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Having issues with your loose-fill playground surfacing? Playground mats might be the answer you’re looking for. We carry a wide variety of playground mats to help keep surfacing in place and reduce displacement. If you have questions or need help with a quote on playground mats, contact us. We’re here to help!
Outdoor playground mats are essential for maintaining loose-fill surfaces such as wood or rubber mulch. They prevent erosion and displacement in high-traffic areas like under swings, slides, and spinning equipment. Unlike playground tiles, playground mats are not a complete surfacing solution but rather help maintain loose-fill playground surfaces.
By slowing down surfacing erosion and displacement, rubber playground mats make loose-fill surfacing safer and more enjoyable to play on. Playground mats also keep the playground looking fresh and clean.
Loose-fill playground surfacing requires ongoing maintenance to ensure it remains safe for use. However, with playground mats in place, the need for raking the surface out to maintain the correct depth is reduced. While maintenance will always be necessary, these mats help preserve the depth of loose-fill materials over time.
When kids play on a playground with loose-fill surfacing, they naturally kick some of it out as they run around and interact with the play features. We call this “kick-out”. It’s one of the primary reasons that a playground area can loose surfacing material and need to be topped off or replenished. Using playground mats can help reduce the amount of kick-out on a playground and in turn the amount of material that needs to be replaced.
Playground mats are molded out of rubber granules and are very durable. They hold up well in hot and cold weather conditions. Most of the mats that we carry are made out or recycled rubber. You can expect a very long life out of them.
We offer three different types of playground mats.
Square: The 40″ x 40″ Rubber Wear Mat is excellent under slides, ladders, and other smaller areas where displacement occurs. This 40” x 40” mat is installed under a slide.
Rectangle: The 3' x 5' Rubber Wear Mat is a great choice for under swings. As kids drag their feet on a swing there will be a long divot that forms over time. A large rectangular mat works well to cover that area and minimize the divot. It can also be used on playgrounds with larger areas that are likely to have displacement issues like this one that’s installed under a double slide.
Spinner: The Spinner Wear Mat is designed to go under spinning equipment which is notorious for having large areas of displacement all the way around them. We have spinner mats in several different sizes for many different types of spinning equipment. This one is a smaller spinner wear mat that’s perfect for a spinner bowl.
You've now got the lowdown on playground mats, from their benefits to picking the perfect one for your play area! Our team of playground experts is here to help if you have any questions or need help with a quote.
Installation for mats that go under swings is the same for other locations on the playground. First you want to properly install the loose-fill playground surfacing. Then just place the mat on top of the surfacing in the area you want to minimize displacement. For swings, you usually want to center the mat under the swing. For slides you want to place the mat where a child’s feet will land when they come down the slide.
Generally, in the playground industry “playground tiles” refers to a type of playground surfacing where rubber tiles interlock and cover the entire playground. Playground tiles are used in similar applications as pour-in-place and playground turf.
When we use the word “mats” we’re referring to the type of product described on this page. Playground mats are intended to only be used in small areas that have issues with displacement. They are not intended to be uses as playground surfacing on their own.
We recommend playground rubber mulch or engineered wood fiber (that’s what we call certified wood mulch used on a playground). The consumer product safety commission (CPSC) has a full list of loose-fill material for use on a playground with information about depth and fall height rating. Checkout the Public Playground Safety Handbook and look under the surfacing section.
