Playground mulch is actually designed to standards that have mostly to do with impact (and liability to those who specify it). The knock on cedar mulch, as I remember it, is that it is very fibery and can give you little tiny splinters if you contact it a lot (refering to western red cedar).

Pine mulch is a widely varying thing as there is no standard, there are lots of species of pine, and then there is the whole thing between recycled wood, wood chips, and actual bark (won't even go into dye).... and in the south they use pine needles as mulch (usually called pine straw). Pine mulch can mean a lot of different things. My mulch of choice is finely ground pine BARK. The problem is that it is more often than not "cut" with other crap (recycled wood or wood chips) these days and you wind up with a bunck of wood chips on top after about a month to the weather.

We use fine ground pine bark mulch in our garden, but got playground chips for around our kid's playhouse. I recommend playground chips for a small play area like yours. They're much cleaner for playing in, and dry more quickly after it rains. And because they don't break down into the soil like regular mulch, they seem to prevent weeds better and need refreshing less often. Also, some mulch is treated with chemicals/dyes that aren't in playground chips. We put a row of stones to divide off the play area from the mulched garden surrounding it, and it looks cute--the color difference actually makes it a nicely defined area.

The western red cedar (Thuja plicata) play area mulch I've been getting here in recent years is by far the best mulch for planting areas I've ever worked with. Clean, aromatic, comparatively firm when stepped on and long-lasting. Same or similar product should be pretty good for play areas.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like there are some advantages for the playground mulch, and since it's a relatively small area, may be worth it.

So is any of this comfortable for bare feet ???