Children don't think about heat, cold, rain or snow when they want to play. Indoor soft play equipment gives them a place to enjoy being a kid where the weather won't spoil their fun. Join in helping children and their caregivers make active fun a priority by providing them with a soft play space.

What are the appropriate soft play equipment?

Soft play equipment is a new take on traditional playgrounds. Often used indoors, these soft play areas have all the elements that kids love to use. Slides, tunnels, and climbers are just some of the types of equipment you can choose from when creating your soft play area.

What differentiates soft play fields from traditional playgrounds is cushioning structures. Soft layers cover the frame of structures. In addition, this equipment includes a wide range of options to excite children and encourage play with their peers.

Many businesses and venues use soft play areas as entertainment options for customers' children. For example, the Kennedy Space Center has a soft play area to activate young astronauts' imaginations with their planet play area. The features of this game area include a space-time grid, an interactive satellite game, and a handmade foam solar system. This example shows how versatile these types of play areas can be to meet the needs of any business.

What makes soft play fields different?

Advantages of soft play equipment

Soft play equipment offers many benefits for kids and businesses. Considering these benefits will give you a more comprehensive picture of what it's like to have an indoor play area. The benefits may not be immediately apparent on paper, but they are evident in the active play of children and the increased satisfaction of their caregivers with your business. Check out the 10 advantages of soft play equipment below.

1. A place for children to interact with their peers

Children may end up playing with the same groups in their school and neighborhood. By providing a place for children to interact with their peers at your business, you give them the opportunity to develop new social skills. They also learn how to play and interact with children they have never met before. Your indoor playground may foster friendships that last beyond the time you spend on the playground.

2. Activate children's imagination with the topic

Themed playgrounds activate children's imaginations by providing colorful play areas. For example, the largest indoor play area at Memorial City Mall in Houston, Texas, has a 3,000-square-foot medieval-themed play area. Children who play here can encounter a three-story castle, a roaring dragon, a boiling cauldron, and a sleeping giant. They can pretend they are in their favorite fairy tales, and there are thematic elements to spark their imaginations on the playground.

3. Encourage active play

Encourage children to be active and fit while having fun. Play areas allow children to enjoy movement by climbing, sliding and interacting with the elements in a way that they cannot find anywhere else. A lifetime of enjoying activities can begin with positive experiences of active play in childhood.

When kids are active on soft play elements, they can build stamina and strength. Plus, when you install inclusive play structures, kids of all abilities can get active and have fun.

4. Building self-confidence in children

Children should do activities on their own to learn self-confidence and build self-esteem. Indoor playgrounds give them the opportunity to physically challenge themselves on the equipment and learn problem-solving and social skills while playing with others. As they improve in these skills through play and interaction with peers, they can become more confident.

5. Promote unstructured play

Kids sometimes need to play sports without structured rules. Unstructured play on an indoor soft play court allows children to invent ways to play. They can simply enjoy the equipment for no other purpose. However, they may want to interact with others and use their collective storytelling skills to create an imaginative world around the toys. Both are possible with unstructured play in a supervised play space.

Unstructured play

6. Provide year-round entertainment with indoor structures

Indoor playgrounds are protected from the outside elements, which often make surfaces hot or slippery when it rains. Kids can enjoy an indoor playground all year round, so their fun doesn't have to stop based on the time of year or the weather.

By having a soft play area in your business, you have an attraction that your customers can use throughout the year.

7. Attract families and boost your business

An indoor playground provides an attractive feature for families visiting your business. Caregivers can relax for a few minutes while watching their children on the soft play equipment. Kids can have more fun at your business by enjoying the playground and meeting their peers.

This attraction may encourage children to ask their caregivers to return them

Your business or guardians may prefer to visit your site because there is a place for their children to play. Whether the kids or their caregivers speak up, you'll still get more repeat customers in your business.

8. Choose options that suit your available space

Soft play equipment gives you the advantage of choosing options that fit the space you have. You don't need a large outdoor space to incorporate an indoor playground into your business. This bonus makes it easier to integrate play space into your space, even if you don't think you have a lot of space.

9. Provide consistent return on investment

When you showcase your indoor playground as an amenity for caregivers and their kids, you build a customer base that keeps coming back. These regulars can help you grow your business through their patronage and word of mouth about your location. By building your business for family, you can improve your bottom line and see your return on investment in a soft play area.

By making your business family friendly

10. Inclusive game for children

Give children of all ages and abilities the opportunity to play together with inclusive play equipment. Indoor play equipment with an inclusive design will help your business ensure that all children participate in the fun.

All kinds of soft play equipment

With indoor playgrounds, you can choose equipment that calls itself soft play because it includes cushioning against the elements. However, only Soft Play� branded playgrounds and elements can enjoy the benefits of high-end play elements, customization options, free design consultation, interior fabrication and on-site installation. Types of soft play indoor playground equipment include the following:

1. Soft foam sculptures

Soft foam sculptures add colorful and eye-catching elements to your indoor playground. You have a whole range of options to choose from, including licensed designs, custom pieces, abstract forms, whimsical structures, and semi-realistic styles. These provide soft elements for children to climb on and activate their imaginations in free play. You may want to include a custom option – such as your business mascot – on your indoor playground. We can create a custom foam sculpture based on your designs.

If you need something quick, choose from our in-stock Pick & Play or Elementz designs. Pick and play components make designing an indoor playground easy - choose from five themes, choose the play area that suits you, and choose the size you need. We take care of the rest Elementz pieces come individually or packaged based on the size of your space. These abstract features have interactive elements, such as tunnels or stepping stones, for fun play on soft foam sculptures.

2. Play events

Play events keep kids active with slides, tunnels, interactive games, imaginative elements, climbers and other unique elements to include in your indoor playground. These allow you to put together a customized play area in your business based on the specific pieces you want to add. Or, you can add these events to standalone play areas to customize your playground.

3. Toddler equipment

Toddler equipment meets the growing needs of toddlers who are still developing their coordination and skills. These pieces of furniture provide a suitable place for toddlers to play. Smaller play areas for more inclusive activity spaces and independent elements ensure that all toddlers in this area have a variety of play options to maximize their fun, whether alone or with others.

4. Small play structures

When you don't have much space to install a playground, you can choose small play structures. These multi-faceted play spaces maximize children's fun in every square foot. Customizable options allow you to add different features such as games or platforms to get more out of your game structure. Plus, by customizing small play areas, you can meet the needs of kids in your business and avoid wasting your budget on projects.

5. Theme playgrounds

Businesses often use themed playgrounds to highlight their playgrounds with imaginative designs built around a common theme. Themes used elsewhere with Soft Play equipment include the space at the Kennedy Space Center, undersea exploration at Pacific Pediatrics, and Lego structures at Legoland.

6. Classic playgrounds

Play structures with softer structures and 30 years of design experience behind them is what you get when you choose Classic Soft Play Playgrounds. Look at the available renderings as inspiration for your custom design, or choose ready-made designs to save time. Whatever classic playground you choose, you'll get the fun elements kids want while still having the built-in soft play features needed to give caregivers peace of mind.

7. Great gaming experiences

When there is no space, choose big game attractions. With larger structures, you can add more and more game elements

 Children can play with the equipment at the same time. As with classic playground options, you can choose from pre-rendered options or use them as a starting point for designing your own main attraction. If you want your indoor playground to serve the maximum number of children and have the greatest number of attractions, choose large structures.

Larger Play Structures
Age-Based Soft Play Equipment
Match play equipment to children's ages to give them equipment that meets their developmental and social needs and provides the best experience. For example, toddlers may not have as much fun on playgrounds as older children because they may not have the coordination, strength, or height to use the elements. Similarly, older children may not have fun in a toddler play area with elements optimized for crawling and walking.

Toddlers Toddlers
are between 2 and 5 years old. These children are just learning to walk and become more coordinated. Play areas for toddlers promote play with peers, develop motor skills, increase self-confidence and learn creative play. Types of toys for toddlers include:

Indoor Play Figures
Small Play Areas
Freestanding Play Structures
Smaller Play Areas meet the needs of growing toddlers and give them fun play elements to interact with others their age.

Preschoolers and older,
ages 5 to 12, are better off understanding larger play structures with more active elements. For older kids, you have the largest range of options for indoor playgrounds, including themed playgrounds to match your business type and decor. You can also choose larger indoor play structures that include multiple floors for kids up to 12 years old to climb and slide on. Plus, you have options for customizing taller structures that require less floor space or wider structures for areas with shorter ceilings.

What businesses should consider a soft play pitch?
Almost any business that kids can get into can create a soft play area. Some businesses with indoor playgrounds include:

Health and fitness centers
Recreation centers
Restaurants
Retail centers or stores
Kindergartens
Worship centers
Amusement parks
Public or private parks
Water parks
Museums
Airports or transportation stations
Sports parks
Community recreation centers
Health and medical facilities Children
The main features required for an indoor playground are space for play areas and children who regularly visit your business. If you have these elements, you should seriously consider adding soft play equipment to your site.

Key features required
How to start a soft indoor playground
Installing a soft indoor playground in your business can help you meet the needs of your customers and grow your operations. Follow the steps below to simplify the process of installing a soft poly zone in your building:

1. Create a budget
Start with a budget. When you have a limit to spend on a new playground, you can avoid overspending. With options available for all budget ranges, you can find the right soft play equipment you need to create a fun and interactive playground inside your business.

The budget should include all the costs needed to open and maintain the playground. Don't forget to factor insurance, utilities, employee benefits, maintenance tools, cleaning products and playground marketing into your budget to get a more accurate idea of ​​the cost of ownership.

2. Research what kids want from an indoor soft play area
Learn more about the kids and caregivers who visit your business. Do you see more babysitters or do children of all ages visit your business? Knowing the age range will help you choose a variety of game elements. For example, if your business has a wider range of ages, such as toddlers to elementary school children, you may want an all-ages playground.

3. Determine your goals for the playground
What do you want the playground to do for your business and the children who use it? Want to encourage interactive play? This target works well for busy sites that are visited by multiple families at the same time. With a smaller setting, such as a pediatric dental office where your waiting room accommodates one or two children at a time, you may prefer a playground that promotes active individual play.

Consider how you want the playground to serve your customers. Do you want the gaming space to become an attraction to differentiate your business from competitors? Or do you want to provide a relaxing place for caregivers and children?

4. Look at the space available in your business
How much space does your business have for an indoor playground? The more space you have, the more options you can choose from. However, even with limited floor space, you can still have a larger play area by considering taller structures with multiple levels to climb.

5. Think about children's use of the indoor playground.
What ages of children use your playground? Choose if you anticipate toddlers

Equipment for ages two and up. However, if you have the space, you can consider a separate play area for toddlers from the main indoor play area for older kids. These separate areas can allow toddlers to play with a group close to their own age.

6. Choose the elements of the soft play ground to achieve your goals.
Once you know the goals that your playground must meet and the needs of the children who use it, choose the Soft Play products to create your ideal play space. do. Find pieces that fit your budget and available space, and suit the age groups and interests of the children who will be using them.

Meet your budget
7. PROFESSIONALLY INSTALL SOFT PLAY Install your playground
With Soft Play, you don't need to install playground equipment. Let the professionals install it for you to ensure a proper setup that will last for years with good maintenance.

8. Schedule staff to perform maintenance and cleaning of the play area
You must keep up with the play area through regular maintenance and cleaning. To reduce the effects of heavy use on the appearance of play structures, have staff available to clean up any spills. In addition, schedule regular cleaning to meet the disinfection and cleaning needs of each element.

9. Open the playground to your business
Create a grand opening of your soft play area for those visiting your business. Use online marketing and through local businesses to promote the opening and spread the word about the new indoor playground. When visitors come, let them encourage them to come back for the soft play attraction.

10. Keep promoting your indoor playground
Don't let your customers or the community forget about your indoor playground. Continue marketing your new play area to keep the attraction fresh in the minds of your potential customers or visitors. Marketing your soft play space will bring more business to your location and provide a return on your investment.

Get your soft play equipment from SOFT PLAY today.Incorporate
an indoor playground into your business to give kids a climate-controlled place for immersive fun. Partner with Soft Play to grow your business with useful play. Request a quote for soft play terrain equipment today or contact us for a free design consultation.