Our last post covered children’s activity spaces in church design, the rooms built for church-focused lessons, games, and the occasional planned chaos. But there is another children’s space that shows up inside and outside many church buildings today: the play area. Here are some considerations church leaders should keep in mind when planning indoor play areas.
More Than a Kids’ Corner
It is easy to think of an indoor play area as a bonus for the children already coming to your church on Sunday. In practice, this kind of space is also an outreach tool. A play area draws in families from the surrounding community who may never have set foot in your church building otherwise. That shift in purpose, from a perk for your own families to a front door for new ones, should shape almost every decision that follows.
Open Layout or Fixed Equipment
One of the first questions in the church design process is whether the space will be open and flexible or built around fixed equipment like a climbing structure or playland. An open room offers more variety for different activities and age groups over time. Fixed equipment, on the other hand, gives kids a destination and tends to be the bigger draw for outreach. Many churches land somewhere in between, with a defined playland anchoring one part of the room and open floor space for other games nearby.
Restrooms, Access, and Maintenance
A self-contained restroom off the play area is worth serious consideration, especially if the space will be used during the week. Without one, families may end up wandering through the rest of your church building just to find a bathroom, which is not the impression most churches want to make. Maintenance matters too. Equipment and flooring should be easy to clean and easy to access since a play area receives heavy use, making sticky surfaces and snack crumbs inevitable.
Design for the Right Ages
Most indoor play areas find their sweet spot with kids aged five to twelve. That leaves two groups worth planning for separately. Toddlers need their own protected space rather than mixing into the same equipment as older kids, both for safety and so little ones are not overwhelmed. On the other end, older siblings often lose interest in climbing structures built for younger children. A foosball table, table tennis, or another game or two nearby gives them something to do while the rest of the family plays, so the whole visit works for everyone.
Party Rooms: A Ministry Opportunity
Birthday party rooms are one of the most practical ways to put a play area to work in your community. Many churches design classrooms adjacent to the playland with direct access to it, giving families a private room for a party while the kids still get full use of the play space. Whether your church rents these rooms out or offers them at no cost, Friday nights and Saturdays can become a steady stream of families, many of them new to your church, coming through the door.
Seeing It in Action
A church we worked with last year put these ideas into practice inside an older church building. The space had an enclosed wall that once closed the area off entirely. We replaced it with glass, opening a clear view toward the busy road out front where thousands of cars pass every day (see the picture on the right). Inside, a compact playland now sits near the children’s church and children’s wing. It is a good example of how an indoor play area can do double duty: serving the families already inside your church while catching the attention of those who have not yet walked through the door.
Up Next
In our next post, we will look at what goes into planning outdoor play areas for a church building. In the meantime, be sure to check out our free i3 webinars. By attending, you can learn more about church design and building while having an opportunity to get questions you may have answered. You can find upcoming topics and sign up on our website.