Buyer guide · Churches

Church playground planning guide: from building committee to dedication Sunday

A church can build a playground faster than any public agency, because nobody has to bid it and the congregation can fund it in a season. That speed is also the risk. The projects that go wrong are the ones where a generous family bought a set from a home improvement store and a volunteer crew installed it on a Saturday, and the carrier found out at the first claim. This guide is the sequence a building committee can follow so the playground serves the church for twenty years.

Step one: name the committee and the ministry it serves

Start with three or four people rather than a large committee: someone from children's ministry who knows how the space will actually be used, someone from the building or trustees group who owns maintenance, one person who will lead the fundraising, and the pastor or an elder who can carry the decision to the board. Before any catalog is opened, write two sentences: who the playground is for, and when it will be used. A church whose weekday preschool is the main user needs a different playground from a church whose Sunday nursery and youth group share it, and a church that wants the playground open to the neighborhood has a different insurance conversation from one that fences it for members. Our churches hub covers the funding and liability picture in depth; this guide is the order of operations.

Step two: count the children by age, not by enrollment

Playground capacity is the number of children on it at once at peak, which for most churches is the Sunday morning count in each age group. The age split decides the equipment, because the standards separate it. Infants and toddlers from 6 to 23 months use equipment built to ASTM F2373. Children from 2 to 5 and children from 5 to 12 each use equipment designed for their group under ASTM F1487 and the CPSC Public Playground Safety Handbook, with different deck heights, step risers and handrails. A church with a nursery and a youth group usually needs two areas separated by a border or a path, so a toddler cannot wander onto a tall deck. A church that runs a licensed preschool should also pull the outdoor play section of the state childcare licensing rule, which adds fencing, gate hardware and surfacing requirements; our childcare hub explains them.

Step three: put a real number on it before you ask for money

Church playgrounds in our estimator commonly run $25,000 to $75,000 installed. About $1,000 per child at peak use is a workable planning figure. Equipment is roughly 60 percent of the total, installation 20 to 35 percent, and safety surfacing at $5 to $22 per square foot is the line a volunteer committee most often forgets. Shade belongs in the first budget in any warm climate, because a steel slide in July is unusable without it; our shade guide covers cost and the one grant program written for shade. Run the cost estimator with the church option selected and it will size the surfacing to the use zone. Then get one real supplier quote against that scope. A donor asked for a gift toward a $48,000 project with a drawing gives more, and more readily, than one asked to support a playground of unknown size.

Step four: fund it the way congregations actually do

Government playground grants are mostly closed to churches, because the Land and Water Conservation Fund and state park programs require a public agency applicant and a public recreation covenant on the land. What a church has instead works faster. A designated playground fund with a visible goal, memorial and honor gifts with a recognition plaque at the site, one family offering a matching challenge for the last third, and a youth group or preschool families running the small campaigns. Private grants fill in: community foundations fund nonprofit projects in their county, especially when the playground is open to the neighborhood or attached to a church preschool; corporate community grant programs and the manufacturer matching programs in our grant navigator generally accept 501(c)(3) applicants; and some denominations keep building funds for congregations. Our fundraising guide was written for schools and applies almost line for line to a congregation.

Step five: talk to the insurance carrier before the order, not after

This is the step churches skip and regret. Call the carrier with the site plan and ask what it expects. The answer is consistent across the church insurance market: commercial grade equipment built to ASTM F1487 with IPEMA certification as third party proof, safety surfacing tested to ASTM F1292 for the fall height of the tallest component, a six foot use zone around the equipment, a barrier between the playground and any parking or road, posted rules with age ranges, and a written inspection routine. Residential playsets, built to the home standard ASTM F1148, are not designed or tested for the volume a church playground gets, and a claim on residential equipment in an institutional setting is the kind of claim a carrier contests. Our commercial versus residential guide shows the difference in materials and hardware.

Step six: decide the access and accessibility questions together

Religious organizations are exempt from ADA Title III, so the play area provisions of the 2010 ADA Standards do not legally bind a playground used only by the congregation. Two things change that: a foundation grant that funds a community amenity will usually make accessibility a condition, and a congregation includes grandparents and children who use mobility devices. An accessible route from the parking lot and a unitary surface at the main structure cost little to build in and a great deal to retrofit. Decide at the same meeting whether the playground is open to the neighborhood, because that decision changes the grant options, the signage and the carrier's expectations. Our inclusive design guide separates the minimum from the better option.

Step seven: buy without a bid, but with discipline

A church can sign with any supplier tomorrow, which is exactly why it should impose its own process. Write a one page scope with the age groups, capacity, surfacing type, shade and who is responsible for site preparation and borders, then get three quotes against it. Playground pricing is a discount off a list price and the discount varies widely between suppliers for identical equipment. Our how to buy guide carries a scope sheet built for buyers without a procurement office. Ask whether the denomination or a nonprofit purchasing cooperative gives the church access to a cooperative contract such as Sourcewell; the pricing on a pre bid contract is often better than a quote a volunteer negotiates, and our cooperative purchasing guide explains nonprofit eligibility. Read every quote for what it excludes. A low equipment number that leaves out footings, borders, surfacing and freight is not low. If the church wants independent help comparing bids, our supplier matching is free and we do not sell equipment.

Step eight: permits, site work and the build day

Many municipalities treat a commercial playground as a site improvement that needs a zoning or building review, and fencing has its own rules in most places. Ask the planning department while the quotes are out, because a permit discovered after the order delays a delivery that already has a six to ten week lead time. Site work comes next: grading so water drains away from the use zone, a border to contain loose fill, drainage under the surfacing if the ground holds water, and footings poured to the manufacturer's drawings. Our site preparation guide covers each. A community build, where the congregation installs the equipment over a weekend, is a genuine tradition and it works when the manufacturer's installation supervisor is on site; done without one, it voids the warranty on most commercial equipment and it is the first thing the carrier asks about after an injury. Book the supervisor, feed the volunteers, and let the supervisor sign off before anyone plays.

Step nine: the inspection, and the routine that follows it

Before the dedication, have a Certified Playground Safety Inspector, a credential administered by the National Recreation and Park Association, audit the installed playground. The report catches the entrapment gaps, protrusions and surfacing shortfalls that a volunteer crew cannot see, and it is the document the carrier wants on file. Then assign the routine: a walk through by a trustee or the preschool director on a set schedule, and an annual audit. Loose fill surfacing is the item that fails first because it migrates under swings and at slide exits. Our inspection checklist is written so a volunteer can complete it, and our lifespan guide explains when a repair becomes a replacement.

The sequence on one page

Name the committee and the ministry. Count the children by age. Price the project and get one quote. Fund it through the congregation and the private grants open to a nonprofit. Call the carrier. Decide access and accessibility. Get three quotes against a written scope. Check permits, do the site work, build with a supervisor. Audit, then inspect on a schedule. A church that follows that order usually dedicates its playground within a year of the first meeting, and keeps it for twenty. Congregations in a specific state will find the state's rules and any open programs on our state by state pages.

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