4 Ways to Enhance Your Water Park Equipment

Whether you have a splash pad, water park or aquatic playground, the right equipment can enhance your water playground’s safety and appeal. Here are some of the best options available.

Splash Pads and Water Park Equipment are designed with low level play features, suitable for toddlers and preschoolers, that encourage children to interact with each other in the water. These features include different spray nozzles and jets to stimulate interaction.

Splash Pads

Splash pads are a fun, affordable alternative to traditional swimming pools. They can be installed in communities of all sizes and offer a variety of options for water play. They are a great choice for communities that struggle with high maintenance costs, lack lifeguards or want to add additional revenue to their parks.

Typically, splash pads use less water than a pool and require a fraction of the pumping equipment and chemicals. They also do not need to be monitored and regulated like a pool does.

In addition to minimizing water usage, splash pads can save money on water treatment and operating costs as well. There are two main ways that splash pads can operate: recirculating and pass-through systems.

Recirculating systems collect water in a holding tank and then pump it back to the spray nozzles. The recirculating system can be more expensive to operate because it requires scheduled water monitoring and adjustments of chemical levels, but is generally more cost-effective than a pass-through system that uses city potable water and drains directly to the sanitary system.

These systems can also be used to control the amount of water that is pumped to the features, by controlling the number of nozzles that are activated at any given time. This control is important because it allows you to minimize the risk of flooding the surrounding area.

The design of splash pads should be focused on providing universal accessibility for children of all physical and mental abilities. They should be wheelchair height accessible, have adequate turn-around space between elements and should provide a mix of intense and gentle water play. They should also have play features that are shaped to be safe for children with special needs or sensory challenges.

Water Play Structures

Adding water play equipment to a playground adds a fun and safe way for kids to interact with water. Children have an inherent interest in water, and this type of play encourages them to explore and experiment.

Water park equipment is an excellent choice for any playground because it is safe and easy to clean. Plus, it’s a great way to encourage kids to get active while having fun in the sun.

Some of the most popular types of water play equipment include sand and water tables, slides, streams, fountains, and more. Adding these to your playground can encourage social interaction and help children develop their imaginations as they create games and pretend scenarios.

Other water park equipment includes splash pads and spray rings. These are a popular choice because they offer a wide range of water effects and can be designed for a variety of children’s ages and abilities.

Many of these water play structures are built with a mix of features, including slides and climbing components. Some are interactive, like our AquaCourse, which challenges children to traverse water channels and obstacles.

Our light commercial grade water play equipment is made of PVC pipe, which is easy to maintain and cost-effective. It is also a good choice for private businesses water park equipment that have a lot of supervision and control over access to the splash pad, such as daycares.

Splash pads and splash rings are popular in outdoor public spaces like parks, zoos, community centers, and more. These elements are often organized into separate zones to make it easier for parents to choose the best splash pad for their child’s age.

Ground Sprays

Ground sprays are water park equipment that dispense a variety of water effects. Whether they’re a single nozzle or multiple jet features, ground sprays offer simple aqua play that kids love and parents can enjoy watching.

Ground sprays also work well for establishing transition areas between age-appropriate play zones. They’re great for separating toddlers from older kids and can be used to create unique water shapes such as crawl tunnels or pathways.

For example, a water playground that combines ground sprays with geysers will give users of all ages a chance to watch the jets shoot up and down and create billions of bubbles as they go. The spray features can then be sequenced to make intentional games, such as Hop-Scotch, that provide kids with the opportunity to practice their skills and build their confidence in their ability to use the water safely.

To keep children safe, ground sprays should be designed to minimize tripping hazards. They should be situated away from sloping terrain and other obstructions that could interfere with the flow of water.

These spray pads also require special filtration and recirculation systems, which are designed to prevent backflows or siphonage. They must be inspected and cleaned regularly to ensure the water quality meets health standards.

In addition, spray pad owners should check their hoses and nozzles to ensure they’re working properly. They should also measure the tank capacity of their sprayer at least once a year to ensure it’s holding an accurate amount of water. This is especially important if a chemical feed system is involved. A tank that’s thought to hold 200 gallons but really holds 250 gallons can cause a problem when determining the application rate of a chemical formulation.

Themed Components

Adding themes to water park equipment is a great way to add a little extra fun for your guests. Whether you’re building a spray pad or a children’s pool, themed components can make your waterpark pop with color and activity.

Themed components are an efficient way to manage component states and variations without rebuilding a new component for each state. Instead, themed components override an instance of a default input, creating a unique theme for each instance that can be updated by editing the theme master.

You can create a variety of different alert bars, button icons, text labels, and much more using themed components. The key is to build a default state as the theme master, then override each of the instances by changing the colors and icons used.

For example, a button icon could be changed from the default green to red to represent an error message. All of these changes can be made by swapping the nested instance in water park equipment the original button component (using a simple function call).

As long as the original element is copied to each themed component instance, all updates will apply to all of them. Overrides are the most common use of themed components and they can include swapping an instance, changing the visibility on/off, or updating text.

Themed components are a great way to keep your designs consistent, but they do have some limitations. Rather than using themed components in every part of your app, try using media templates instead. In this way, you can optimise the syntax for different media sizes without breaking your theming.

Water Odyssey

Water Odyssey (formerly Fountain People) is a leading designer and manufacturer of spray parks, water play equipment & aquatic facilities. The company works with parks & recreation professionals, architects, consultants & end users around the world to create unique aquatic play experiences that promote socialization, learning, inclusive play & fun.

The company’s wide variety of products includes ground sprays, dumping buckets, architecturally-inspired spray features, multi-level aquatic play structures, water management systems, controls & filtration. It also offers design services for budget analysis, bid documentation & 3D renderings.

Its Hydro Launch Pod is an easy-to-operate, compact pumping & water treatment system that uses NO electricity and requires little maintenance. It is a cost-effective, energy-saving option for splash pads and unsupervised facilities.

This year, many local Conservation Authorities are replacing old swimming ponds with spray parks designed in natural wilderness surroundings to increase outdoor engagement. Water Odyssey, a division of PlayCore, is a leading designer and manufacturer of interactive water features & a great choice for Conservation Centres.

The company’s designs incorporate ASTM safety standards and ADA accessibility for maximum participation of ground level spray features, activators & interactive equipment. It also offers a variety of coating options including AquaArmorTM, the toughest and most durable finish available. Its comprehensive package of products and services enables Architectural Specifiers & Water Park operators to have a complete solution previously unavailable from a single source. Its UL-Listed, modular pumping & water treatment systems are installed in commercial & municipal facilities worldwide. Its products are fabricated in the USA at its facilities in San Marcos, Texas.