Children's Play Areas (Outdoor Buildings) [Paperback]

Editors of Sunset Books (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sunset Publishing Corporation (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0376010584
• ISBN-13: 978-0376010582
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,452,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 112 pages of nothing, May 10, 1999

By 

Robert Signore ([e-mail]) (Cary, NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Children's Play Areas (Outdoor Buildings) (Paperback)

The book has very few plans in it, so if your looking for a how to build something type of book, THIS IS NOT IT.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Get another book, July 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Children's Play Areas (Outdoor Buildings) (Paperback)

I was looking for a book to help me and my son build a treehouse. It had some pretty pictures of bedrooms and some interesting ideas, but only provided one example of a treehouse. It had a few good pictures, but you have to use your own imagination to put this book to any use. There are better play structure and treehouse books on the market.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It gives ideas & resources, enough for a beginner, February 11, 2002

By 

first a mom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children's Play Areas (Outdoor Buildings) (Paperback)

If you want blueprints and plans for treehouses, this is not the book for you. The treehouse chapter is ridiculously short, so I took off one star.

HOWEVER, it does give dozens of ideas, basic plans,and measurements for projects. It covers the basics of woodworking, supplies additional resources, and has color photos of how things are supposed to look and work when completed. It proved to be a good way to get me started as I had never done any woodworking before and was previously unfamiliar with woods, tools, or finishes.

The main chapters are: planning inside play areas, bedroom ideas, playrooms, planning outside play areas, swings slides and sandboxes, jungle gyms and gym equipment, tree forts and playhouses, and tools materials and techniques. Specific easy projects that any beginner could do after reading this book include a toy display cabinet, art desk with storage bins, delightful dollhouse, computer desk, backyard cottage and sandbox playtable. The section called "complete bedrooms for kids" helped me make a train bed with wheel pillows and wall-mounted "conductor's area" with built in storage.

I found the redwood play structure project to be an amazing way to cut costs on the set we were going to buy through retail. It has a cutting and material list, dimenstions, and building plans. I just used the "tools, materials, and techniques" chapter at the end of the book to learn the details of how to do everything-this chapter would be a great cheat sheet for someone taking a woodworking class.

Hope this helps you decide if this is what you are looking for!