On this page you can find three free woodworking plans that you can use for making swings intended for children aged 3 to 4 and above.
The seats are made entirely of wood and with a rope it can be installed on a swing frame, branch, terrace beam etc. Whatever wood you use though, make sure it is a hardwood in order to provide adequate strength. You do not need any extensive woodworking skills to make these swings, and you can use tools that exist in almost every house.
Child swing seat plan (Images 1 and 2 - above)
This swing seat is designed for 3- to 4-year-olds. Instead of Upright parts (Parts 4), you can use a wooden or metal tube or a piece of bamboo. Use strong, high-quality rope, around 10mm (3/8in) in diameter. The holes through which the rope is passed should be slightly larger in diameter than the rope.
- Swing seats intended for children aged 3 to 4 and above
Round swing seat (Images 3 and 4 - above)
Use strong, high-quality rope, around 16mm (5/8in) in diameter.
The round swing seat is a wooden disk, 292mm (11 1/2in) diameter, 38mm (1 1/2in) thick, with a 19mm (3/4in) diameter hole in the middle. For durability, it's best to use a hardwood for this project, preferably maple or birch. The disk of the swing can be made in 4 ways shown in the following picture:
Disc cut from a wide board,
Disc made of planks that are glued together (Tongue and Groove woodworking joint),
Disc made of thin planks glued together with reinforcement planks below and
Disc made of two thin-plank disks glued together.
Rope Swing seat (Image 5 - above)
This version of the swing seat is very simple and consists of the upper wooden board used as the seat and the bottom two boards that serve as reinforcement. If you do not have a board/plank wide enough, the seat can be made by gluing together narrow planks to the desired thickness. Use strong, high-quality rope, around 13mm (1/2in) in diameter.