School Children Tour Factory Week Before New Playground Delivery

Maple Grove School Visit Playground Factory

With just a week to go until installation, children from Maple Grove – a special education school in Chester – visit Creative Play HQ to discover the complex process behind designing and building their new playground. They take a hands-on look at how playgrounds are designed, manufactured, and installed. Guided by our outdoor play experts, they explore every stage of the process – from playground design software and layout planning, to the materials and machinery used in playground construction, and the safety standards that guide every decision. They tour the factory floor, learn how components are built and tested, and watch their own playground equipment being prepared for delivery and installation.

In this article, you’ll find a series of behind-the-scenes videos showing exactly how a safe, inclusive playground comes to life.

Playground Installation & Safety

The visit begins with a warm welcome from our team, followed by a Q&A session with Outdoor Play Expert Tim. The children of Maple Grove School ask insightful questions about installation, safety, and how we ensure every play area meets the highest standards – from initial design to long-term aftercare.

Watch School Children Grill An Outdoor Play Expert

Playground Design And Operations

Their curiosity continues in the design studio, where pupils discover the software, tools, and creative thinking behind each bespoke playground. For many, it is a chance to explore how their own interest in drawing or design could one day lead to a career in outdoor play equipment design.

Next comes a full office tour, where children explore the wider world behind every Creative Play project – including operations, finance, and marketing. This helps them understand how everything comes together to make their school playground a reality.

Playground Factory Tour

In the factory, the children examine key materials used in our equipment – including steel-core ropes and Ekogrip, a recycled non-slip surface used in many of our designs. They’re also introduced to our CNC machines, which cut plastic panels into colourful, eye-catching shapes, and watch one of the UK’s most advanced timber cutting machines in action – slicing and drilling with precision and minimal waste.

Watch School Children Explore Playground Factory

Loading The Playground On The Delivery Truck

The visit continues outside, where the children discover the vital role of our yard as a final checkpoint before delivery. They see how components are carefully wrapped, organised, and loaded in a strict order to make installation run smoothly.

To their delight, the Maple Grove pupils find that their own equipment is already wrapped and ready to go – and they watch as it is loaded onto the lorry for delivery.

Watch School Children Supervise New Playground Truck Loading

Any Playground Development Questions?

The visit ends with a final Q&A session, with children sharing their favourite parts of the day and posing thoughtful questions about what comes next.

Got questions of your own about playgrounds? Explore the Creative Play FAQs section.

Watch Playground Development Q & A Session

It is a brilliant visit filled with curiosity, creativity, and anticipation – and we can’t wait to see the pupils enjoying their brand-new play space in the near future.

Take a look at the finished Maple Grove School playground installation yourself.

Want to see even more of the Creative Play design process and factory?

See what happens when design students from Birkenhead School come to visit.