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Developmental Benefits of Commercial Playground Components
Commercial outdoor playground equipment components are specifically designed with the child’s overall body and muscle development in mind. They directly impact a child’s use of certain muscles and muscle groups.
CLIMBERS | The climbers with the most play value provide maximum challenge (exercise benefit and fun) at minimum risk. Our goal is to provide climbers with high challenge and low risk, making height a critical factor for differing age groups. As you read the following descriptions of some of our climbers, please note the variety of grip requirements, muscle group demands, and age recommendations.
BRIDGES & TUBES | Our commercial outdoor playground equipment include bridges and tubes that act as connectors between decks creating needed space between the commercial playground structures’ decks and the climbers that are featured on them. Our bridges and tubes also provide new play experiences for children.
UPPER BODY CHALLENGES | National guidelines allow overhead activities to launch from decks up to 36” for 5–12-year-olds. Our overhead ladders also seek to use the maximum reaching heights above these decks so children enter these activities with outstretched arms. Overhead activities used on commercial outdoor playground equipment can safely be used by not only school-aged children but also older preschool children.
Play is the primary activity of childhood and was once described by Maria Montessori as being “the child’s work.” Children are geared for play because their playful approach to life provides so much learning. Think of how much children already know before they enter formal schooling. It’s easy to see much of it is learned through playful interaction on our commercial playground structures with the people and things that make up their world.
The cognitive forms of play we will explore on commercial outdoor playground equipment are cognitive stages developed by Jean Piaget, a developmental psychologist. Likewise, the below forms of social play are derived from Mildred Parten’s theories and classifications of play.
Symbolic Play
Symbolic, dramatic, and sociodramatic play, also known as pretend play, occupies much of the play activity of 2- to 5-year-old children. Rich in symbolism — a stick becomes a horse or a sword — children’s imagination takes over, fueled by their growing command of language. Numerous research studies at UT Austin indicate that children develop and enhance language proficiency during play. Carefully designed commercial outdoor playground equipment with a fort, car, house, riding path, and loose parts proved to elicit three and one-half times the amount of oral language as did a play environment with a slide, swings, merry-go-round, and monkey bars among the same group of users. We know that a child’s skill in using oral language is directly related to early reading achievement. The more they play and use language on our commercial playground structures for real communication with peers, the more skilled they become. The more skilled they become with oral language, the easier the transition to reading and writing. With our commercial outdoor playground equipment, our focus is to ensure children receive these important skills.
Playground Design
Similarly, a study by Gwen Dean (1980) at UT Austin, showed that children engaged in free play in a carefully designed play environment spent more than 90% of their time in active play compared to the same children whose primary activity during physical education class was standing in line waiting for a turn at the proscribed activity! Given the problems with childhood obesity and diabetes, children should be physically active to help avoid these critical health issues. Good commercial outdoor playground equipment environments provide a variety of activities to stimulate physical activity that helps develop agility, strength, coordination, balance, speed, eye-hand coordination — not to mention fun!
Construction Play
Construction play involves using developing skills, creativity, and cognitive processing to create temporary structures from disparate elements. Children learn cooperation, problem-solving, and creativity when building with loose parts like “stack and build” materials. Large blocks, planks, and tube sections on our commercial playground structures give children opportunities to create the spaces in which they play. Planning and building a fort or playhouse from stackable elements on commercial outdoor playground equipment shows that children understand the concepts of symmetry and balance among a host of other intuitive understandings necessary to make a “building” that supports its purposes for being built.
Games with Rules
Games with rules fall into two categories: situational games and codified games. All play has understood rules. A rule such as “you can’t be the mommy cause you’re not big enough” is a situational rule. When children are engaged in dramatic play, for example, we see situational rules on the commercial outdoor playground equipment. It is the verbalization of this understood rule that comprises a situational game with rules. Codified rules are for games like baseball. One hits the ball and runs to first base; the runner on first is forced to run to second base. We see codified rules on the playground when children are playing a game like four square.
Musical Play
From preschool to school-aged, children of all ages benefit from musical play. Whether used for exploring or truly learning the notes, musical instruments on the commercial outdoor playground equipment provide a unique learning experience. Children of all ages enjoy exploring sound and music on commercial playground structures. In the preschool years, exploration is the primary benefit of exposure to musical instruments. What, though, are the benefits of music as a child grows? Music education prepares students to learn by developing their basic mental skills and capacities, such as enhancing fine motor skills and improving working memory. Once in a formal education setting, music education facilitates academic achievement by boosting math, reading, and language skills.
