Earth Day was on the 22nd April 2008, and many countries extend the courtesy and have an Earth Week where the goal is to “broaden the environmental movement worldwide and to educate and mobilize people, governments, and corporations to take responsibility for a clean and healthy environment”. What better way of helping the environment then giving grants to schools and daycare centers to better their playground surfaces, promote playground safety and help the environment with rubber mulch.
Governor Steve Beshear from the state of Kentucky has done just that by announcing 43 crumb rubber grants (worth almost $1 million) to schools, daycare centers, churches around the state. He recognizes the fact that recycling rubber tires and using the rubber crumbs in playground is both environmentally friendly, economic and helps prevent accidents.
In the news, especially in the US recently, there has been a lot of worry about artificial surfaces and the problems they can cause, with dust particles being inhaled by people and children who are playing on them. Some parents will not even let their children go anywhere near these synthetic areas.
The thing is that when you look at a surface which has fake grass, then that is the problem more than anything else, also what feels like normal dirt, is actually very fine pieces of rubber, that have also been treated with something, to probably make it last longer.
If you’re thinking of building your children a playground, there are quite a few things to take into consideration. You should always have a plan, that will start and end with safety, as this is a major factor in any playground, then you need to think about the equipment, different age ranges, sturdiness and even cost. The surface of the playground is just as important as the equipment and the location of the play area, for example can you see it from the house? These are only a few things to plan for and I’m sure you can think of a lot more.
Let’s do a little reminiscing, and cast our minds back to the games we used to play in the playground. We probably remember all the chasing, all the kicking and throwing balls about and the universal doctors and nurses, but do we remember the actual names of the games?
Remember this one? It is where a group of friends split into two groups. In one group, everyone holds hands, and the other group wait to hear the words – “Red Rover, Red Rover, we call Simon over”, and then “Simon” would have to run at the group holding hands to try and break the link.