The Backyard Playground: Recreational Landscapes & Play Structures [Paperback]

The editors of Creative Publishing international (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2003 | Series: Black & Decker

By combining building projects for children's play structures with tips and ideas for creative landscaping, this book goes much further than any other to helping readers create a fun, safe, and interactive outdoor play area for their children in an environment that is useful and appealing to adults.

The projects in this book include a broad range of designs, for toddlers to teenagers. The play structure project is the classic, timber-style set found in many yards and can accommodate several accessories and future modifications. Playing in either of the two tree house projects, kids will find adventure, privacy, and a connection to the outdoors. The climbing wall project provides kids-and parents-with a fun way to develop strength and concentration. There are also projects for playhouses and forts that kids can help build and several plans for child-size outdoor furniture.

Where appropriate, projects are designed for adaptation to a different use after the child outgrows them. For example, the sandpit project is a decorative sandbox that can easily be adapted into a garden bed; the playhouse could become a garden shed in later years. In addition to the projects, there are dozens of tips for using trees and other plantings to create private, natural places for kids that are integrated with the general landscape.

This book focuses on the nationwide trend of parents encouraging outdoor play for their kids while, at the same time, keeping them close to home.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Philip Schmidt (Golden, CO) is an avid environmentalist and a home improvement expert who has written many successful DIY books, including Build Your Kids a Treehouse, The Complete Guide to Patios and The Complete Guide to Contemporary Sheds.. He lives in Golden, CO

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Creative Publishing international (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589230590
• ISBN-13: 978-1589230590
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed enough that anyone can build them, September 2, 2003

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Backyard Playground: Recreational Landscapes & Play Structures (Paperback)

In an unusual departure from books of this type the first thirteen pages discuss what children like to do, the type of play different ages are interested in, and how to match an appropriate play area to the child. With that foundation firmly laid, "The Backyard Playground: Recreational Landscapes & Play Structures" then proceeds Landscaping for Playgrounds, Large Play Projects, and Small Play Projects. For each project there are multiple illustrations, materials lists, tools lists, and detailed step-by-step instructions to walk you through the entire project. No steps are left out of the project. I have seen several books that detail how to build a swing set but never discuss the appropriate ground coverings or how to correctly anchor it into the ground so it is safe. "The Backyard Playground" makes no assumptions that you would already know things like this. This text assumes that you are starting with bare ground and covers all the steps to build your project from scratch. The illustrations are so well done that anyone can easily follow along and create a playground area rivaling the best commercial projects. "The Backyard Playground" is a highly recommended book for anyone wanting to build their own children's play area and the only one I have ever reviewed that I would feel comfortable recommending to the novice handyman.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too many pictures not enough instructions, September 13, 2003

By 

Miss Tresninos "mistresninos" (SoCal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Backyard Playground: Recreational Landscapes & Play Structures (Paperback)

The main problem with this book lies in the fact that there are a lot of pictures for things they do not have instructions for. Anyone who has children will see the problem in this right away...your children are inevitably going to want you to build the things there are no instructions for. If you are a first time builder, this will not be something you can do.

Aside from that, the instructions they do have seem thorough and easy to follow.

If you know what you are doing this will probably be a good book for ideas, but if you are a first timer like myself, keep the book away from your kids or you'll find yourself in a bad spot. haha.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better Instructions, creative ideas, October 10, 2007

By 

L. M. MACLEAN "If too many books were a crime..." (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Backyard Playground: Recreational Landscapes & Play Structures (Paperback)

This book has a good opening with the kinds of play a child wants and how to match play areas to them. The woodworking instructions are clearer than "Playhouses You Can Build: Indoor and Backyard Designs," (Stiles, David R) and the color pictures more inspiring but there are fewer projects. Black & Decker does a nice job of showing how to anchor play structures and provide a safe surface (mulch, pea gravel, shredded tires).

You get some playhouses, a tree house, a swing set, porch swing, child-size picnic table, planters, a bird house that is the perfect beginner wood project, a sandbox, a balance beam (way fun!) and a portable putting green that will inspire you to make a mini-golf course.