How to Make a Mini Playground

It's easy enough to head out to the home and garden store to purchase your kids a modular plastic playground set in a box. But if money's tight, get your creative juices flowing and build the kind of backyard adventure land that sparks children's imaginations.

Tire
Four 3/8 inch steel chains, 4 to 5 feet in length
3 eyebolt/washer/nut sets
4 connector links
Locking swivel hook
Concrete pipe, 1 yard high by 2 yards long
Four 2-by-4 pieces of wood, 3 feet in length
Landscaping sand
Inexpensive garden shed

Instructions

- 1
  Build a tire swing. Choose a strong branch about 10 feet off the ground. Drill three equally spaced holes in the top face of the tire, and insert the eyebolts, using the washers and nuts to secure them. Attach three 3/8 inch steel chains, 4 to 5 feet long, one in each eyebolt, using connector links. At the top, bundle all three chains together in a locking swivel hook attached to a connector link. Hang the final length of chain over the tree branch, and bundle the two handing ends into the same connector link.
- 2
  Create a concrete tunnel. A piece of concrete sewage pipe makes an excellent tunnel for kids to crawl through. Contact your local city works department or property development company to see if they can spare a piece of pipe 1 yard high and 2 yards long. Once the pipe is in place, on its side, bury the bottom under enough soil to keep it steady. Burying about 1/3 of the pipe should do the trick.
- 3
  
  Brighten up a sandbox with colorful plastic pails
  
  Add a sandbox to your backyard. Always popular with the younger kids, a sandbox is cheap and easy to put together. Create a square depression in your backyard. Dig no more than 1/2 feet deep. Place four 2-by-4 pieces of wood, about 3 feet in length, lengthwise in a square, and fill the square with 10 to 15 bags of sand. Use clean beach sand, which you can get at landscaping stores. Do not use construction sand, as it may contain carcinogens. Buy inexpensive and colorful pails, shovels and molds that your kids can use during play.
- 4
  Create a hideaway for the children. A small, inexpensive backyard shed gives kids a clubhouse in the backyard. Put a low table in the shed and a shelf for books, comics and toys. Decorate the shed with curtains and paint.

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