The Set is Mine... See ya mister....

I have been spending more and more time with parents and children as the season progresses.   With every new set I have new freinds,  and loose them fairly quick...

 Every year as the season comes into full swing.   I meet some of the most interesting characters you can Imagine..  I am referring to the children of course..    This Saturday I built a playhouse for the most lovely family in Seattle......  As I worked feverishly to get the set built for the little guy.  He had his watchful eyes on me the whole time...  I was asked several times through out the day what was I doing with that and why do I do like that...  What is that noise I keep hearing?  Hey Sam can I  get my tools and help?  I have plastic hammers and a plastic shovel..  I know I can do it!!!!.  Hey Sam watch this!  Are you done yet?  When are going to put my slide on?  You are a good house maker sam!  This continued on for the day.  I patiently answered his questions and helped with his projects of his own.. 

  He would nudge ever so close now and then.   I would remind him we had an arrangement that he made first thing in the morning about his line he could not cross... He would apologize and remember the deal...   As the day came to an end and I was completed with his house..   I asked for his approval,  and he excepted it with open arms.. It was his playhouse......all HIS...  He had waited out in the rain with me, watching, supervising so well...  The time was right for him to make it his own... go up and down the slide.  use the Rock wall.... Go in and out of the house..  This went on for a while as I cleaned my tools up and removed some debris from the yard..  The time had come for me to remove a few things from the set........... He promptly told me,  I was past my line and we had an arrangement...  

Well I guess I am not welcome any more......   Makes me laugh....   I think I will make a sign and send it to him...   No Sam Allowed...   I guess its fair... 

Its funny how they hang on every word,,,,, untill I am done...

Sam

Playhouse, Or Swing Set? Wood Play house!

I am not a very good judge of what I would want for a play set as a child..  I guess I would have loved both the same.   What I can say is that no matter what you give your kids make it for the imagination along with muscle movements.  The two together will work the arms and the brains.  This is the things we as parents need to remember when providing the right tools for our young generations to learn and activate there little muscles both for thinking and lifting.  

A Wooden play house will bring more imagination and play time in the make-believe world versus the latter of a swing set.  I would say if it is possible to have both in your yard that would be the way to go.  I have for many years been asked to choose for the client and almost always will find they go with the play fort attached with swings and some monkey bars to boot.   For me this makes the most since.   we live in a world of boredom and loss of interest,  are kids are not that far off from the same.   We as parents need to find the best way to keep the kids active and out in the sun for the short times we have in Washington's weather.   With a set that can construct the imaginations and make the best of active play at the same time!  where can you go wrong with this..    

Some of the best sets that I have been asked to construct for my clients are the 6'x6' Enclosed forts for the little girls that have brothers that love to climb.  I have found I can make the house cute as a button for the girls and the boys love the rock walls.  along with the option for a wheel on the deck.  The little fellas like to steer the wheels and play ship like they are driving the titanic to its doom...  This makes me laugh all the time.  I wounder how a 5 year old child would even know about something so far back in the past?  But they do...  all the while the girls are playing house and making dinner.  I guess they don't know whats in store for them,   as the captains tosses them overboard along with the chicken..

Maybe a day or two the rides will change as the boys are locked in the dungeons and the girls are driving the ships to there remote island of doom.  some of  the ships captives are plotting there ever building escape to the lost world of Atlantis in the pits of the ships belly.   While the little girls are desperately fighting pirates from the bow of the ship. Trying ever so rightly to save the lives of the captives to drop them off to suffer the inevitable doom of the desert island...  

So with some creative play and maybe a few ruined mud pies if you have a mix of kids plan well and let them dream the dreams.    Sit back and be entertained in some of the wildest tales you can think. 

Sam

Swing sets Playhouses....

I have been serving the greater Seattle area with my custom swing sets and playhouses for many years..  What I want to tell you about is what the right set is for your landscape and children...

The biggest misconceptions and what not to do for your kids....
Visit http://samscustomsets.com/ for more information.

  A lot of my customers want what they wish they had as a child,  that is probably the most common request that I get...   Is that true?   Well yes swing sets have not changed since we were kids.  Yes some of the toys have changed and some of the basic features have changed over the years but all an all its the same....  To think back when you wished you had A fort that you and the boys could retreat to. When you had a hard game of tag, or maybe you wanted to hide from the neighbor kids...  I remember wanting so badly to have a fort that my brother, sister, and I could go to.  The things we could play...my sister always wanting to play house.  My older brother and I always wanted to play pirates.   I look back on the games we played as kids and the dreams we had for a swing set that would do all the things we could think of.

   So I have designed my sets to do just that.   My thought prosess for my designs has been s on what I wanted and what you the client wanted when we were kids.   We all grew up in a different time when parents didn't buy swing sets or playhouses we had a rope attached to a tree with a tire sometimes.  I used to look so forward to the trips to the park where we would swing for hours and play hot lava..  That's where you are not allowed to touch the ground..I grew up hear in Washington where everyone was afraid of mt st Helen's..go figure..that's why the game I suppose...  So yes dont think that it is bad to want a set that you dreamed of as a child.  Your kids are the same as you were.  Our times have changed with the Internet and cell phones.  outside toys haven't.  kids still like the same outside toys as you and I did.  I would have to say I wish I had a supper soaker when I was a kid!!!  That sure has changed...

  Clients ask me how long will a set last for?   I can tell you this,  a child will loose almost all interest in a fort or slide by the time they are 12-13  of age..  You cant stop the progression of getting to big for that.  The kids will however use the swings for their entire life.  My kids still swing and they are in there latter teens now.   Heck I still like to swing in the warm summer nights. 

The best thing for a parent to do is to plan on how long they are going to use the set.  decide the budget and go for it.   I would recommend bigger forts for the older kids. 7+  that will allow for the use of the set till there teens..if you are on a budget and plan on adding to the set at a latter date and the kids are 7and under  I would go with the smaller sets.  do remember you will have to add to the set as the kids get bigger.  I would recommend that you put age appropriate toys on a set. any family with kids over 5 years you should most definitely put on monkey bars...you have the set going in anyway use all the space possible for the kids.  The kids will use the monkey bars daily over and over..  its just a great toy to add.  I sell the gliders and other swing toys for my clients and I don't have a problem selling them to you. for the money the belt swing is going to be the most used and the cheapest one to buy..  bigger kids really just cant use any other swings than the belt swing.  

  The pros and cons to sandboxes..    I love a sand box and so do your kids.   If you decide to go with a sandbox.  if is a pretty expensive item to put in correctly... Its not the cost of labor or the cost of the wood materials it is the sand..  It has to be a washed and screened sand just like from the ocean floor.   Do remember that you cant just buy landscape sand and call it good.  It will have silica dust that can cause lung problems at a latter time in the child's life.   So getting the right sand and a good amount is pretty expensive for the option of a set.    I recommend you add it if your budget will allow.   If you are looking for a inexpensive set I would opt out of that option.

  Some clients ask the pros and cons of inclosed sets versus open style forts.   We live in Washington,  with that the choice should be simple to make.  I always recommend that you have a combination of both.  That is why I put decks on my sets to have the best of both worlds.  In Washington state our weather is so hit and miss with the rain.  If you put the inclosed fort on the set the kids can get out of the rain when it comes then go right back to playing when it is dry outside.  keeps the mud out of your home and the kids active outside even if its raining but not to cold to play..



  I can say that girls love to swing and boys love to climb.. so if you have both you will want to mix up the set..  but if you have one or the other you need to accommodate that gender with what is going to be used the most.

This will conclude my posting for now.

Please visit my website  http://samscustomsets.com/