A safety surface for use over a supporting base in a designated area of a playground includes a bottom layer arranged for placement over the supporting base, a plurality of mesh bags, each of the mesh bags filled with a plurality of pieces of a shock absorbent material, and a border arranged for placement along selected edges of the designated area. The mesh bags are sized and shaped to abut adjacent mesh bags, with a portion of the mesh bags arranged to abut the border. And internal divider is positioned in an interior of the mesh bags, with the internal divider arranged to divide the interior of the mesh bags into a plurality of interior compartments. A top layer is arranged to overlie the mesh bags and arranged for securement to the border.