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…)
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.
Children are going to have accidents in the playground, no matter what the apparatus, the playground surface, or what we teach them. There will always be show offs and kids who think they are clever, who use swings as climbing frames, or seesaws as circus training apparatus. Unfortunately, even the best behaved child can lose their balance and injure themselves.
You might think that children having accidents in playgrounds is not a common occurrence – you would be wrong. It is such a common occurrence that several lawyer firms have specialized knowledge on playground accidents and how to pursue compensation.
Has anyone really thought about letting the little ones learn whilst having a good time? Well we do have the odd type of playground that has some type of alphabetic or numeric play things, which are usually sprayed on the ground. Most of these are either ignored by the little ones, sprayed with something else by the older ones, or just forgotten about altogether.
So what about creating some playground areas that look like different cities around the world, even buildings from ancient cultures or whole countries? The possibilities are endless. We have theme parks that use this concept and do very well, people enjoy themselves whilst seeing, smelling and feeling what it is or was like to be in the place the park is recreating. (more…)
I was thinking the other day, look at the playgrounds around here. All the best pieces in the bigger kid’s areas have been removed, so they are left with a few swings, something that no-one knows what it is, a post and not forgetting the other pieces that will remind them of when they were five.
Now, this kind of equipment seems to be used as a kind of message board, peoples names or tags, whatever you want to call them, sprayed on them, a note to some one telling them they are a faggot, or something else, that was probably written before, by their parents, on a park bench somewhere. The only difference being, the parents only wrote it once, and then forgot about it, it was not then plastered on everything they could see within the park or playground area.
Your local playground is an important place for your children to go when they are young, as believe it or not, it is a place where they can get much needed exercise and develop social skills that will still apply in their adult life.
The apparatus in a playground, will vary from place to place, but are likely to include swings, merry-go-rounds, slides, climbing frames and see-saws to name a few. Children using these apparatus on a regular basis will gain confidence, balance, strength and flexibility - all important attributes in growing up and daily life. (more…)
We all want a safe place, like a playground for our children to play, so what do we do if we think that our local playground is not up to scratch? We should not sit and do nothing, but make a stand. Here are some actions you can take.
Talk to other parents and kids at the playground to find out what the favorite and least favorite apparatus are. You can also find out if the children have had any injuries at the playground. This will determine whether there is real concern for playground safety, and you will be able to find potential parent allies for your playground safety campaign. You can involve them in the actions below.
Have you ever walked past someone’s garden looked down between the plants and seen all that mulch stuff that people use.Well it is not all wood.Can you believe that some of these gardens use rubber?That’s right - rubber mulch;
As every 8 year old, I thought I was an aerobatic genius on the climbing frame. This was until, whilst hanging upside down my legs slipped, I fell off banging my head on the cold, hard concrete ground below.
I got up, shook myself off, checked that not too many people had seen me and took a few steps and passed out cold. I woke up to ‘is he still alive?’
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.
In the 
Has anyone really thought about letting the little ones learn whilst having a good time? Well we do have the odd type of 
I was thinking the other day, look at the 
Your local 
