It is true that we all have a bit of the kid inside us and when we take our children, grandchildren or younger siblings to a playground, we would like to play as well. We do in away, but we are not allowed on any of the equipment that is provided. Having playground equipment that can be used by all, and I mean all ages, would be a great leap forward in the enjoyment families can spend together.

A Professor Killingsworth from Pittsburg State University’s Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, thinks the same way and has formed (with other community members) a non-profit group called Credible Arts Therapies. He has said the idea behind a universally accessible playground is to have a place where everyone, regardless of age or disability, can play together on the same equipment. You can read more about this here: http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_178210855.html (more…)

There is a lot of research that has been completed on what causes injuries in the playground, but no-one had gone through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database before, until now that is.

A study has been completed by the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Indiana University, where injury data from 2002 – 2004 from slides, monkey bars and swings were analyzed.

They found that 22728 emergency visits to the hospital were recorded in the NEISS database, and 83.9% of these injuries were caused by swings, slides and monkey bars. (more…)

Being such an advocate of rubber mulch, I am really happy to read success stories about rubber mulch applications. I came across one such story today entitled ‘Blue Mulch, Green Park’ about the first playground in the city of Corpus Christi to have rubber mulch installed.

The Kid’s Place playground is the first playground to switch from wood mulch to rubber mulch in a move to becoming a greener city. This is fully backed by the Corpus Christi Career Development Class 2008, who have created community projects to make their city greener. It was twenty volunteers from this class who spread the 62 tons of rubber mulch needed to create this safer and greener playground. (more…)

Playgrounds are a place where children develop their social skills. Is this something that should be done unsupervised? Do children automatically grasp the concepts of sharing, taking turns, and being a good loser, as well as a winner, without guidance?

I will stick my neck out and say no. As a parent, I would like to know that my child’s play is being supervised in a playground by a teacher or playground monitor. However, this is rarely the case at school. (more…)

Every parent has to have a certain amount of responsibility, especially when it comes to their children and the playground. Kids can be nasty little creatures, so the fact that, not everyone likes everybody, is something that is carried on from childhood.

I’m not saying that in a playground, you should keep your kids away from the ones that they don’t like, but try to have a responsible attitude to how they react to children that are not nice. You have to instill a certain amount of common sense when it comes to your kids, integrating with others, in the playground and not go on their defense at every opportunity. (more…)