About Jungle Gym
We are Jungle Gym
Jungle Gym is the specialist in sustainable wooden outdoor play equipment designed for backyards. As a leading e-commerce company, we proudly hold the position of market leader in Europe. Our unique climbing frames combine adventure and education, creating magical outdoor play experiences for children. With cutting-edge marketing techniques, including an innovative 3D online climbing frame configurator, we inspire parents and bring the joy of outdoor play to life for kids.
At Jungle Gym, we strive to encourage outdoor play and make it fun for both children and parents. Outdoor play is essential for children's health. It keeps them physically active and promotes their cognitive, emotional, and social development. Our climbing frames are designed to optimally stimulate these developments. Our commitment to quality forms the cornerstone of our vision. We want to provide children and their families with the safest and most reliable play equipment available on the market. Over the years, we have developed and introduced many unique modules and distinctive accessories. With challenging designs and the introduction of DIY kits in hardware stores and toy stores throughout Europe, we have successfully achieved our goal of bringing compliant, fun, and valuable products to both the private and commercial play equipment market.
Child safety is paramount in the design of all our toys. Our entire range of Jungle Gym backyard climbing frames is thoroughly tested to meet the latest European safety guidelines (EN‐71). Because of our responsibility to current and future customers, we are proud to be active members of the European Toy Safety Commission. This EC committee works with the ad hoc group CEN/TC 52/WG3 and helps develop safety standards for play equipment. For general safety and quality aspects of our production and our production facilities, we maintain good relationships with independent test laboratories and local regulatory authorities. Furthermore, our Hy-land collection of safe, durable commercial play equipment is especially designed for campsites, sports clubs, restaurants, daycare centres, schools, and more. The impressive Hy-land commercial climbing frames are continually tested for safety, strength, and durability. Moreover, the production processes and facilities of our certified play equipment are inspected according to European guidelines and the European safety standard EN 1176; both in our own test facility and by the accredited auditor TüV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH. Our public use climbing frames are type-tested and GS-certified.
Our expertise of the production processes of wood, plastic and metal, as well as our broad product range are based on the legacy of Creative Playthings Ltd. Founded in 1945, Creative Playthings was a respected supplier of outdoor play equipment for schools and daycare centres in North America. After the introduction of wooden play equipment, similar to metal climbing frames, a European branch was established in the early 1980s, which became independent in 1994.
Our climbing frames are mostly made of wood. As a self-renewing resource, wood has proven its value within the preservation of our ecosystem. Wood is naturally durable or can be artificially preserved. It is beautiful, strong, environmentally friendly, CO2-neutral, reusable, and a self-renewing natural resource, as long as it comes from sustainably managed forests. The timber used for our play equipment and playhouses is PEFC-certified. These certifications ensure that your Jungle Gym is made of timber from sustainable forests with attention to people, nature, and the environment. We manage our production facilities in Asia, Belgium, Ireland, the UK, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands, where we source our wood and produce our play equipment locally. This local approach minimises the environmental impact of transportation. Additionally, we deliver play equipment as flat as possible as a kit directly to the consumer. These flat pack drop-shipments not only reduce the number of transport movements, but also the environmental impact and shipping costs.
Our worldwide presence
Jungle Gym is proud to be Europe's most innovative designer of safe wooden climbing frames for home use (Jungle Gym) and commercial play equipment for public areas (Hy-land). We are represented in many countries through our partners, fulfilment centres, and distributors.
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Belgium
Germany
United Kingdom
Ireland
Poland
China
Our historical timeline
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1945
Our rich history traces back to the company Creative Playthings, founded in 1945 in the United States by Frank and Theresa Caplan. Besides producing toys for schools and daycare centres, they developed wooden play equipment based on the iconic "Jungle Gym climbing structure" by Sebastian Hinton, patented as early as 1920.
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1986
Creative Playthings introduced the brand "The Original Jungle Gym," a product line of wooden play equipment for backyard use.
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1988
Creative Playthings' wooden play equipment was introduced in Europe in 1988. Since 1994, the brand and exclusive distribution rights for the European market have been owned by Jungle Gym B.V.
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1990
Introduction of the first HDPE structural foam slides in Europe. Since then, we have been the leading manufacturer of slides for the entire European play equipment industry.
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1995
Launch of Hy-land commercial play equipment. Our collection of safe, durable professional play equipment is specially designed for campsites, sports clubs, restaurants, daycare centres, schools, and more.
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1999
Introduction of patented A-frame brackets and a revolutionary cross-selling & modular retail concept in garden centres and DIY stores throughout Europe, using their standard poles, beams, and planks. Jungle Gym goes online.
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2005
In 2005, we obtained the type approval TÜV/BA certificate for our DIY hardware kits without wood, and in 2009, we obtained the type approval of Dekra/GS certificate for the complete play equipment range including wooden construction parts.
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2013
Introduction of our very first version of the play equipment customiser, allowing consumers to assemble a play structure to their liking.
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2020
In 2020, we introduced our online 3D climbing frame configurator, allowing customers to configure their own play equipment without limitations. The equipment is displayed three-dimensionally, and customers receive real-time price information. With just a click, the equipment can be added to the shopping cart.