Fitness Reigns Supreme on Todays Playgrounds

Playgrounds today have an even more important role than ever before in the lives of kids. Childhood obesity is reaching an alarming level. We understand that kids need to be more active the challenge is disguising ways to make them more active as fun. That's where the modern play structures come into the picture.

In the playgrounds of yesterday, the goal was just to give children a place where they could run around and let off a little steam before settling in for the night. Today however, they are taking on different roles and have a greater impact on children than temporary amusement. Parks across the country are upgrading play systems and playground equipment with new goals in mind.

They aren't getting rid of traditional and much love equipment such as slides, swings, and merry-go-rounds. They are making slides more challenging to get to. They are adding new touches like rock climbing walls, ring bars, and tire trails to bring a new fitness component into the playground.

More importantly, the kids are having fun. They don't even realize that they're getting a major workout, burning calories, and developing balance and strength from their hours of play.

Water playgrounds are becoming widely popular these days with good reason. Even when the sun is bearing down during those oh so brutal dog days of summer kids can get out, splash around, burn calories, and have a lot of fun in the sun without ever really feeling the heat.

Getting kids to the playground today is about so much more than getting them away from television and video games. While that's not a bad goal to have in mind, the health of an entire generation is much more important in the long-term.

It may not seem like playground time is accomplishing all that much in the beginning but the more time kids spend on equipment like this, the less time these children are spending eating mindless snacks, sitting idly in front of their gaming consoles, or getting into trouble elsewhere. The bottom line is that the more we, as a society, can get kids up and moving around, the better able we'll be to tackle the trend of childhood obesity.

Playground equipment is one small step in the right directions that communities, schools, and even churches can make. Simple changes like monkey bars and climbing walls can help kids develop upper body strength and better coordination. Climbing steps to get to the top of the slide exercises the legs, burns calories, and helps develop muscles in the legs.

As little as forty minutes of exercise every day can result in significant loss of body fat in seven to eleven year old children without any changes in the diet at all according to Dr. Joe Frost in The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds. With that in mind, investing in playgrounds really is an investment in the community at large by creating a generation of healthier children who are no longer plagued by childhood obesity – at least that is the goal.

The Importance of Play!

Imagine a world where every child could experience the thrill of merry-go-rounds, flying high as a child swings, or  slides down to a complete stop. The sites, and sounds of children  regardless of their ability bring precious memories, and teach wholesome character in young communities as they grow up playing together. Lessons of life can be discovered at Americas public playgrounds. Children at every level of ability can grow with confidence to achieve while they play. Social skills can be developed that teach kids to help, understand,  care, and communicate with one another. Playing around children with disabilities provides important discussions that will prepare children for the rest of their life to live in a world that is not always a fair place.

Public playgrounds are good for all  involved. Parents have an excuse to take part in their kids world with an  opportunity to watch, and be there when needed to assist with a difficult task. Children have access to a world of play that will provide help future development. Through proper legal regulations, a level playing field has created a solution to provide accessibility as a standard for generations to come. Not only health kids who can play without many limitations can enjoy public areas, all children have the opportunity. Parents can know when they go to a state park, or county park, there are regulations in place that says, "YOUR CHILD CAN PLAY."  If for some reason the park in a local community has not been updated, parents have leverage with public laws, and possible access to funding to help make changes. Who is going to say any child should not have equal accessibility to playground equipment at city parks, state park, schools, and other places.

This is why the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that all public access parks, schools, and other recreational facilities provide user friendly play systems  for children of disabilities. Prior to this, funding was the biggest obstacle for local communities to make their park play areas accessible to all children with limitations. Until recently, the public was not aware of the issues parents of disabled children dealt with on a regular basis.   Because of the awareness of concerned parents, it has been brought to the attention of the American Society for Testing and Materials. This organization has been around since 1898 to provide more than 12000 standards to improve product quality, and safety.  Before  play structures of any kind becomes a fixture in a public place, it must meet certain specifications.

Who would ever think that a play set built for a child who had limitations could start a journey that could actually lead to the world Olympics. In our day, these World Games are filled with many who have  disabilities whose path began with someone who believed enough in them to succeed.  Children with limited learning levels can achieve physically, and emotionally. Their motor skills can be developed with all of the activities that are involved while they think they are only playing. Truly, playgrounds are training ground for future trailblazers the world will get out of the way to watch  reach heights yet to be discovered.