Parents often take their kids to playgrounds and watch their kids run around, go up and down slides and swing across the monkey bars. The fitness and health benefits are phenomenal. Their heart rates are elevated as they build strong muscles and joints and develop balance and body awareness. As well, the social benefit of playing outside with other kids is often understated.
Playgrounds being an essential place for children to achieve overall development. It provides fun, fresh air and exercise. However, it can also turn out to be a threat to the safety of children. Faulty equipments, improper surfaces and careless behavior are just a few to mention.
Every year many kids get hospitalized due to playground related injuries. The fact is that many of these could have been averted with proper supervision and care. At the same time it is important to teach the kids how to play safely. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that every year in the United States, emergency departments treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger for playground-related injuries. About 45 percent of playground-related injuries are severe — fractures, internal injuries, concussions, dislocations, and amputations.
About 75 percent of non-fatal injuries related to playground equipment occur on public playgrounds. Most occur at schools and daycare centers. We are reminded constantly by emergency room statistics how important playground safety is for our children.
Playground Benefits
The benefits of taking your kids to the park and playground are often understated. In a research paper called. The Benefits of Playgrounds funded by the Shasta Children and Families First Commission (SCFFC), researchers noted that playgrounds provide crucial and vital opportunities for children to accelerate emotional, social, motor and cognitive development.
A clear distinction was made between free play and organized play in the realm of brain development. Research on brain development shows that the most crucial time for a child’s development is in the earliest years. Children who do not get the crucial interaction obtained through free play in their first six years will face a lifetime of limited brain power.
From a fitness perspective, swinging on the monkey bars strengthens and builds muscle endurance for the entire upper body. Running up the stairs repeatedly to go down all the slides over and over again builds strength and endurance in the lower body. Running through tires, swinging on the swings, climbing rope walls and playing on see-saws all help develop balance and flexibility.
Be creative and very supportive with this type of playtime. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see the smiles on your kids’ sweaty faces. By Reggie Reyes is a certified kinesiologist and personal trainer
What i do with my kids at playgrounds, set up an imaginary obstacle course. I pretend to time how long it takes them to complete the course. I tell them to try and beat their time in each successive turn. It’s fun and challenging for them and keeps them occupied and active for at least 30 – 40 minutes.
Their heart rates go up, their legs get tired, their arms and shoulders get a workout and their brains are challenged to remember all the steps of the obstacle course. In the playground where I take my kids, here’s an example of an obstacle course that I tell them to do:
a. Run around the playground once.
b. Go up the stairs and slide down the big slide.
c. Go back up the stairs and run across the rubber mats to the monkey bars.
d. Go across the monkey bars and jump down.
e. Climb up the rope wall and go down the small slide.
f. Run to the swings and get as high as possible within 10 swings.
g. Run around the playground again.
