Invest in quality playground equipment

What to look for in playground equipment? First, from the experts: kids. Hussein Alhady, 11, of Watertown gives a thumbs-up to swings. "They're fun to get on and to ride," he said. "Monkey bars are good for hanging but my hands get red."

His brother, Mahdi, 8, votes for slides because, "if you're playing tag, you can get away." He also likes forts, "but I have no idea why."

Even big kids, such as 15-year-old Ken Szubzda, also of Watertown, still like to go to playgrounds and climb. "The higher the better," he said. "The best playground ever invented that I liked had a really high slide," he said. "But it's gone now."

Playgrounds are where memories are made, social skills tested, and physical limits challenged, said Darrell Hammond, chief executive and cofounder of KaBOOM! , a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that "envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America."

But all too often, a backyard playground becomes a dilapidated eyesore, an oversized toy gathering dust. The key to having a lasting childhood play space, said Hammond, is investing in quality structures that incorporate various types of play, including active, imaginative, cooperative, and sensory.

The $1 billion dollar playground equipment market offers choices from $179 do-it-yourself kits -- lumber not included -- to the over-the-top, custom-designed Napa Valley Chalet, a $166,000 playhouse with electricity, insulation, and plumbing. In between are swing sets by manufacturers such as Rainbow Play Systems, Creative Playthings, Swing-N-Slide, Kettler, and Planet Playgrounds. These typically ranging in price from $400 to $4,000.

Accessories include rock walls, sandboxes, plastic periscopes, trapeze bars, climbing ropes, and more. For preschoolers and tots, the familiar low-budget Little Tikes offers quick-assemble plastic play.

Start by figuring out how much space your play area will require. The area should be level, easily visible, clear of obstructions and debris, with a minimum six-foot perimeter around the set. A typical basic swing set includes two swings, a glide ride, and a wave slide. Add on platform, ladders, tire swing, or sandbox for more activity.

"A good playground should be multi functional," said Julie Stone of the Boston Schoolyard Funders Collaborative . "Youngsters should be able to expand their repertoire of physical movements, including developing strength, balancing, running, as well as a place to reflect and immerse themselves in nature.

Pay attention to surfaces. Playsets made of wood can splinter. Higher-end sets are made of cedar or redwood, and while manufacturers boast they are splinter-free, some are sealed to further preserve the wood. Steel is used for some inexpensive swing sets, and powder-coated to prevent rust and corrosion.

All play equipment should meet the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC ). Those include avoiding openings between 3.5 and 9 inches wide in which kids could get their heads stuck, having an uncluttered fall zone of at least six feet in all directions, and a soft surface under the equipment, typically sand, wood mulch, or gravel. "It should be an environment that's safe --but not too safe," said Stone. "Children thrive on challenge and investigation." Development experts say that risk-taking, within appropriate boundaries, helps children learn.

Since children go through development stages, be sure to install age-appropriate equipment, said playground equipment designer Joanne Hiromura of Play Site Architecture in Acton. Children ages 2-5 need places to crawl, grasp, and rock, while older children like using higher-level motor skills like jumping and hanging. Middle-schoolers, for example, enjoy the physical effort needed for monkey bars and overhead "zip lines" that traverse from platform to platform.