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They are both great companies! Now I would look at which representative best fits your project. You are going to be working hand in hand with your rep so finding the right one is key. From my experience at our Design Day our kids wanted SLIDES... twisty slides, racer slides, all types of slides. They wanted things to swing on- lily pods, bounce buttons, they wanted to climb- rock walls, and places to have fun- store front panel- we have a bench in the play area.We used Playworld.

I would not recommend a monorail. I was warned by another parent about safety issues with this but the kids wanted it and we have had 4 issues in just 5 months (kids getting the wind knocked out of them followed by a visit to ER). If used properly it's fine but the kids don't use it properly (and you can't put instructions on it)- they take a running start or try to push a friend along without realizing there is a safety device that slows it down aat the end and with a lot of speed it knocks the kids right off.  I wished I listened.

Your son my be little but you can still find ways to get other kids in your community involved and I would encourage you to have a Design Day. Invite families to have kids come out and draw their dream playground. You see some fun  ideas that you can incorporate into your actual design.

I hope you have a Kaboom tool kit... you can get ideas about your Design Day in there for that. If you don't have one you can download it from the kaboom website. Good luck.

I feel like the old standards of swings and slides are always in high demand, with RockBlocks becoming more and more popular.  My little sisters are huge fans of the tire swing and see saw.  I'm curious if anyone has been to playgrounds with some of the newer Playworld offerings, such as the Bing Boing, Whirligig, or GyroBounce?  I've heard good things from some Project Managers, and if they are half as much fun to play on as they are to say, they should be a blast!

Hi costekat,

KaBOOM! is a non-profit organization that facilitates the partnership between communities and businesses to create equitable access to play opportunities for youth; we do not manufacture equipment.

Visit Partners in Play for information about the current equipment suppliers for KaBOOM!-led playground builds and our Vendor Directory for a list of other vendors available.

Annie

We are currently involved in installing new playground equipment for the junior aged children (i.e. grades 4 to 6) at our school.  We are hoping next year to install additional equipment for the grade 7 and 8 students.  Since we were not sure what equipment this age group of children might enjoy, we asked them to complete a quick survey for us.  A surprising number of children selected the "FitCore Outdoor Fitness Equipment" that is offered by Landscape.  The teachers and principal were actually quite impressed with the looks of the equipment as well and thought they could incorporate it into their physical education program.  While we haven't seen or tried the equipment, based on the feedback from the sales rep and the response from the children and teaching staff, we will be exploring the possibility of having this equipment installed in the future.

Fit Core is made for kids 12 years old and into adulthood.  That is this one:

http://www.playlsi.com/Products/SportsandFitness/FitCore/FitCore.htm

There is another one called Fit Cluster or something like that, that is made for younger kids. 

I'll give some feedback  -- years ago, our PTA had installed Fit Core for our 5th/6th grade playground, and yes, it's durable, high quality, and yes, their intention was that the PE teacher could incorporate it into the classes, and yes, everyone had high hopes that this would encourage kids to be physically fit.  But you know what has happened--the equipment just sits there, largely unused.  Here are some things for you to consider:

--a fitness type of layout doesn't allow for more than one kid to be on any one piece of equipment at any time...maybe two kids on any one piece of it, at the most. 

--most adults who join a gymnasium ultimately get bored.  What do you think happens to these fitness type of layouts with kids/middle age kids?  The kids get bored, really quickly, because there is only one way to "play" on them, and I use the term "play" loosely here.  Truly, these are meant for physical fitness.  So if that's the sole purpose for getting them, then fine, but if you want kids to get some exercise without realizing that they are getting exercise, you are better off choosing something else from LSI, like some of their net climbers that attach to post/deck in which you can radiate off some of the fitness type of equipment, or going with their EVOS line, or choosing some of the more unique items. 

--the Fit system that we have, during any given recess has maybe one or two kids trying the monkey bars, two kids sitting and talking to each other on the balance beam, maybe standing up on it and walking it now and then, one kid on the parallel bars... contrast that with the other LSI playground that we have that has freestanding parallel bars, and a whole row of kids lined up playing a game where they kip over to one side, run to the other side and see who was first, and if you are last, then you go to the back of the line.  We have several kids on the manta climber, we have groups of kids up on the platforms using the monkey bars, using the climbing wall, we have several kids going across the hanging pods, and so forth.  Granted they are younger elementary students...at 7th and 8th grade, they don't want to do imaginative play, but they do need equipment that challenges them, but they also need equipment that allows them to socialize.  So that is something to consider...do you want to spend that money to install something that only a handful of students will be using at any one time, for physical fitness, or do you want to install something that a large number of kids will be using at any one time?   That's the thing about exercise ...if you choose the right equipment, you can get them to work on 'fitness' skills without even realizing it. 

You should take a group of kids to try it out before you buy it, because while they may have chosen it from the photo, they may also quickly get bored with it.  If your area is already well stocked with other options for the 7th/8th graders to use, then the Fit system would probably be a nice addition.  And it is very durable and many years later, the paint, etc. still looks good.  But if this is all you have, or if this is going to comprise the bulk of your playspace options, then I would say, choose something different.  They'll be disappointed if this is all that is there for them to use.  We'll be pulling out our Fit system as soon as we can afford to replace it. 

Again, the best of intentions by our former PTA for wanting to combat obesity, get kids moving, and provide something for the PE teacher... but the PE teacher doesn't use it, because again, not enough kids can get "on" it and the others are standing their waiting their turn in line, getting agitated with each other so he ends up having to deal with behaviors, and everyone gets frustrated.  The kids who are on it, aren't the obese kids, and once they've swung on the bars a few times, then they sit down and talk.  We're going to look at doing something like how on the LSI website for seeing other playgrounds out there (their Field Trip search option), there is a nice one up in Canada, I think, that utilizes a deck configuration, with fitness-type of things coming off of it in about four or five places, and then it has a net bridge that leads to a net climber.  I called the principal of that school to find out how the net is holding up and ask him some questions and he said it's holding up great, and that there are kids climbing all over it, each recess, and using the items that come off of the deck.  They have to exercise and climb on it, and then yes, sometimes they sit and talk for a while, but they ultimately end up continuing to climb because that type of equipment invites movement, as opposed to static fitness type of equipment.

We just finished a playground build using Playworld Systems and were very happy with the equipment.  We used Lee Recreation out of Cambridge, WI  and had great luck with them.  The slides were the biggest hit on our structure. 

At my kids school some of the favorite equipment they all want to be on are the parallel bars and another is similar to the horizontal ladder.  Another one my kids enjoy at their favorite park is similar to the Quattro Seesaws that Playworld offers.