Red Monkey Play’s Role Play Equipment products are the perfect places for children to let their imagination run free whilst exploring new worlds. Going outdoors to play and create new scenarios for children is hugely beneficial, as they can use their own imagination while teachers and carers can simply sit back and observe their pupils from afar.
This buyer’s guide outlines the features and benefits each role play equipment provides to help you choose the right option for your students so that they can express themselves freely, both physically and creatively, whilst learning and playing in a safe and interactive environment.
Why Red Monkey Play’s Role Play Equipment
All our outdoor role play equipment is carefully designed and built to develop children’s skills and abilities and to allow them to have a great time in play spaces where they can explore imaginative role-play safely.
Role play is crucial in child development, as it builds confidence, creativity, communication skills, physical development, and problem-solving. Besides being a fun activity, it allows children to get into character and act out many real-life roles or fictional performances.
Whilst being purely child-led, role play equipment for early years greatly encourages children to take risks and be creative with the roles they’re playing. By investing in themed props and the right play equipment, you can bring to life a new and fun way for the little ones to learn about different professions and day-to-day situations along with their peers.
Our Children’s Role Play Equipment Products
Crows Nest
Our most popular pirate ship unit, the Crow’s Nest, features a wobbly bridge gangway, a cabin below deck and multiple rock climbing ramps. With a moving steering wheel on the platform, the name of your school can be elegantly displayed on the sail. It is a compact but impactful addition to any school or nursery playground to bring the fun of the high seas to your students. Also, it comes with three surfacing options: no deck floor, deck floor, and rubber (non-slip) deck floor.
Features and Benefits
Easily Customisable
The Crow’s Nest can be customized to meet your exact needs, either by placing your school’s name on the sail, adding extra features, changing colours, or anything else that you might think your pupils will love. With us, the possibilities are limitless!
Encourages Creative Play
Allow your children to explore undiscovered islands with our ship, specially designed to encourage creative play over multiple levels. This role play unit promotes imaginative role play within the playground environment, encouraging every child that loves to play to become a swashbuckling adventurer. And what better way to do so than with their very own pirate ship?
Great For Physical Development
What sounds more fun than pretending to be a pirate whilst playing at school? Your students can work together to complete creative jobs, such as hoisting the sails, scrubbing the deck, or simply allowing themselves to play freely.
This means roleplay will greatly improve their physical development, and if you want to find out more, we have a great blog about the importance of role play using pirate ship playground equipment.
Audience Type
Early years
KS1
KS2
SEN
Pricing and Installation
This role play equipment unit starts from just £5700 to £7700 + VAT, with the cost of onsite installation dependent on locality.
Train
Our children’s train is ideal for any school or nursery playground space to engage children in fun roleplay, especially when placed around a nature sensory path to create an enchanting area. It is a relaxing place to sit and break into little groups, where the end table can be used as an outdoor learning space or cubby.
Features and Benefits
Invites Imaginative Play
Get ready to leave the station, and allow your children to climb aboard and take a seat for their fun journey ahead! Our play train is ready to take the little drivers and passengers to wherever their imagination takes them whilst they sit comfortably in the wooden locomotive and carriage.
Easily Customisable
The Locomotive can be personalised by adding your school name, which is just another part of the many bespoke services we offer at Red Monkey Play.
High-Quality Design
This wooden train is made from the highest quality timber available on the market and manufactured using the best methods possible to ensure it will last a long time against usage and any changing weather conditions.
Audience Type
Nursery
Early years
KS1
SEN
Pricing and Installation
This role play equipment unit starts from just £899 + VAT, and it comes free-standing, without requiring any installation on site.
Interactive Pirate Ship
The Red Monkey Play Interactive Pirate Ship is filled with engaging activities, including tactile sensory panels, lock-out bubbles, a telescope, and moving cockpit parts at perfect wheel height. Wheelchair access is also available, as there’s a climbing net and stairs that can be changed for a slide to access the top desk, where the little ones can play with a moving steering wheel.
Additionally, this unit is wheelchair accessible and suitable for children with special education needs, and with our bespoke service, we would love to customise this ship to suit your exact needs.
Features and Benefits
Invites Creative Exploration
Our Interactive Pirate Ship is designed to inspire young minds and encourage them to create their own adventures filled with fun and wonder. Children can run, climb, slide or just pretend to be Captain Jack as they explore the ship with their friends or enjoy a lunch break sitting and admiring the view. We have another great article that you should check out on How To Use Your Wooden Pirate Ship For Playground Games, packed with tips and more valuable information.
High-Quality Design
Built by our specialists with the highest quality timber available on the market, this ship guarantees long durability so your pupils can enjoy role-playing no matter the weather conditions. As with every single one of our products, this unit is pre-assembled and inspected before it leaves the workshop by our in-house installers to ensure a smooth installation process on your site.
Easily Customisable
This role play unit has proven very popular with schools and nurseries, and it’s a great addition to any playground area. With this in mind, why not let your creativity flow, and together, we can customise the ship to meet your exact wants and needs?
Audience Type
Early years
KS1
KS2
SEN
Pricing and Installation
This role play equipment unit starts from just £12000 + VAT, with the cost of onsite installation dependent on locality.
RED MONKEY PLAY INTERACTIVE PIRATE SHIP
Adventures Ahoy
The Adventures Ahoy is our largest and mightiest ship that children love! Its three wooden decks allow plenty of room for a large number of sailors (or pirates), and it can be accessed 360 degrees, making it the perfect centrepiece for any play area. Also, the platform has a height of 1.2m, which can be made higher or lower to suit various age groups.
Features and Benefits
Many Fun Activities
Children can climb from the water up the angled net, pull themselves up with the rope, and even traverse the ship’s bow. Anything is possible with this action-packed item! With lots of den areas under the deck, the little explorers can fantasise and role-play for hours in a row. There are many great activities that can be done on this play unit, suitable for all capabilities, that can build strength and stamina:
- Rock wall
- Slide (H1.2m)
- Monkey bars
- Spiders net
- Traverse handles
- Log rope
- Rock ramp
- Traverse rock wall
- Net ramp
- Rope tunnel
- Pull up rope ramp
- Fireman’s pole
Realistic Pirate Experience
Ahoy me hearties, sail the seven seas with our role play ship! With a moving steering wheel to create a realistic pirate experience, our design can be used as any kind of ship for young explorers. Expect the little ones to go wild as they relive the adventures of their favourite pirates on the open sea – the world is their oyster!
Audience Type
KS1
KS2
SEN
Pricing and Installation
This role play equipment unit starts from just £27500 + VAT, including one of our playground surfaces, with the cost of onsite installation dependent on locality.
RED MONKEY PLAY ADVENTURES AHOY
Towers Adventure
Our Red Monkey Play Towers Adventure is an enchanting play castle that can be made bespoke for you, and it comes with challenging platform heights of 1.5m-1.5m. It is the perfect early-years play equipment unit to role-play medieval times, Romeo and Juliet, Rapunzel, and more!
Features and Benefits
Versatility
This exciting unit encourages children’s imagination to run wild, being the perfect place for a medieval rescue mission, or to shelter little lords and ladies. It features lifelike arrow slots to defend against invaders and a Juliet balcony for her to call Romeo from, or for Rapunzel to let down her golden silky hair. It is packed with many activities suitable for all abilities that can build strength and stamina, such as:
- Rock wall
- Monkey bars
- Wobble Bridge
- Log rope
- Rock ramp
- Ladders
- Rope tunnel
- Fireman’s pole
Easily Customisable
This play unit is a great example of how we can design playground equipment that adheres to the themes and activities required by you and your school’s play zone.
Audience Type
KS1
KS2
Pricing and Installation
This play tower starts from just £25500 + VAT, with the cost of onsite installation dependent on locality.
RED MONKEY PLAY TOWERS ADVENTURE
Sunken Galleon
Our Sunken Galleon is an action-packed children’s role play equipment unit, ideal for any playground area. Students can have fun exploring all three parts of the galleon, featuring climbing ramps, viewing bubbles, a slide, and a hidden deck area below.
Features and Benefits
Encourages Imagination
The sunken galleon is full of engagement for your pupils to enjoy with their peers for hours in a row. Pretend (or role-play) is very powerful for children. By using their creative imagination to pretend to be pirates on a treasure hunt, they get a chance to practice executive functioning skills when they’re planning out their play. They also learn how to solve problems and compromise, all of which are key skills.
Easily Customisable
This role play unit can be made bespoke to include other excellent features such as traverse handles, spider nets (fisherman’s net), and much more.
Audience Type
KS1
KS2
Pricing and Installation
This play unit starts from just £12500 + VAT, with the cost of onsite installation dependent on locality.
RED MONKEY PLAY SUNKEN GALLEON
Explorer House
With our Explorer House, It’s like having a little piece of Middle Earth in your playground, minus the hobbits, of course! Here, children can have hours of great fun as their imaginative minds go into overdrive whilst role-playing with their peers.
Features and Benefits
Supports Creative Learning & Playing
This role play unit is a wonderful and enchanting place to learn and play, as it comes complete with a grass roof and a viewing panel in the door, through which the little ones can admire nature’s wonders and beauty that’s all around them.
A Wonderful Woodland Retreat
This charming den will bring hours of fun as children use their imaginations to take them to magical lands or cosy woodland retreats. It is a role play equipment unit full of character and charm, perfect where space is limited.
Audience Type
KS1
KS2
Pricing and Installation
This role play unit starts from just £2699 + VAT, with the cost of onsite installation dependent on locality.
RED MONKEY PLAY EXPLORER HOUSE
Product Comparison Table
| Product | Benefits & USP | Type Of Play | Price Point |
| Crows Nest |
| Role play equipment Physical development equipment | £5700 to £7700 + VAT |
| Train |
| Role play equipment | £899 + VAT |
| Interactive Pirate Ship |
| Role play equipment Physical development equipment | £12000 + VAT |
| Adventures Ahoy |
| Role play equipment | £27500 + VAT |
| Towers Adventure |
| Role play equipment | £25500 + VAT |
| Sunken Galleon |
| Role play equipment Physical development equipment | £12500 + VAT |
| Explorer House |
| Role play equipment | £2699 + VAT |
The Installation Process
At Red Monkey Play, we ensure all our children’s role play equipment options are built from the finest quality of only sustainably sourced materials. All our products are installed in adherence to current building and safety regulations.
Throughout the installation of your outdoor role play equipment, we carry out several quality assurance checks for thoroughness to ensure all our surfaces are installed correctly and adhere to the best practices. Your safety and the safety of your school staff and pupils are our top priority at all times, and we guarantee that all relevant safety checks are in place.
After the role play equipment has been safely and successfully installed, we advise scheduling playground safety checks twice a year by a certified professional.
Create Your Dream Playground With Us
At Red Monkey Play, we understand the importance of role-playing in children’s development, as it is one of the most effective ways for the little ones to make sense of the world around them.
For pupils to be able to freely explore, investigate, experiment, and develop social skills whilst collaborating with others, schools must offer both learning and play opportunities that nurture these aspects. And a great way to do so is by introducing children’s role play equipment into your playground areas! We pride ourselves on our innovative and creative approach to designs, where each and every one of our products are specifically designed to challenge and inspire children’s natural curiosity, imagination, and determination.
On a final note, we have a couple of tips for you on how to encourage role playing for your students:
- Find a safe play space for children to play, and fill them with stuffed animals, costumes, and any other props you have at hand
- Encourage them by being a character yourself
- Read to them in a child tone, leaving open-ended questions to stimulate their creativity
- Let them take the lead and follow their directions whilst having fun
- Find the perfect role play equipment that your pupils will love!
To get further advice and support to help you choose the ideal products for your school, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to discuss the range of options available to you and help you decide on the best options for your needs. You can simply give us a call on 0116 366 9922 or send us an email at hello@redmonkeyplay.co.uk, and one of our friendly team members will be happy to assist you.
In the meantime, keep an eye on our blog, where we write a plethora of valuable information, up-to-date case studies, news, and much more. Additionally, you can download our Red Monkey Play 2022 Brochure to find out more details and information about us and our products.
What to read next?
