Back-to-school season is here and the start of the school year is just around the corner. While school planning is largely focused on the classroom, cafeteria, and other indoor areas, it's also important to be prepared on the playground.
Less than one-third of children are active to a healthy level, which involves 25 minutes of high-calorie-burning activity up to three times a week. Outdoor play areas give kids the necessary physical activity they need to stay healthy, focused, and engaged.

Here are four easy steps you can take to ensure your school's playground is up and ready by the time the school year starts.

1. Check your school playground for loose hardware. When kids play, they play hard. Be sure that the play equipment you have is still in good shape since the last inspection. Any loose hardware you find needs to be tightened. This ensures the equipment not only works properly but also doesn't create a hazard.
   
2. Look for rusted equipment. While you're checking your playground equipment for loose hardware, make sure there isn't any rust anywhere. Rusted materials can be broken off and create a hazard. Remove any rusted equipment you find and replace it as soon as possible.
   
3. Inspect your playground's safety surfacing. The safety surfacing of your playground is one of the most common areas where kids suffer from injuries. Fortunately, these injuries are preventable when your surfacing is regularly taken care of. For playgrounds that use wood chips or rubber bark for surfacing, make sure that there's enough of it on the playground to efficiently keep a child from getting hurt. If there's not enough of the material on the playground, have the area raked to prevent compacted materials.
   
4. Make sure there's no gaps in your safety surfacing. Some playgrounds use rubber tile rather than rubber bark and woodchips for safety surfacing. If your playground is among them, be sure the check that there are no tears or gaps in the material. If there are gaps, be sure to repair them immediately to prevent injuries.

Where can I find commercial swing set accessories and other playset parts?

If your playground is looking a little worse for wear and you're in need of new commercial swing set accessories, Discount Playground Supply has the school playground equipment parts you need. For more information on our swing set replacement parts and playground repair equipment, contact Discount Playground Supply today.