Backyard Discovery is a popular outdoor swingset and playhouse manufacturer, offering various sizes and designs for your backyard. These play sets are constructed of solid wood and come ready-to-assemble yourself.
Is a Backyard Discovery playset worth it for your children as they grow? Ready on to find out.
Riverton Swing Set
The Riverton Swing Set encompasses plenty of timeless backyard activities along with unique features you won’t find in your average playset. It’s a smaller structure ideal for small backyard spaces and younger children.
You can’t go wrong starting with a traditional speedy slide, two swings, and trapeze bar. When it’s time to tackle a new type of ride, scale up the rock wall ladder to reach the covered 4ft. high deck.
Inside this highest point, kids can keep track of the fun time they’re having by using the clock or chalkboard on the wall.
Exhausted from all that adventure? Play in the toy box below or grab a seat at the snack stand.
Age Range
The Riverton swing set makes a great starter swing set, ideal for ages 3-6 year olds.
When I got this swingset, my children were 4.5, 3.5, and 15 months old. I agree that it was a good swingset for this age range of nearly all my children.
The swingset does not come with a bucket swing attachment which is ideal for a 1-3 year old child. However, you can purchase a bucket swing separately through Amazon or Target and they attach seamlessly via carabiner.
Since the Riverton is one of the smaller models of Backyard discovery swing sets, the lack of features may lead to boredom amongst older children. It was great for my 4 year old as it stands now, but within a year or 2, I can see her growing out of it quickly.
Functionality
The different aspects of this swing set make it great for young ones to play on. It’s not just swings and a slide!
My kids loved using their imagination while playing with each part. They served ice cream from the snack stand down below, climbed up the rock wall to the top of a mountain, and looked for monsters through the telescope.
They can use chalk to write on the chalk board and do flips on the trapeze bar. This set really does keep them busy for awhile!
Durability
This swingset is made of 100% cedar wood so it is naturally resistant to rot and decay. You’ll still need to manage the aftercare, treat the wood, and do your best to keep it in a good condition for long term.
When my kids swing really hard, I have seen the play set sway a little bit. This makes me a bit nervous, but it still seems sturdy.
I’m not sure if that had to do with the swing set itself or the assembly.
Safety
My 4 and 3 year old were able to safely climb the tower and use all the elements of this swingset independently which I loved. The 1 year old requires supervision on all equipment (slides, rock climbing wall).
I also loved that the top of the tower was enclosed on 3 sides with only one opening. This is amazing for nervous parents who can’t be on 2 sides at once when their little one is teetering at the top of the tower.
Therefore, there should be very little fall risk.
Assembly
The Riverton Swing Set came ready to assemble with pre-drilled, pre-stained, and pre-cut materials for assembly security. However, there were A LOT of pieces.
The assembly time said it would take 8 hours with 2 adults. My husband knew that it would take even longer since we have never built a swing set before.
You also want to make sure the ground that the play set is going on is level.
Therefore, we hired our landscaper to level the ground and a team to put together the whole swing set.
This was a very smart choice! GoConfigure is a national company that is affiliated with Backyard Discovery that will send a team to build your play set.
They sent out 3 men whom it took about 5 hours to easily put together. They do these things for a living so it was much easier watching them than putting it together ourselves!
The Riverton Swing Set from Backyard Discovery is a good investment for young children. If you have young toddlers and preschoolers that will get use out of it now, plus have a little more room to grow, it’s an excellent choice.
Riverton is affordable, safe, and durable making it a good choice for a starter swing set.
The only downside of a wooden play set is that they aren’t built to last a lifetime. However, if you manage the aftercare, treat the wood, and do your best to keep it in a good condition, your children can safely play for the years to come.
