Swing Sets in the Fall: Perfect Playtime Pairing

Imagine this scene for a moment. The school bus rolls up, dropping off your kids, OR you just picked them up from school, OR your day of homeschooling has ended. Books are closed, uniforms are switched for play clothes, and crayons, pencils, and markers are put away. The kids have been learning all day and doing too much sitting in the process. You can see the wiggles starting to ooze out of them.

The fall sunshine shines in your window, and a delightful crunchy layer of leaves is beginning to collect in the yard. You open the door, slip on their sweaters, and send them out to their swing set to burn off some energy, get fresh air in their lungs, and experience the magic of Autumn.

This scene happens all across the USA in all kinds of cities, towns, and homes.

While spring and early summer are traditionally considered peak swing set and playhouse season, don’t sleep on fall. You will miss a truly wonderful time to be playing outside on swing sets or in playhouses!

We will explore in this blog post what makes playing outside on your swing set special in the fall, why getting a swing set for the fall time makes sense, and how to maximize these nice, glorious days before winter descends on us all!

Why is Fall Perfect for Play?

Let’s face it: summer’s heat and humidity can discourage outside play. My kids are no exception. When it is 98 degrees and humid as all get out, it is hard to get them out to play unless water is involved. And your sanity as a parent can only handle so many cycles of wet clothes and puddles on the floor in a day.

During the fall days, this problem is wonderfully resolved! Sure, you may have to slip on a sweater on the cooler evenings for the kids to play their swing set, but it sure beats the heat! Not only is it more pleasant for the children, but we parents are also relieved! We can linger by the fire, talking and enjoying our friends while the kids, in chunky sweaters, race about the vinyl swing set: no sweating, no bugs, no need for sunscreen, just good, fun outside play.

After-School Fun!

One of the parents I spoke to commented, and I am paraphrasing, “The first place we come after school is right back out here to the swing set so he can get some outside time, breath in that fresh air, and start our afternoon and evening off on the right foot!”

With fall comes school, and with school comes long hours of sitting. With long hours of sitting, the need for running, playing, swinging, and all the other movements increases. I taught school for about four years. I know the struggle is real. A swing set gives your children a great place to escape, slip back into their imaginative games, and burn off all the wiggles accumulated throughout the day.

Fun with Fall!

Here is a fun little secret. One of the big shocks for me when I moved to Pennsylvania was the crunchy leaves. In my hometown of Oregon, the rain always drenched the leaf piles, making them a slurpy, slimy mess with little, if any, magical pull. However, the crunchy piles of goodness that heaped up in the county parks were, indeed, things of wonder when piled up and leaped into!

So let us up the fun. How about raking that pile of leaves near the swing beam and then leaping off the swings into the heap? Or, possibly even more fun, mound the leaves at the end of a slide as deep as possible and then send the children whooshing down to careen into the pile! That would be a memory for sure!

Fall is also the perfect time to take out hot cocoa for a shared moment on your swing set. I hear apple fritters make a great pairing with freshly squeezed apple cider. You could pair up this fall treat as an after-school snack in the playhouse and listen about their day at school.

Fall is the unsung hero of outside play! A swing set or playhouse can help you make the most of these delightful days!

Buy in the Fall?

“Enough with pulling on our heartstrings,” you say, “Is it actually practical to buy a swing set in the fall? Winter is coming on; that doesn’t seem smart.”

That is a great question and an important one!

There are two concerns in this question:

1. Will we get enough use before winter to justify purchasing now?
2. Will the winter hurt our swing set?

Let me address fear number one. Right now, our lead times are very short. From when you place your order to when it arrives in your backyard, it could be just a couple of weeks (depending on your location). You will have many happy evenings where you pat yourself on the back for making this purchase.

And let’s not discount how nice it will be to have the swing set in your backyard during those nice days that always pop up in the winter. Also, the need for outside exercise doesn’t magically disappear in the winter. Having a swing set to slide down into an unfortunate snowman or take that snowman and send him down the slide will make it easier to keep your children outside!

Plus, the swing set will already be in place for the spring of next year, so as soon as it is nice, pop open the back door and send them out!

Another reason to purchase during the fall is to avoid any price increases. This nasty occurrence tends to happen on the first of the new year, so purchasing ahead of time avoids all that drama!

And now, will winter hurt your swing set? No! We build our swing sets with durable materials, including stainless steel hardware that endures cold winters like a champ. I understand it may feel a bit sad to see your brand-new swing set covered in snow, but no worries! It can handle it just fine!

Conclusion

Fall is a fantastic time to get outside and play on a swing set. With cooler evenings, fewer bugs, and a need to burn off after-school energy, a swing set can help you maximize every pleasant hour.

And since our lead times are short and our swing sets shrug off winter weather, the fall is a great time to go ahead and bring the playground home! You will be several steps ahead of everyone who starts shopping in the spring only to discover long lead times!

King Swings has been building residential vinyl swing sets for over 30 years! We love to help mom and dad customize their swing set design till it is perfect for their family! All our swing sets are handmade in Parkesburg, PA, and delivered and installed in your backyard!

Justin, the author, has been working in the playground industry for several years. Drawing on his experience as a dad of three and teacher of 3rd to 5th-grade children, he loves to help mom and dad understand the options, the processes, and the fun of designing your own custom vinyl swing set!