Even if you don’t live near a street, surrounding your sing set area with a fence creates a more private, safe place for your children to play. As an added bonus, having a fenced-in yard gives your pets a great place to play.

Tip #2: Every spring, do a maintenance check on your swing set.

Over the winter, screws and nails can loosen, ice can cause cracks, and other problems may arise. Before your children enjoy time outside on the swing set, go over the play equipment carefully and test all moving parts to ensure it’s ready for little ones to play.

Tip #3: Secure the swing set properly.

Some structures require below-ground concrete or tethering in order to be safe. This is especially important as your children grow and begin to weigh more, as their playing could cause an unstable swing set to become unbalanced and tip over. Use the anchors that come with your swing set if provided.

Tip #4: Surround the area with safe surfacing.

Purchase wood chips, rubber chips, or other safe surfacing to surround the swing set.
That way if your children fall or jump from the swings, you can be sure they land safely.
Use surfacing that is specifically made for play areas.

Tip #5: Cover the swing chains with plastic.

Metal chains can get hot in the sun and the loops can pinch small fingers. Invest in some plastic chain covers made for swing sets if your swing set doesn’t come with them. These will also help preserve the chains so you don’t have to worry about them rusting as quickly.

Remember, make sure your homeowners or renters insurance policy includes liability insurance. That way if any of your children’s friends are injured while using your swing set, you’ll be financially covered.

This guest post is from RentersInsurance.org, where you can learn more about renters insurance policies.

If you live in an area where the winter gets very cold the plastic may get broken however. In such case you’d better store the swing set indoor if that’s possible (with these swings usually doing this is not a big problem).

For sure you should not use the plastic swing when the temperature outside is under 32 F / 0 C. Not only that this is unpleasant, but the plastic loses its solidity which can cause the swing to give in.

If you have left the swing set outside for the winter you will need to clean it after it.

Read more about plastic swing sets.

Metal Swing Sets

The metal swing sets can sustain very low temperatures, rain and snow. The only major problem with them is rust – if the metal isn’t well treated or the treatment is wore on some places you risk the metal to rust. This will reduce the swing solidity. To avoid rust, paint and treat any suspicious places especially on the swing set frame.

Another thing to be careful about: it can be very dangerous if there are small holes which can let water leaks inside the frame. In the winter the water may freeze, increase its volume and just break apart even the steel.

Other than that your metal swing will be just fine in the winter. After the season end you’ll need to clean it and eventually grease the paps.

Read more about the metal outdoor swing sets.

The Wooden Swing Sets

They are great, but they are the ones that suffer most in the winter. An unprotected wooden swing set can totally lose shape during this season. The corrosion can dramatically worsen the wood quality and look. Besides treatment and painting, I highly recommend covering your wooden swing set with canvas or polythene. If that’s not possible, see if you can at least cover its top so no snow and water goes directly on it.

The wooden swing set should not be used when it’s covered by snow or ice – this can be very dangerous for obvious reasons. Kids often overlook such dangers so you must warn them.

At the end of the winter your wooden swing will need cleaning, careful checking and eventually painting.

Learn more about the wooden swing sets and about their safety.