Our playground at school considered of a large slide, merry-go-round you could use one foot to jump start. Both steel IIRC. We had the large tree with great roots and used it to play marbles everyday.
I loved playing marbles. I saw a pint jar of some in an antique store and bought them. . My mom would get down on the floor and play with me. I do not remember anyone else playing. . Until I was in the 7th grade we played baseball at recess or at noon. I would really, really upset the boys. They wanted to take my bat turn. I was way better than any of them and did not let them. I had so many nieces, nephews, cousins that we played on the weekend. We learned to let the pitcher throw toward the house. Wonderful memories using little or no money.
I remember those. People talk about overweight kids today but kids are not allowed to play like we did. If there is no playground equipment, let them play with balls. Oh, shucks. They are not allowed to do that these days. Sometimes, I think common sense died years ago.