We all agree that playground time can be just as vital as classroom time to a child’s social, emotional and educational development.
Due to school budget cuts and an increased focus on academic standards, millions of American schoolchildren may miss out on unstructured play with their peers including hopscotch, tag, kickball or jump rope.
Recess also functions successfully as an established school-based activity and should be carefully considered as part of any school health and wellness policy.
Despite mounting evidence that kids need an outlet to blow off steam, learn to interact with others and get the exercise they need, nearly 40 percent of American elementary schools have either eliminated or are considering eliminating recess.
On the other hand we need to make sure to follow all the playgrounds safety tips as mentioned by CPSC safety tips. Use this simple checklist to help make sure your local community or school playground is a safe place to play.
Playground surfaces can contain recovered rubber and PVC materials that are often more desirable than wood chips, sand, or asphalt, because they can provide more cushioning and thereby may be safer for children. You can find playground surfaces made with recovered materials at schools, military bases, and housing developments.
We here in the USA are well aware of the importance of playgrounds for our children. It represents a safe haven where they can let their imaginations take them into their own private world. In addition, we adults know how beneficial it is for their physical and emotional health; an opportunity to run around and get vital exercise, while at the same time releasing any built-up tensions. It is interesting to note that even in Afghanistan, they are well aware of the importance of playgrounds for kids. Here is an article that appeared in Playground Magazine.
Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan Public Affairs
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – For a war-torn nation, the concept of childhood and innocent play was thought to be all but forgotten. The trash littered roads and dilapidated housing are a common site in the Panjwayee District.
Barefoot and scantily clothed, the poverty stricken children in Kandahar province find entertainment with sticks and abandoned trash and too often, become the victims of roadside accidents. While the construction of school houses is becoming more frequent throughout southern Afghanistan, the children are all too often left to their own devices. But for one small village, the recent completion of a fenced playground offers a safe place to reinvent the custom of play.
High-pitched screams and excited laughter are heard as nearly thirty children scramble to the newly completed playground a mere one hundred meters from the village housing. Located between a bazaar and abandoned Russian barracks now used as apartments, the playground is easily accessible for all the local children. As the sun settles, light reflects off the aluminum slide as children mingle with the shadows, reluctant to abandon their newly acquired play space. Children of all ages appear night after night, when chores are complete, to escape into a world of imagination. This area is theirs alone; a place free of broken glass, insurgents and bombs.
“We built this playground to promote security for the children,” explains a civil affairs captain overseeing the project. “The village has a school but lacked a safe environment for children to play and socialize. The children need this area for developmental progression. The advent of a playground provides one of the most effective methods to enhance their standard of living while simultaneously decreasing their association with insurgents or insurgent activity.”
“The village elders closely monitor the playground and the local Afghan national army routinely patrols the area,” remarks the captain. “The ANA also ensure the safety of the children by inspecting the playground before the children are released from school for the day. This prevents the emplacement of explosive devices.”
The playground, consisting of swing sets, monkey bars, a seesaw and a slide, will one day also attract older villagers. Special Forces have planted fifty trees and will soon deliver multiple wooden benches. Upon completion, the playground will have evolved into a park, offering shelter from the piercing sun and a safe haven for all ages.
Playgrounds are meant for enjoyment. Children wish to play and spend their evenings in the playground. Parents do take greater care in the issues regarding a play area. If the area is not well protected or secured, parents will not allow their children to play there. Gone are the days where people used traditional methods to keep the play area safe. However, with the introduction of rubber mulch, the playground safety has been increased enormously. They offer protection by all means to the people who use the area.
The installation of rubber mulches on their surface will improve the playing conditions. It will reduce the risk of injuries. They are very similar to wood mulch but prepared from the rubber materials that are thrown away. By this way, environment is protected from the toxic substances that are given away by burning the waste rubber materials. All these are converted in to rubber mulch through a special process. They are so soft and do not create any forms of injuries when fallen down. It prevents the growth of weeds and has a longer life period. They are cost effective and offer a pleasant area for all.
Spending quality time with your kids in the playground is a great way to bond. The children get to play and you can be the cool parent that supervises without breathing down their necks.
While you’re usually more concerned with your children’s physical safety—falling, hitting their heads, getting cuts and bruises—you might be overlooking other safety issues that are just as important. Skin safety is a major health issue that a lot of families tend to forget about, especially when in the middle of having fun. (more…)
A full week’s work can take its toll on you anytime, without warning. Before you crash and burn, it’s a good idea to take some time off from work—during the weekday.
Although weekends are usually there for you, they come with crowded places that end up making you more stressed out. Using your vacation leaves to take a weekday break is worth it. Taking a break doesn’t have to come with a price. So go away for a bit and return to work fully charged. Here are 3 tips to help you maximize your weekday break. (more…)
Aging isn’t a reason to stop maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In fact, this is when you need to become more mindful of how you eat and what you do for exercise. Safety remains a primary consideration—this includes taking into account old injuries and current medications. Get the approval of your doctors and stick to doing what you can. Everything will be fine.
Here are some things you can do without having to spend a lot on personal trainers and bulky exercise machines. Getting a fitness partner, like your spouse, a neighbor, or one of your children is a good idea—you can keep track of each other’s progress and help each other stay motivated. (more…)
Spotting is a practice common among athletes and casual fitness enthusiasts. Recognized as an effective safety precaution, instructors and coaches across 50 States agree about the importance of knowing the proper way to spot.
With enough understanding and knowledge, spotting can be done by fellow athletes, even during the absence of coaches and professional trainers. Working with the same concept, we can extend the habit of spotting to the playgrounds, to give parents more options towards ensuring their children’s safety during playtime.
Preschoolers are a tough audience to impress, especially when you’re trying to get them interested in something academic that they’re just not into. You’ve exhausted all the help available online and you’ve already recycled lesson plans from 5 years ago.
You are not a bad teacher and this isn’t a plateau in your teaching career. Maybe, you just have to extend your fantastic ideas beyond the classroom walls.
It’s time to take the class out of the room. Socrates perfected the Socratic Method without a classroom and successfully nurtured minds like Plato and eventually, Aristotle. These 3 tips below will give you ideas on how you can take your preschool class outdoors to help your students remember lessons better. (more…)
Sometimes parents cross the line and become sources of pressure to their kids, even in playgrounds. In games and sports competitions organized in playgrounds, for example, parents go to great lengths to ensure that their kids win. There is nothing wrong with teaching kids to become competitive, but it certainly is a different matter if kids are stripped away of the capacity to enjoy themselves, at playgrounds at that.
Lessons from the playground
Parents need to step back a little and let their kids be kids. Letting kids participate in games, win or lose, teaches them priceless lessons. Allowing kids to play with other kids is one way to help them grow up healthy, physically and socially. (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…)
Spotting is a practice common among athletes and casual fitness enthusiasts. Recognized as an effective safety precaution, instructors and coaches across 50 States agree about the importance of knowing the proper way to spot.
Preschoolers are a tough audience to impress, especially when you’re trying to get them interested in something academic that they’re just not into. You’ve exhausted all the help available online and you’ve already recycled lesson plans from 5 years ago.
Sometimes parents cross the line and become sources of pressure to their kids, even in 
Being such an advocate of 
