The days when a playground consisted of a tire hung on a tree and a grassy lawn are pretty much over. Today’s playgrounds are ever bigger and better, with playground equipment that is designed to exercise kids’ mental and physical boundaries and the latest in high tech materials. Enter the Imagination Playground.

Designed by David Rockwell, Imagination Playground takes the concept of free play and creativity to a whole new level. The playground equipment is made up of big blue foam blocks of all shapes and sizes. Using oversized cogs, wheels, spools and tubes, children create whimsical sculptures, construct castles and forts, and design vibrant vehicles that move. Joining curvy blocks with grooves, they form elaborate ramps and tracks and send balls rolling through. They stack, connect, design, configure and play – the possibilities are endless!  Imagination Playground is good for both indoor and outdoor playgrounds, but children will most enjoy themselves on rubber mulch flooring so they can bounce around safely.

Imagination Playground Blocks are made of a cross-linked Polyethylene foam manufactured in the United States. The closed-cell foam is soft, lightweight, waterproof, and biodegradable. It is resistant to sun, heat, mold, mildew, corrosion and micro-organisms. These highly-durable blocks can be transported to a landfill or returned to the manufacturer to be recycled when they are no longer wanted on the playground, making them eco-friendly, as is rubber mulch for playgrounds, the premium playground flooring. In fact, Imagination Playground was featured in UL’s Safe and Healthy Environment pavilion at the Earth Day Eco Village on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during Earth Week. The UL pavilion featured interactive kiosks on family safety and provided useful information on maintaining healthy environments and the importance of safe play.

Imagination Playground materials can be purchased in a box or case for private use, or parents can take children to visit Imagination Playgrounds. The flagship playground is at South Street Seaport in Manhattan and a new playground is set to open at the Providence Children’s Museum during the April Spring Break. There are Imagination Playgrounds all across the country, and internationally, as well. With new technology and rubber mulch playground flooring, the possibilities for children’s’ play are endless.

It`s a great pleasure to see your children enjoying in the playground or back yard. But the kids are always prone to accidents and injuries as they are not concerned about their safety. There can be lots of fatal consequences of playground injuries and accidents. So it is a duty of a parent or guardian to make the playground area safe and secure. There are many things which should be considered while constructing or renovating a playground or back yard and some of the top tips are mentioned in this post.

There are many things which can be used to make your playground a safe area for your kids. Nowadays there is lot of buzz about surfacing the playground and one of most common material used to do this is rubber mulch.

Rubber curbs or playground mulch is getting more and more popular and there are many reasons for it` increasing popularity. Rubber mulch is very durable material and makes the surface of playground soft. The material used in making rubber mulch is very durable and does not need any type of maintenance. So if you are planning to surface your playground or backyard then it is a good idea to go for playground rubber mulch

You’ve probably heard about the Obama’s and their vegetable garden. But have you heard about the White House playground? Like the garden, the playground was designed as a symbol of the Obama’s commitment to sustainability. Just like the garden, the playground also made the news when it was featured on an episode of 60 Minutes.

Everything in the playground was built with green materials. The White House staff worked with the National Recreation and Park Association to come up with the best materials for the playground. The playground equipment was made with 100% cedar and redwood harvested in the US. The wood is “certified” to ensure it complies with all local, state, and federal harvesting regulations.

The playground has four swings, a slide, a fort, a climbing wall and climbing ropes. There’s also a picnic table that has plates etched with the names of all 44 presidents.

Not long after the playground went in, the hard ground was replaced with a safer and environmentally-friendly playground surface. The rubber mulch was made from recycled tires from Rubbercycle. Rubbercycle’s Rubber Mulch and Rubber Curbs was chosen for both safety and for its “green” aspects.

Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, love their new playground. Rubbercycle is honored to keep them and millions of other children safe and using renewable resources to do it.

Think about everything you throw away. Can something else be done with it? Can it be recycled, or can someone else make good use of it?

So don’t throw away or simply burn old clothes, books, kid’s toys, or even furniture, but instead give them to your local charity shop instead. You will be helping other people and the environment too.

(more…)