Top Primary School Playground Equipment Ideas To Upgrade Playtime

Author: Jess Sparks
Updated on: October 23, 2024

Contemporary playgrounds should be exciting, appealing spaces but it can be tricky to know which primary school playground equipment ideas will best suit your community and space.

To make browsing easier, we’ve brought together some of our most popular playground equipment for primary schools to help you narrow the options. Covering a wide range of pupil needs and interests, this guide is a quick read with comprehensive coverage of the many choices available for UK schools.

We’re a top UK supplier of playground equipment with a passion to foster play that’s both educational and fun. You’ll find our collection is extensive and exciting. Whilst innovative, at Fun & Active Playgrounds we generate enjoyable primary school playground equipment ideas rooted in UK national curriculum topics for KS1 and KS2.

From science to maths, music, geography and English, the curriculum coverage is wide. Here are our top primary school equipment ideas pupils, staff and parents will love. Browse collection

Top Primary School Playground Equipment Ideas To Upgrade Playtime

Why us?

As a specialist school playground equipment company, we know how busy you are so you’ll find our services are quick and easy to use. All of our products are ready to order online and can be purchased in their standard form or a custom design.

Primary School Specialist

Our team are highly experienced in working with schools and you may wish to include your school council or a cohort of children in the design project for your custom pieces. We love hearing children’s ideas so we always look forward to pupil participation! Learn more about bespoke design

Long-lasting and Safe

All of our play equipment for primary schools is designed to be safe for pupils to use all year. None of our pieces will warp, fade or crack. Constructed to be hardwearing and strong, child-safe corners and edges plus non-toxic finishes and secure fittings ensure your children remain free from harm as they play.

Environmentally-Friendly

It’s equally important to us that we protect the outdoor environment as we work. At Fun & Active Playgrounds, we use recycled materials as far as possible across all of our play equipment. Our pieces are recyclable, and our manufacturing processes are sustainable.

Whilst constructing each collection, 99% of the off-cuts and waste we produce is recycled. We are committed to supporting the environment, so we are always looking for new ways to preserve our world for generations to come.

Supporting Imaginative Play For All

Fun & Active Playgrounds is a playground equipment company with a deep understanding of children’s play. We prize both creativity and education. Our designs are imaginative, innovative and educational, promoting open-ended play for all.

Browse full playground equipment collection

Here is some of our most popular playground equipment for primary schools. Whatever the size of your space or needs of your pupils, you’ll find a wide range of options to suit your setting.

Top Playground Equipment Ideas For Primary Schools

Best Playground Equipment Ideas: English

 We know so many children begin primary school without having experienced the crucial language games which support language development from an early age. The Nursery Rhymes Play Panel is a great way to give all children the opportunity to enjoy singing along to nursery rhymes in an informal setting.

Whether on their own or with friends, pupils will love singing classics including, Jack and Jill, the Grand Old Duke of York and Ring a Ring of Roses. Supporting language development within the fun concept of singing, the Nursery Rhymes Panel has irresistible appeal for all young children.

Pirates, journeys, and boats remain timeless topics which continue to fascinate children, particularly in KS1. The beautifully crafted Pirate Ship is the perfect way to spark imaginative play that will appeal to a wide range of pupils.

Whether pupils want to play pirates, adventure traveller or sole sail around the world, the concept of setting sail for faraway lands fires creativity in us all.

Complete with tumbling waves, a mast and plenty of seating, children can play on their own, in a group or alongside each other with ease. Whichever narratives children create, the spacious design ensures no pupil has to waste playtime waiting for their turn. Finished with a non-slip floor, children can enjoy using the pirate ship throughout the school year.

Take a look at our English playground markings

Best Playground Equipment Ideas: Maths

From logic to trial and error and methodical thinking, the 4-panel Jigsaw Play Panel helps children build important skills as they play. From 3 in-a-row to mazes, tile slide and tic, tac, toe, we’ve fused traditional and contemporary games to create a multi-game piece that’s tons of fun!

 

We all love a challenge, and the Timer Play Panel means play can be multi-sensory and even more fun for children in KS1 or KS2. Turn the button to create the electricity which kicks the stop clock into action.

Hand-generated, all of our rotogen play panels require no electricity to work. Energy-saving, economical and high-performing our contemporary rotogen play panels bring multi-sensory fun to the primary school playground.

Whether challenging a friend or exploring time, this maths playground equipment is guaranteed to be a hit for a years to come.

Whether you have a chess club at your school or would love to encourage children to play, chess remains a timeless favourite, particularly for children in KS2 (although many children start at KS1).

Providing space for two sets of chess games to happen at the same time, the Chess Game Board adds much-needed diversity to play equipment. Providing a quiet place for children to play, the board is easily attached to any picnic table and can be used all year round.

Fostering so many skills which aid maths learning, problem-solving, tenacity and more, chess is still one of the most highly respected games for children. The capacity to play such a beneficial activity during playtime opens chess up to a much wider audience.

Have you seen our maths playground markings for primary schools?

Best Play Equipment Ideas: Foundation & EYFS Understanding The World

Who said playtimes were boring? Take play equipment to the next level with our Bass Guitar Play Panel. One of many musical play panels in our collection, these contemporary play activities are the ideal way to ensure playtime is fun for all.

From glockenspiels to drums, a piano and more, whether children have always wanted to strum a guitar, play a piano or simply be free to make music, the music play equipment collection creates space for everyone to find playtimes fun.

More about musical play equipment

Children love looking at world maps – in fact we all do, yet curriculum demands mean lesson time for map exploration is short. The World Map Game Board gives children plenty of space to discover the countries, continents, oceans, seas, and rivers of our world.

See just how far away America and Australia really are! Find the country where your cousin from overseas lives. See just how many countries there are in Africa! What do the grid lines mean?

The extent of open-ended discovery is endless, and children will never get bored of learning new things about their world. Suitable for use all year-round, the World Map attaches easily to any table and comes with compass points in the corner as well as questions to enhance the level of challenge.

The interactive Cosmos Play Panel has added sensory appeal. The opportunity to touch and move the pieces makes the Cosmos panel particularly appealing. Unlike our solar system, which is so far away, the planets on the cosmos are right in front of children’s eyes.

Positioned in front of the sun, can you spot Earth? Which planet could be so far away from the sun?

The opportunities for learning are numerous and the textured, moveable surface will up-level any play space whilst ensuring play is inclusive for all.

Compact and bright with plenty of room inside and out, the Wall Garden Tub Planter fits easily into any space. The child-friendly design is ideal for the school environment with tub space which can be easily reached and used by children as well as adults.

Whether maintained by gardening clubs, learning mentor groups, classes or school staff, the planter will remain safe from busy children on the move whilst enticing pupils to watch the plants grow.

The attractive design fits easily into both front of house and the school playground. Whether you want to welcome visitors with gorgeous botanicals, encourage children to grow their own, brighten up outdoor classroom areas or the wider school playground, the planter will support so many uses.

Fully customisable, the tub’s imaginative surround can be tailored to your school community or the way in which you intend to use the planter in your school environment.

Make finding a friend, time out or space to calm down inviting with our fun, animal benches. The capacity to tailor the image on either end to the interests of your community ensures the bench makes sitting down more attractive. The space-saving design fits easily into any playground and could be easily customised to match other pieces of play equipment from our collection.

From school logo animals to local wildlife, topic-related images and more, the animal bench is a wonderful way to make your play space a welcoming, bright, and fun place to be.

And that’s just a few of our most popular playground equipment ideas for school playgrounds! Browse our full play equipment collection. All our designs are bespoke so you can commission any custom ideas you have in mind.