with box knives etc is more a matter of parents not teaching their kids safety...

we played tag jumping over rusted machinery, played tag in trees, used to takes walks through marshes with sinkholes - went frog bashing, rowed leaky old boats that took three people bailing to keep afloat, slid down waterfalls, had a "merry go round" that we TRIED to tipover (and did), routinely crossed creeks on fallen trees, would have contests to see who could "loop the loop" on swings - rode sleds directly off a hill into traffic, likewise onto thin ice - played "crack the whip" with a canoe on runners; dove off the jetties and the boardwalk-

and we were considered the "cautious" kids.

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 03:25 PM

That's not to mention what we did with fireworks, which is a book all by itself. Or "boating". Or flooding streets by making "dams". Or climbing down into storm drains just to see what was "down in the sewer." Or exploring caves. Or....

Well, you get the idea. Fortunately, our parent never got the WHOLE idea.

(I spent my youth in prayer: "Lord, don't let the cops find out." "Dear God, if Mom doesn't kill me I'll become a nun." "Our Father Who Art In Heaven, please let me get out of this hole I'm stuck in." And the best prayer of all: "Good God, it blew up!")

Subject: RE: BS: yard & playground ideas
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Jul 04 - 04:39 PM

Rapaire and Mario....Great to hear your had wonderful childhoods just like mine....wern't we lucky.
I belive firmly that the kind of childhood you have,effects the type of life you lead as an adult,and thats why both of you seems so open minded and self confident.
I was brought up by my grandparents and after they died, by my old unmarried uncle.
I was his unofficial adopted son and he would have given his life willingly to save me from harm,if the occasion demanded.
I have lived my adult life with the knowledge that I am the luckiest of people to have known such love,and I try to remember it in my dealings with others.
It makes me more than sad to think that many children will feel neither the freedom nor the love that we did.
Even here on Mudcat ,There seems to be many unhappy people who were obviously deprived emotionally as children...Best wishes Ake