Water Playground Equipment

Children have a natural fascination with water, and adding water playground equipment to any playground helps provide children with an engaging play experience. These pieces of equipment encourage socialization and help channel energy, particularly during warm weather.

Whether it’s dumping buckets, huge water slides, or innovative cause-and-effect sprays, these unique pieces draw crowds and keep kids engaged.

Splash Pads

Water playground equipment like splash pads offer zero-depth water fun in a wide variety of configurations. They typically feature ground nozzles that spray varying levels of water, allowing children to play in different configurations on each visit. This provides a range of experiences that appeal to kids of all ages and abilities.

A popular addition to parks and rec spaces, splash pads add energy to a space with a vibrant water choreography that energizes a space and draws visitors. Communities can also pair these features with a range of park amenities to promote efficiency and foster usage, including parking, covered picnic areas, restrooms and more.

With no standing water, splash pads are a safer alternative to traditional swimming pools. They are especially attractive to drought-sensitive communities and locations with limited natural resources. Additionally, many systems use motion or hand-activated sensors to turn the features on and off, reducing overall water usage.

A wide range of design options for the pad surface and equipment offer flexibility in theming, and color combinations that can fit any space or theme. They can also include features that encourage inclusive play, such as arcs that shoot water or spray showers for kids to run through and get wet together. In addition, ADA Accessible play elements are available to make sure every kid can participate.

Fountains

Fountains create the focal point for an interactive water play area. They add excitement to a space while allowing adults and children to cool off from the heat. Fountains come in many water playground equipment shapes, sizes and designs, from traditional to modern. Sheets of water cascade over varied surfaces like stone, concrete or metal basins, and some feature sculpture.

Some are designed to show off a dazzling array of colors or a combination of water effects. Others use jets to spit out packets of water that move together like ping pong balls, a effect called laminar flow. Other fountains are simply calming and relaxing, with ripples and gentle bubblers that float on the surface of the water.

Several manufacturers make fountains specifically for playgrounds, offering features that are both fun and safe for kids to play in. For example, Solus (New Westminster, BC) offers Water Dome, a series of polished metal domes that look as though they float inside a concrete vessel. The water flowing over the top of each dome and into the surrounding water catches the light of the surrounding LEDs for an eye-catching display.

Some people are critical of fountains because they seem to waste water by splashing or dripping, especially in a water-scarce region. But this view may be overly severe and misses the bigger picture. Instead, these features help us learn to value water for the aesthetic pleasure it brings, rather than just its practical uses.

Inground Sprays

With their brightly colored equipment that squirts, sprays and mists water, these types of water playground elements appeal to children’s sense of fun and whimsy. Kinetic features encourage interactivity water playground equipment by requiring the user to pedal, turn cranks or rock back and forth to activate the feature’s spray nozzles.

The Hermann Park water sprayground’s timed spouts, poles and palm trees create an environment that is both fun and accessible for all children. Benches are placed throughout the area for parents who want to sit and watch their kids play.

A newer type of aquatic playground, hybrid style water parks take recirculated water from the public water supply and use it to refill the splash pad at regular intervals. These types of water parks offer reliable water quality and are a popular choice for municipalities looking to reduce their overall water management costs.

Empex water toys are easy to maintain and are built from durable materials that can withstand salt and chlorinated water. They also have a long lifespan and are resistant to corrosion and rust. They are a great choice for creating unique water paradises and can be adapted to any surroundings. They can also be used in combination with existing playgrounds. The water play equipment is available in a large selection of themes and has been tested for safety.

Above-Ground Sprays

Above-ground sprays provide a variety of interactive experiences for children of all ages. Vortex’s product line includes flush-mounted ground sprays, arches and loops that can be customized to a client’s specifications; Thrills n’ Spills structures that provide an array of water formations; and multi-activity play centers with spray cannons and interactive flow control valves. All products are manufactured from durable fiberglass reinforced plastic and feature UV inhibitors and chlorine resistance.

Aboveground spray features include static spray features and kinetic features that invite interaction with cranking, pedaling and rocking to generate a water spray. Some are themed fabrications that incorporate fantastic characters and crazy geometric shapes. Other options include Aquatons and interactive Watertoys that are designed from composite and specialty plastics with no sharp edges or protrusions to eliminate entanglement hazards, as well as corrosion protection.

Some manufacturers offer recirculating or hybrid style systems that use city water to fill the aquatic playground and then drain away, requiring less maintenance than other types of splash parks. A recirculating system, however, requires someone on staff that understands aquatic pool chemistry and upkeep. It also increases the initial cost for this type of water park. Some companies offer surface mounted and embedded structures, with surface mounted structures allowing the equipment to be removed from the site for offsite maintenance. Embedded structures are permanently installed in concrete and cannot be easily removed without breaking the concrete, but are lower in initial cost than flow-through parks.