Swingset Pros and Cons

a disadvantage is the lawn. the area around the playground (under the swings, etc) is not going to have very good grass growth due to heavy kid traffic. It doesnt bother me at all, we'll have plenty of child free years to have a nice lawn, but it does drive my husband crazy.

Don't mean to be a spoil sport---but I felt compelled to add---I would think twice before buying a trampoline as another person mentioned. Two reasons -- 1st being the very high number of injuries but most of all - being an insurance agent---You can have your homeowners insurance cancelled if they do an annual underwriting review and drive by for pictures (which companies are doing more and more frequently now) and see that you have it. The number of serious injuries and liability claims/lawsuits have caused them to put them on the "forbidden" list of risks they do not want to insure. I can't tell you how many policies I have received notice of cancellation on for my clients and had to have them get rid of the trampoline to get the company to renew their policy, or they were cancelled. Once you get cancelled, other carriers don't want to write your coverage either. They're more trouble than they are worth in the long run. Ultimately it's up to you but just wanted to put this out there. It's not something many people know but if you ask your agent they will tell you yes, this is the case. Also if you look at the insurance application you sign for homeowners - it asks if you have a pool, trampoline, etc.....

I'd go with the jungle gym/swing set. Tons of people have them in our neighborhood and kids are playing all day on them!

Your kids will love it! My youngest is 18 (its 14 yrs old) & still uses it when her friends are over. The only disadvantage is all the neighborhood kids wanted to hang out here. Putting a few rules in place~number 1 being I have to have met their parents & that they must have parental permission~made it much more manageable.

i have nannied for several families and the kids will play with it the first summer, then only when friends come over after that . unless there is no park near you, you have $ to burn or a lot of kids dont bother

We had one for many, many years, and I would highly recommend it. We designed it and built the structure with the purchased components in mind. It was wood and lasted until we took it down, probably as the last one progressed through high school or maybe later, as girls, especially, would sit on a swing with a friend and talk even when they were past 'swinging' stage. One of the best components we had was a climbing matrix maybe 3 feet wide and as tall as the set, the kind with squares that allow climbing (like tic tac toe boxes). Also had a climbing rope and trapeze bar along with two swings. Great exercise for your children, and great place to keep them in your yard, which I consider an advantage. Some may consider having lots of children in their yard a disadvantage, but I was glad to have them there. That part of your yard will be worn, but it will grow back. Also, we always took down components when we went out of town. Unsupervised, who knows what could happen. Overall, though, I vote, yes for a backyard play set area

We originally said we were not going to keep up with the Joneses and get the same thing everyone else had. But, once I had my 2nd, our minds changed quickly. We got a Rainbow, you can go to their showroom and try them all out in a huge warehouse - fun time for the kids! We are a corner house in a heavily-walked neighborhood so it's very visible and my daughter loves inviting people in as they walk by. We haven't had anyone playing uninvited and maybe that's because we also have a fence. I would recommend it. My only piece of recommendation is they come with those canvas "roofs" over the clubhouse, but as you see over time they fade. We paid a little more to have a wooden/shingle roof and it's just the same maintenance as the rest of the unit.

Enjoy!

something to consider.....skip the swingset all together and get a trampoline! the best and safest one is springless (meaning the springs are not inside the trampoline, but under it, so it has no wholes along the edges and the mat goes from side to side so it is not possible for a little arm or leg to slip through.) check it out at springfreetrampoline.com. it is absolutely the best! we got a great deal on ours at costco.com. we were all set to get a swingset and decided on a trampoline at the last minute instead and i can't even tell you how much the kids (and all their friends) love it! my husband and i love it, too. my girls, 3 and 6, go out and play on it for hours by themselves, but, when they want one of us to go with them, it's fun for us, too. instead of just sitting there watching them play on a swingset, you can get in the trampoline and bounce with them or sit there and roll around/wrestle. i'm telling you, it's an awesome family toy! my baby loves it, too! the springfree one is weather proof also. no possibility of rusting. i always tell people to consider it instead of a swingset. it's just different, not to mention great exercise! kids get to play on swingsets at school and when you go to the park, so, i think they get bored of it quicker when it's at home. anyway, just something to consider. it was definitely one of the best decisions for our family we have made. good luck!

We have something very similar to what you described and both my kids ages 2 and 7 still play on it, 3 yrs later. Even I swing on it :)
The first year I bought sand and put it in the sandbox under the "fort" or "playhouse". I regret doing that. I hated when my daughter played in it b/c it was so dirty and grass grew out of the sand...real sloppy looking. The second spring we had it we moved the swing set to a different location in our yard. This time I didn't put sand in it ....much better. The area of the yard that had the sand from the original spot was used to plant a tree, it was an easy fix.
My favorite thing about it is in the summer we put our pool (just a blow up baby pool) under the slide and make a water slide with the hose!!
Overall, I think our swing set was a great investment and our kids enjoy it.

!

Swingsets / playsets are great to have in the backyard. We always had one. Our oldest is 14 almost 15 now and will still climb up in the fort if the grandkids are over. Advantage is kids are always in your yard. disadvantage kids are always in your yard lol. But seriously its great knowing where they are. And if you get a good one and take care of it it will last till your grandkids are grown up.

before we moved to our new home we had a good sized play set, it has swings,climbing net,swinging rope that they can climb on,ladder which they can climb up into a watch tower, and a swinging bridge, from the time that my stepson was 2 he was down there playing on it and loved every minute of it. he is now 11 and when he goes over there to play ( the house is still in the family) he still plays on it. even my teenage daughter swings on it. it was one of the best things for them all to play on. we got rid of the grass problem by putting crushed stone for drainage all underneith the play set. no worries it is small crushed stone,also acts as cushioning if they fall.

We have a Rainbow playset in our backyard. We purchased it when my first two children were 3 and 1. They are now 8 and 6 and have a 2 year old brother. We just came in from outside and all 3 had been on the swingset together. We're going on 5 years of solid use (we live in Texas so it's pretty much used all year round) and they still love it. As long as you have room in your backyard I don't see any downside to it at all.

Good point below me about the grass. We had a "box" built around the swingset and have mulch under it to avoid the grass problem.

Good luck,
K.

My husband made our swing set from scratch back when our son was maybe 5 years old and when used that swing set til he was maybe in 5th grade. He would just go out and swing and maybe sit in the slide to think when he was old but we were sure glad we had it.
When we moved to our new house our son was in 7th grade and we moved it with us because there was a neighbor boy and we put it on the property line so he could play with it. Our son is now 19. Two years ago we gave it to one of the families at our church who has 3 children so the swing set is still being used. So it was great for us. But my husband designed and built him self he did not by a prefab that cost so much money.
Advantage: The park is right in your back yard and friends will like coming to your house.
Disadvantage: Cost if you buy a prefab.
NOTE: If you get a swing set make sure you prepare under your swing set with sand and mulch. Just in case of falls.
S.

We really researched this when we were deciding what to get. I do daycare so my set had to work for multiple ages, for many years and be safe. If you want to see my set you can see pictures of it on my daycare website http://www.freewebs.com/tarastoyland or on my preschool's website http://www.AtoZLearningTreePreschool.com
My set is a http:www.Cedarworks.com and I LOVE it. It is completely splinter free and I have never sanded, stained or power washed it in the almost 6 yrs that we have owned it. They use better bolts and hardware and naturally splinter free wood Northern White Cedar is the only such wood. Plus they design theirs safely - there is a sure step system in the tower on the right that even toddlers can get up so they can slide down those slides or go through the tunnel.

Underneath we have rubber mulch and even though I have fallen from the top of it, I didn't get hurt at all. (I purposefully took a fall to test it, daycare kids and my kids have also fallen from the top and been fine)
My kids are now 7 and 10 and they still play on it. At my daughter's 10th bday party the kids were all over it, most of them were 10 yrs old. My daycare kids will play for hours on it if the weather is nice.
Since I have gotten at least 500 hours a year of play out of it, with my own kids not counting daycare kids, over 6 yrs, the cost of $8500 that I spent on it is really nothing. BEST investment we made - my daughters were outside playing for up to 5 hours a day during the nice weather because we have the climber.
The only disadvantage was when it was so new and we didn't have fences the neighbor kids would play on it even if we were not out there. It was like I had built a playground in my back yard.. That stopped once we got the fence up the next summer and there has been NO downside at all. Except maybe we have to call our girls in for dinner and they want to keep swinging instead.

One last disadvantage is out tunnel is a favorite nest building spot for birds and we have had to move some nests that had eggs in them unfortunately. We watch for that now though so it doesn't get to that stage.

We looked at all different brands of swingsets, but ended up building our own that had just the things my son likes, adding on as he got older. We started with just the treehouse and slide when he was 2, later we added swings and a climbing net. We put a picnic table and a lounge chair next to it so we could all sit out there. He's 8 and still loves the "treehouse" part, but we converted the area below into a storage shed. My father did basically the same thing when I was growing up, designing a 2-story playhouse that converted to a 1-story shed when I outgrew it. My son still likes it, but now he only uses it when he has friends over.
Safety is really important especially if you're not going to be right there with your kids every second. I will spare you the details, but I have seen many accidents with the old metal-pole style swingsets.
The main disadvantage has been wasps. It could just be because we have lots of trees nearby. One spring my neighbor came over because I was too scared and knocked down over 20 nests. There was even one on the underside of the swing seat.