Putting Together Kid's Swing Set - Grass or Rubber Mulch?

I vote grass.

Suggestion: Put some treated lumber under the set where it touches the ground. This will help with future rotting and make it easier to weedeat.

We had one very similar (may have been same brand), that I assembled. Kids played on it a little while, but the one time I didn't check it for wasps is when my oldest got stung (3 or 4 times). They never played on it again.

As far as grass vs turf/mulch, we just kept grass and mud wasn't an issue at all (with the exception of under the 'house' portion where there was no sun). I will say, I was very underwhelmed with the quality of the 'cedar'. If I had to do it over again, I'd get one made of metal or build it myself using treated lumber and real stainless hardware. The wood and fasteners in these kits are hot garbage.

I vote for the rubber mulch. I'd pay $1,000 right now to never how to mow or weedeat under my swingset.

I never had to weedeat except around the corners, there just wasn't enough sun with the slide, climbing wall, above head cover, etc.

And OP, you'll eventually be getting rid of it. People will probably come disassemble it for free (like they did for ours) and haul it off, but you'd probably have to pay or haul out the rubber on your own. And think about how much of that crap is going to end up in the grass, even if you put a ridiculous border around it.

And if she falls in the grass, it's grass. What happens when she goes down the slide, loses her balance and she falls back into the slide, grass or rubber? Count how many times she's done the toddler thing of face planting into your carpet as a baby learning to walk, or reached back for a toy while sitting and ended up bouncing her head off the floor... My bet is that number is not zero.

NO. Don't do it. rubber mulch if in the sunlight will get so damm hot.

I did the real playground mulch within a bender board border. Takes up a giant area and altered my drainage to half my yard too because of poor planning on my part.

If you are in the south, rubber mulch gets too hot. Grass all day

You will regret rubber mulch

I did grass, but if I had to do it all over again would do the mulch or the rubber pads.

It started off level, but over time and use needs to be adjusted.

As others said, weed eating is a pain in the arse, and I have 2 boards that need to get replaced in the spring.

Grass growth around the area had not been an issue until the drought 2 years ago. But it's growing back (more weeds than grass right now, but that is my fault)

If you have an area under the playset, it is a pain in the arse to weed eat, bugs love it, this area survived the drought. If you decide to go with grass, I would highly suggest mulching/padding this area. This is my next move when I go to replace those boards in the spring