If you are thinking about just how to keep your kids occupied through the summer months then what about considering getting them a wooden climbing frame ?

These days there are a bewildering assortment of products to choose from, so lets take a brief look at the type of thing that is around and how you would go about installing it…

The wooden climbing frame has transformed from the traditional monkey bars that you most likely remember from your own childhood into an all encompassing wooden playcentre. The designs of these are very often modular which means that you can typically choose optional accessories and expand your play structure at a later date. There are a couple of big brands that dominate the UK market, with further smaller manufacturers producing equally good models. Brands to look out for are the TP Climbing Frame and the Little Tikes Playground.

You will be pleasantly surprised to discover that due to the competition in this business prices have dropped and you can pick up a climbing frame for a very acceptable price.

When the time comes to set up your climbing frame in your garden you will have to be sure that you have not only just allowed enough space to put it up, but also ample clearance around it so that children can get around it without the danger of getting hit by another child playing on it. When determining on a location for your climbing frame make sure you take into consideration obstacles that may possibly cause your child injury, such as washing lines, trees, and fences as an example.

There are various ways of securing climbing frames in place, and it is well worth investigating this before you buy your climbing frame. If your climbing frame has to be concreted into place then you can buy what you need prior to the climbing frame being delivered. The last thing you want is to get a day off work to construct it and then find you can’t as you haven’t got the concrete you need, or worse still, having to explain to your (by now desperate to play on it) youngster pestering you and having to explain to him or her why you can’t build it!

Certain climbing frame models are supplied with ground anchors, which are just long metal rods that get buried in the soil while the top end of the ground anchor is fixed firmly to a leg of the climbing frame. Other climbing frames are designed in such a way that they just rest on the ground and do not need to be concreted in place or have ground anchors attached.

When building your climbing frame it definitely is worth taking the manufacturers assembly times and multiplying them by a factor of two or three! It doesn’t matter if you are a dab hand at DIY, it is highly unlikely that you can build any climbing frame in the time that they state. In fact you can almost certainly expect to be working at it pretty much all day.

Also, make sure that you have additional people to help you assemble your climbing frame as they WILL be needed!

It might be a boring and protracted procedure but it’s all worth it when you see the smile on your childs face when they finally get to play on their new wooden climbing frame.