At the bottom of the slide, a fall zone is required. We have used sand, woodchips, and engineered wood fiber, and all three need to be contained within a specific minimum size and shape, and need to be able to retain the fall zone material so it doesn’t migrate.

Typically, you would dig a shallow hole about 9-12” deep (unless you’re creating a sand play area as part of the slide fall zone, in which case the hole might be 2-3’ deep), and then outline that hole with retainers to hold in the fall zone material.

We developed an inexpensive fall zone retainer system for a number of applications.

For the slide fall zone retainer kit, the shapes for the slide fall zones need to be very specific to meet the minimum ASTM and CPSC safety codes for slides of various heights. You can purchase this kit for toddler slides, for slides up to 7’, and for slides 8’ and over.

In another section in this store, we offer retainer kits for Embankment Climbing Walls. In that same section, you will find single retainer pieces to make whatever free-form shape you want to make, as well as retainer stumps, which we debark and treat with child-friendly treatment to make them last longer.