Metal Outdoor Playsets

Tara Gosselin Interior Design Expert

Tara is a San Antonio-based award-winning landscape architect, writer and educator, passionate about eco-friendly solutions and growing her own food. She knows all it takes to help you create a sustainable backyard retreat that combines blissful charm with a modern take on landscaping.

Updated 21/04/2021

Not great during the desert summer, but perfect any other time, these metal outdoor playsets are pretty spectacular. The steel is hard, with solid welds, and it is treated to resist rusting, giving it a long life of fun and play. And there are many different playsets to choose from, your kids will have trouble settling on just one from this impressive collection.

Buying Guide

Livening up the garden in the hope that your children will spend more time exercising in the outdoors can be more difficult than you initially anticipated. While you may think you've tried everything so far, don't give up until you've tried a metal outdoor playset. Any type of playsets can be very appealing to kids, so let's look at some of the designs you'll find and discover which is the best for your garden.

What are the available colors for metal outdoor playsets?

If you're fond of the attractive colorful metal playsets, they can be a great way to brighten up the garden. The primary colors are the most popular ones you will see, with red, blue, green and yellow being the most common. There may be blue posts and a red horizontal beam at the top to connect them. The sturdy metal can be repainted as you wish, so if your kids are bored of one particular color after a year, you can make a project out of it and revamp the playset.

What are the kids' favorite outdoor playsets?

Tree house style

The perfect combination between a traditional tree house and an interesting playset, a tree house style metal outdoor playset will keep your children entertained for hours. The tree house doesn't need to be within a tree, although you can position it alongside a tree in your garden or build it around one. You can then attach other features such as a metal slide to offer an alternative to steps or a ladder when coming down from the tree. The house itself may be wooden, while the extra additional features are metal. If you like this style but can't find something in one piece, consider buying a wooden tree house separately and then a metal playset.

Swing set

Arguably one of the most-loved outdoor toys for children to play on is swings. A swing set is a great way to keep the kids occupied, and there are various styles. For example, you can buy a simple swing set which doesn't have any other type of toy attached. Alternatively, there are swing sets which have small playsets attached to one side of them, so your child can enjoy monkey bars, a slide, and other features. These sets are available in various sizes too, so you can buy shorter sets for very young children and larger ones for your older kids. You might also find metal swing sets which have a slide on one side and a see-saw on the opposite side.

Are metal better than wood for outdoor playsets?

Not all playsets are metal, and you may come across hybrid playsets which are partly wood and partly metal. This is mainly because some features and pieces of a playset are safer, better and more durable when made from metal, while others are better suited to a wood material such as hardwood or pine. If you want everything to be the same color or have the same appearance, you can always ensure the wood is sanded down and then paint with a wood paint the same color as the metal paint.