Secaucus Zoo Playground

The metropolitan area surrounding Secaucus, New Jersey, is home to tens of thousands. Its parks and recreation department stays busy maintaining 16 family fun areas, including the Farm Road Park — a neighborhood favorite for young families. The park’s zoo-inspired theme delights kids with plenty of inviting play elements.

Bringing the Zoo Alive in a Playground

The Secaucus Parks and Recreation Department turned to Soft Play^® to help design and manufacture this one-of-a-play experience for its youngest residents and visitors. A fun zoo-based theme inspires creativity and promotes imaginative play while supporting healthy development.

The Vision

Themed playground designs capture attention and help spark big imagination in little minds. The town and Soft Play shared a vision of adding elements reminding kids and parents of fond memories made during trips to the nearby zoo. With that goal in mind, both teams wanted playful, friendly-looking animals and a play space focused on fun.

The Challenge

The Soft Play team identified two main challenges for the project.

Durability for an Outdoor Setting

As an outdoor play area, Farm Road Park needed rugged, durable elements capable of withstanding the local conditions. The Secaucus area typically sees above-average rain and snowfall while experiencing hot and humid summer months. With these factors in mind, the play elements needed to be capable of handling weather extremes along with heavy use.

Engaging Play for Various Ages and Abilities

Farm Road Park attracts families with kids of different ages and abilities. While older kids may quickly scale ladders and slide on larger equipment, toddlers can lack the balance and coordination necessary to use them. That meant Soft Play needed a design with elements to address these differences and allow everyone to engage.

Secaucus Zoo Playground Equipment and Sculptures From Soft Play

Soft Play created a custom design for Farm Road Park, bringing the zoo theme to life with large play structures and outdoor sculptures.

Large Play Structures

Our larger play attractions and classic playground layouts represented a perfect base to start this custom project. These systems are ideal for promoting play that supports healthy development and an active lifestyle.

Soft Play elements included in the Farm Road Park system include:

• Tube and toddler slides: Sliding boards help kids with space-location perception and balance.
• Lookout hut: The tower is an excellent spot for kids to learn about perspective and distance.
• Custom safari-style bridge: This whimsical element features a snake and gorilla and allows kids to cross over or under as they explore new playground areas.
• Deck-connecting bridge: Our slightly angled bridge helps kids practice balance as they navigate between decks.
• Monkey-bar-style crossing: These handles allow kids to stretch, build upper body strength and boost coordination.
• Bongo drums: Kids can experiment with sounds and rhythm by interacting with drums mounted to the structure’s frame.
• Rolling log: The incorporated rolling log element helps kids refine gross motor skills, strengthen endurance and sharpen their agility.

Outdoor Sculptures

The Soft Play outdoor sculptures feature animals like a giraffe, hippo, elephant and leopard. We constructed these with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), providing fade-resistant ongoing use.

Our sculpted foam play elements provide climbing opportunities for younger and older kids alike. They also promote imaginative interaction — kids can pretend to be zookeepers or go on a safari adventure. While doing so, they can experiment with different roles and increase their social skills.

Several Soft Play sculptures offer room underneath for crawling and scrambling, and each also provides textural elements to explore.

The Results

The Soft Play design has been a hit with the town’s families. Farm Road Park remains one of the most popular destinations in Secaucus, where kids of all ages play with their favorite zoo friends during clear weather. While older kids enjoy the large tube slides and lookout hut, toddlers can glide down the smaller models and challenge themselves to climb up the giraffe.

Delight Your Play Space Visitors With Soft Play Elements

Soft Play has been a play space innovator since 1984, helping organizations transform their play areas to grow their attendance and offer phenomenal experiences. Our team has a history of achievement emphasizing fun and superior quality.

In addition to outdoor play structures and sculpted foam elements, we design and manufacture water play features and toddler play systems based on your space and budget needs.

If you’re ready to develop a new play area or reimagine an existing one, reach out to our team to get started with a customized quote for pre-designed items. You can also contact a representative to learn more about custom design solutions.