Climbing to new heights, accumulating a stash of weapons to ward off evil intruders, sliding into shark infested waters and swinging through the treetops are just the start of backyard adventures for kids.
Kids are naturally creative and full of imagination that takes them to whole worlds adults no longer dare to explore. Cardboard boxes become caverns and a few trees are forests full of hungry bears and dragons. With two young boys, it was time to build them a swing set in the backyard. I looked at the sets available to order and was underwhelmed with the product and overwhelmed with the price tag. Sure, the kits are nice and I’m sure they’re engineered to be safe and easy to assemble. But I’d rather do it the hard way - design and build my own.
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Save the Manuals Sticker
$1.95
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VW Cup Holder - Beetle 68-77
$48.00
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No Punch Backs Sticker
$2.45
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Cornhole Rules Stickers
$5.45
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VW Cup Holder - Beetle 58-67
$48.00
Taking inspiration from other sets I saw in the neighborhood and what my kids liked to do, I pulled out a sketchpad and went to work designing a swing set. My boys loved playing in the small sandbox we had, so that was a must have item, and it needed to be bigger than their current one. They’re taller than most kids, so the typical four foot elevated fort area would seem too low really soon and I lucked out finding a slide designed for a five foot high platform. One of the coolest features I saw on other sets was a cargo net ladder, but they all went nowhere. So I designed ours to allow climbing into the fort area. Of course a swing set isn’t complete without swings, so I calculated how many swings would fit on the longest 4x6 beam available at the local lumber yard.
With a pile of lumber and miscellaneous swing parts purchased, I called up my brother and we went to work. One goal I have is to teach my sons how to build things, and this was a perfect opportunity to enlist their help. After a couple Saturdays of building and a few evenings behind the scenes the swing set was complete. At the end of the day, my boys have a sturdy swing set custom made for them to play on, they learned some skills building, I was able to spend some time with my brother and we had fun building something ourselves. What will you build to bring your family together?
