Customer Reviews

Children's Play Areas (Outdoor Buildings)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

Of the 128 pages about 120 pages were spent explaining how important it is for children to play and basic shop safety. The picture on the front of the book is as close to a child's play area as this book ever gets. I was very disappointed in the book and would not suggest it to anyone.