Choosing the Right Surfacing
www.accessibleplayground.net

It is the surfacing the makes or breaks an accessible playground. When designing a playground, you are faced with many options for surfacing, each has their own benefits. However, you only have a few choices if you want a truly usable playground for children of all abilities.

Here are the questions your playground committee needs to ask:

• What can we afford?
• Do we have the staff to conduct daily maintenance so we are ensured the surfacing is safe?
• How are we going to meet ADA?
• Do we want children of all abilities to be able to interact and play on the playground with their peers?

The first thing you must know is that you may NOT use asphalt, grass, concrete or soil as surfacing underneath a playground. These surfacing types do not meet safety guidelines.

There are two other general categories of surfacing: loose fill or synthetic material.

Loose Fill

All loose fill surfacing requires daily raking to maintain the required depth of the material that ensure the safety of children. They also require replenishment as it gets packed down or kicked away.  Often this type of maintenance does not occur creating unsafe playgrounds. In addition, loose fill is often tracked into buildings requiring additional maintenance indoors.
Below are the different types of loose fill:

Pea gravel, sand and wood chips are loose-fill but do not meet ADA. However, you can use other surfacing to create paths to the entry point of the play equipment and it will enable your playground to meet the requirements.

The disadvantages of pea gravel is that you cannot use this material if your playground is higher than 6?. Also daycare providers have reported that peas gravel fits well in a nostril or an ear, which can result in a visit to the doctor or emergency room to remove.

Sand is one of the easiest products to maintain. You just need to level out the sand if it gets windswept. Children love to play in sand which is both a pro and a con. Cats can use the sand as a liter box. If a bottle get broken in the sand, it will be difficult to remove.

Wood Chips are different from Engineered Wood Fiber, which do meet ADA. Parents have reported they won’t go to playgrounds with wood chips or wood fiber because their children are too likely to put it in their mouths.

The loose-fill surfacing that meets ADA are Shredded Rubber and Engineered Wood Fiber.

You do not need to use other surfacing to create paths. However, there is a difference between ADA regulations and a child using a wheelchair being able to play on the playground. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to push or wheel a wheelchair through either of these surfaces.

The benefits to these two surfaces are in the cost. They meet ADA and are cost efficient. That is why these are the surfaces you see the most often.

Fully Accessible Surfaces

The surfaces that are universally accessible and go beyond ADA to be actually usable for children with disabilities include Pour-in-Place, Rubber mats/tiles, and artificial grass with rubber underneath. The benefits to these surfaces besides the accessibility are the maintenance. You do not need to do daily maintenance to ensure that safety is maintained. There may be times you need to patch areas or sweep it off, but overall there is very little work to do be done.

Playgrounds that use one of these types of surfacing are the only ones that are included in the Accessibleplayground.net directory.

The problem with these surfaces is the cost. They cost significantly more than loose filled surfacing; however they are your only true choice if you want all children to be able to play on your playground.

If you are looking for more information about our playground equipment or surfacing, then feel free to visit A+ Playgrounds (www.Aplusplaygrounds.com) or call 866-395-PLAY (7529) … Nationwide Sales and Installs.

www.Aplusplaygrounds.com or call 866-395-PLAY (7529) … Nationwide Sales and Installs.

Shade Structures and Playgrounds: 5 simple solutions to prevent skin cancer in children

Summer is a great time for kids to be outside in an active environment but it can also be very dangerous. 1 in 5 children will develop skin cancer throughout the course of their life and that number is still on the rise. Here are 5 simple solutions for preventing skin cancer in children:

#1) Limit time in midday sun: The highest risk of sun overexposure is between 10a.m. and 4p.m.

#2) Always use Sunscreen: Apply sunscreen with a Sun Protective Factor (SPF) of at least 30 or higher and reapply every 2 hours.

#3) Wear a hat: A hat with a wide brim that covers eyes, ears, face and neck is the best.

#4) Sunglasses: Sunglasses can provide as much as 100% UVA and UVB protection that can prevent risk of cataracts, retinal burns and many other issues

#5) Play in the shade: Find a place that has shade provided by trees or fabric shades structures designed to block out the sun. A nicely build playground shade can reduce the temperature by up to 20% and virtually eliminate the risk of skin cancer!

Children should be under shade as much as possible and out of direct exposure to the sun. Children are significantly more vulnerable to the harmful effects of the suns UV rays which is why playground equipment in schools, daycares and parks should have commercial shade structures that are built to last.

One of the biggest benefits of playground shade structures is that they can block up to 97% of the sun’s harmful UV rays. Since most people get the majority of their sun exposure before the age of 18, shades helps reduce risk of developing cancer later on in their lives.

Playground shade structures can also prevent children from getting burned by hot playground equipment. During the hot summer months many unprotected playgrounds can get so hot that children are not able to play on them at all which limits the amount of outdoor activities that are appealing, often causing them to stay inside. Shade structures help keep playgrounds cool so that children can play throughout the summer and enjoy their community playgrounds without having to worry about getting burned.

Written By: April Stone
PlayGround Articles | Com.

The Joy of Playground Installation

I love this time of year. The weather gets great; the sun is shining and we start building many more playgrounds. I get to be out of the office and out on the playgrounds. I love the installation of new playgrounds; it is a wonderful feeling to be a part of a installation, building joy for children. You start with nothing and, in a week or two, you have this beautiful shiny piece of fun for children, which makes you feel great about what you have done. Then, seeing the joy on their faces makes all the sweat well worth the while.

We, as playground Contractors, have the responsibility to do the best job we can and to always keep the child’s safety in mind, So much time has been spent designing and manufacturing safe playgrounds, and the contractor is the final part. The playground contractor can build a safe, compliant, beautiful playground or they can go out and make a mess of what has taken years of work designing and manufacturing. Many people have spent their lives doing research and writing the guidelines so these playgrounds can be manufactured and built safe. All it takes is one playground contractor to come in and undo years of work  by building a playground the way they see fit, and not going by the installation instructions.

Many think it would be rare to find one new playground that has been built in the past few years that has failed an inspection, but, sad to say, this is not the case. I know first hand, as I am out doing many inspections. I always seem to find the same items wrong with the playgrounds, and I always wonder how can this be. They had installation instructions and should know better. I have found that, no matter whose equipment it is there, there are still many bad installations going on, parts in the wrong place, wrong bolts being used in the wrong area, swings with the bolts pushed up from the bottom, etc. Why? Because the contractor did not take the time to read the installation instructions, or they have been doing this for so long they think they know best.

Installation manuals can change from the last unit or piece of equipment that you installed, so read the instructions every time. Do not think because you have been doing this for twenty-five years you know best.

I know all manufacturers take great pride in their equipment, as they should. However, if they do not go out and see what is being done to their equipment from time to time, they have no idea of how bad their equipment can look. If it looks bad due to poor installation, the customer does not know; the community does not know. All they know is that the equipment with the manufacturer’s name on it looks bad.

I have always known how important  playground contractors or installers are; they can get you more business by doing a great job, or they can cost you business. It is their job to take all the hard work that has been put into providing safe playground equipment for children and become  the most important part, building it right. To me, they are one of the most important parts of the chain, doing a good job, taking pride that they have followed all the manufacturer’s instructions and all the guidelines and have built a perfect playground. It is a wonderful feeling to walk away and know that you did a great job and made sure the playground was built as it should have been. But most of all, it is a comfort to know that you would let your own children play on that playground.

I do know we have many more great contractors and installers than bad, and I do not believe that any contractor sets out to do a bad job. As people, we all make mistakes. But, when we find we have used the wrong hardware, we go back and fix the mistake to make it right. It is essential to perform a full audit on the playground and check your installation before it is turned over to the customer and the children.

What we all do is build safe fun playgrounds, so please make sure you are doing a perfect job. The children are depending on you for their safety, and if you are in this industry, you know how special we all are in the lives of so many children.  I could not imagine a world with out a playground and the laughter of children on it, and to know you were a part of that equation is a feeling like no other.

Karen H.  Spears, CPSI, CPI

Kids Play Inc.

Past Chair

A+ Playgrounds … If you are looking for more information about our playground equipment or surfacing, then feel free to visit www.Aplusplaygrounds.com or call 866-395-PLAY (7529) … Nationwide Sales and Installs.

6 Keys for Playground Design

Keep these important topics in mind when planning a playground to make sure the result is a space where children can have fun and be safe.

by Craig Bystrynski

You might think of your school’s playground as a single thing. It’s that one contained area where kids go to climb and slide and swing. A great place for a play date.

Kids think something entirely different. To children, a playground becomes a fort or a jungle or an obstacle course or a race track. It serves as a stage and a game space. It’s a place of fun and imagination.

Experts in child development see a place where children build a broad range of physical and emotional skills. Age-appropriate equipment provides important opportunities to develop motor skills, physical fitness, social interaction, and much more.

Building a great playground involves combining those ideas to create a single, integrated space that kids will love and that will aid their development. Complex, yes, but part of the magic of playgrounds is that those aspects do go together well.

Here are six points you should know about playgrounds. These are some of the latest topics and trends that experts use and you can, too, to make your school’s playground a great place for kids.

1. The Value of Free Play

Kids today have choices. Soccer, gymnastics, music lessons, after-school clubs, tee ball, craft classes, computer games, DVDs, and 76 channels on TV. Where does the playground fit it?

“It still absolutely amazes me that adults think the best experiences for children are ones directed entirely by adults,” says Jean Schappet, creative director and co-founder of Boundless Playgrounds. Boundless is a nonprofit group that works with communities to build playgrounds that are fully accessible and integrated for children of all ability levels.

When kids play together without adult intervention, they become spontaneous and creative. Organized activities generally don’t provide the opportunity to pretend, and they don’t allow kids to express themselves freely.

Playgrounds promote free play. Free play builds social skills, confidence, and self-esteem. Studies also suggests it stimulates brain development. As children’s schedules fill up with activities, the free play opportunities provided by playgrounds become more important.

2. Kid Stuff

How do you make sure your playground promotes free play? Start by adjusting your perspective.

Playground companies can offer detailed of information on which pieces of equipment develop which skills. Rockers increase balance, swings help with balance and coordination, horizontal (overhead) ladders build upper body strength and coordination. Each piece is appropriate for a certain age, meaning you’ll want an assortment geared to the grades your school serves. In addition, you’ll have lots of decisions to make about size, safety, and cost.

It’s important to keep these issues in mind. They encourage skills children need. But there’s another equally important issue: What do they want? The answer isn’t what you think. It’s not slides or swings or equipment of any kind.

“All children want three things, “ says Schappet. “All children want to do fun things. All children want to be in interesting places. All children want to be in the middle of play.” Children don’t go to playgrounds to build their motor skills; they go to have fun. Is the playground fun? “When you’re designing a playground, it’s absolutely the last thing that comes up on an adult’s radar,” says Schappet.

3. Young Designers

Playgrounds tend to be better loved by children when children are involved in the design process. That may seem obvious, but it’s not uncommon to see pieces of equipment that seemed exciting to the adults get little attention from kids.

KaBOOM! is a nonprofit organization that has built more than 400 playgrounds and renovated 1,500 more. When KaBOOM! participates in a playground design, the organization asks kids to draw pictures of what they want. Sometimes the ideas are too far out to implement, but often they are things that can be integrated into the design.

“It’s interesting how you can absolutely find themes,” says Kate Becker, national director of project management for KaBOOM! Sometimes the themes come from what the area doesn’t have. Nearby parks might not have swings, for instance, or slides. Kids often include those in their drawings. Color themes are common, too, and KaBOOM! incorporates them into the playground as well.

The process is not a gimmick; it really works, says Becker. “I think it leads to more creative designs, it leads to a playground that’s used more, and it leads to a place that’s going to be vandalized less.”

4. Beyond Accessibility

New playgrounds must be accessible to children with handicaps. Likewise, if your school significantly renovates or enhances its playground, the playground must be made accessible. The trend now, however, is toward playgrounds that are not merely accessible but also inclusive. These playgrounds allow children with disabilities to participate on an equal level with all children.

The value of free play extends to all children, even those who are impaired, says Schappet. “We remove architectural barriers that would impede children with developmental disabilities.” Boundless Playgrounds estimates that in most communities one child out of 10 has a disability that excludes him from really playing on traditional play structures.

Truly inclusive playgrounds create alternate routes for handicapped children. For example, a ramp might run parallel to a climbing activity or a piece that requires kids to use their upper body. One of the most popular pastimes for children is a running, tagging, chasing game, says Schappet. When they play this game, they’re collaborating and competing. Providing alternate routes allows all children to participate.

One child might go up two ramps and through a platform, while another uses the horizontal ladder to get to the same place, for example. Or one child might get a head start. “They figure out how to make it a fair race,” says Schappet. What they’re doing is making an ethical choice. The children are comparing their abilities to go fast, for example.

Boundless Playgrounds purchases prefabricated components from commercial playground equipment manufacturers. The equipment isn’t unique; it’s how it’s put together. “What is novel about this is the assembly of the components,” says Schappet. “It starts with a commitment to having play for all children.”

5. Highs and Lows

Falls to the surface cause 70 percent of all playground injuries. Safety concerns and fear of lawsuits has created a long-standing trend toward lower play structures. But now there’s growing recognition that providing a variety of levels, both high and low, plays an important developmental role.

“Completely changing a vista changes a child’s perspective on the world,” says Schappet. “When children are denied the opportunity of seeing their world from different vantage points, it limits their ability to piece together how things work.”

Higher isn’t better, but a variety of heights is an important feature of a good play structure. The National Program for Playground Safety recommends that equipment for school-age children be no higher than 8 feet and for pre-school children no higher than 6 feet. Also, it’s crucial to have a safe, well maintained surface that is appropriate for the height of the equipment.

6. Safety: The Next Step

The safety of playground equipment and surfaces has increased dramatically from the days when a typical play structure consisted of a set of monkey bars over hard-packed dirt. But safety isn’t a passive issue, one that the manufacturer takes care of and the school doesn’t need to worry about.

Director Donna Thompson says the National Program for Playground Safety advocates a four-point plan called SAFE: Supervision, Age-appropriate design, Fall surfacing (surfaces deemed safe for falls), and Equipment and surface maintenance.

One part that often gets left out, says Thompson, is supervision. Forty percent of all playground injuries stem from lack of or inappropriate supervision, she says. “When you increase supervision and training, the number of injuries goes down significantly.”

Supervision doesn’t mean a couple of parents or teachers chatting with each other while the children play. Playground supervisors need to pay attention and intercede when play becomes dangerous. Thompson recommends that schools provide the same ratio of supervision on the playground as indoors. In other words, if the class size is one teacher to 20 students, then one supervisor should be available on the playground for each 20 students. Because of staffing issues, she notes, principals have been slow to embrace this recommendation.

 The Fun Stuff

What equipment is popular with children? Here are some of the newer trends from Kate Becker, national director of project management for KaBOOM!

Horizontal ladders: “Ladders” that are parallel to the ground and high enough that a child’s feet don’t touch the ground when he uses his arms to move from one rung to the next. Ladders might be straight or curved.

Climbing walls: Walls with variously shaped protrusions to grab onto and use as footholds. “These are extremely popular,” says Becker.

Monorails: Children hang on with their arms and slide from one end to the other.

Crow’s nests (Lookout towers): A high point to which children can climb, often with some type of telescope or other viewing piece inside.

Spiral slides: Curves make them novel and interesting.

Racing slides: Two or three slides built side by side. Children start at the same time and “race” down.

Tips for a Successful Playground Project

Find a leader with a vision. “The most challenging part is communicating the vision to get people to help,” says Winskill Elementary Principal Jamie Nutter. “People are the most important aspect of building.”

Don’t focus on the money. Winskill is a fairly small school in a small, rural town. Its families are not wealthy, and the school’s poverty rate is 31 percent. Even so, they had no trouble raising more than $100,000 once they promoted the project as a community playground. “Don’t worry about the money part right away,” Nutter says. “For us, that was actually the easy part.”

Don’t get discouraged. “It seemed like a very daunting project once we got into it,” says Donna Lensing, former treasurer of the Friends of Winskill. “And you’ll run into little bits of controversy—some people will think it’s too much money; they’ll say, ‘All we had was teeter-totters and slides when we were kids.’ But it was worth all the headaches because the reward was just huge. I still drive past and see how much fun the kids have.”

Expect the unexpected. At Winskill, the trauma of 9/11 threatened to derail that fall’s fundraising campaign, and bad weather made construction more of a challenge. But the parent group was committed enough—and flexible enough—to get the job done.

Why Play?

“We do not stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing.”
- Benjamin Franklin

By Melinda Bossenmeyer

For the generation of Americans that lived by the daily adage, “you must come inside when the street lights come on,” outdoor play was intuitive and occurred naturally in the course of everyday American life. Baby boomers recite the street light regulation as one of America’s unwritten rules that most children understood and practiced. Certainly that was the case for those of us who lived within “city limits.”

For another set of children, their unwritten rule about the limits of daily play would have supported the notion of “play” up until “the cows come home”, which by farm standards meant that play had ended because there was work that needed to be done before dinner.

Parents then also shared another universal unwritten rule on play, which was practiced in both cities and farms across America, because their verbiage “go out and play”, guaranteed a resulting peace and quiet inside the house.

Few would disagree that things have changed drastically. Children today spend significantly less time outdoors than children did say 30 years ago. Rough-and-tumble play reserved for outdoors has given way to sedentary activities on video games or computers.

This gives rise to a foreboding question raised in The Greater Good Magazine’s issue on Can We Play? [1] In today’s fast paced knowledge worker society, lies another important question regarding play which will be examined in this article. Why play?

Understanding the importance of play

To answer that question we must first understand the importance of play. If we understand, on the most basic level, that play is essential to leading a happy and healthy life, then one would have to answer, “Yes. We should all make time for play, not just children but adults as well.”

An overwhelming body of research on the issue of the importance of play has continued to grow especially recently. From babbling as a baby in the practice of early language development to coed adult slow pitch softball leagues, play is practice for life’s many challenges.

Take for example, “follow the leader”. Children learn to lead, follow, cooperate, imitate, plan and negotiate their own conflicts. Or as in the case of adult softball, play is a laboratory for practicing work related skills of teamwork, loyalty and dedication.

Play is the spontaneous activity in which children engage to amuse and to occupy themselves. It is also a way children optimize their own brain development. Viewed from this perspective, the nostalgic observation that children “no longer play” should be taken seriously because the consequences for children’s well-being extend beyond the problem of childhood obesity. [2]

Play and development

A 2007 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics documents that play promotes not only behavioral development but brain growth as well. The University of North Carolina’s Abecedarian Early Child Intervention program found that children who received an enriched, play-oriented parenting and early childhood programs had significantly higher IQ’s at age five than did a comparable group of children who were not in the program (105 vs. 85 points). [3]

“With play on the decline, we risk losing these and many other benefits. For too long, we have treated play as a luxury that kids, as well as adults, could do without. But the time has come for us to recognize why play is worth defending: It is essential to leading a happy and healthy life,” according to play expert and author, David Elkind. He encourages us by saying, “When we adults unite play, love, and work in our lives, we set an example that our children can follow. That just might be the best way to bring play back into the lives of our children—and build a more playful culture.” [4]

Play and its close relationship with recess

Recess contributes to academic success.

Psychologist Anthony Pellegrini, one of America’s foremost researchers on play and physical activity in children found that elementary school children become increasingly inattentive when recess is delayed.

The 2009 February issue of the Journal Pediatrics , shows that students who received more than 15 minutes of free play a day were better behaved than those who had no recess period. The researchers argue that these findings, along with similar findings from other studies, “support the importance of recess for student attentiveness in the classroom.”

The relationship between academics and play appears to be in constant tension, as though adding to one results in taking away from the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would appear that recess contributes to academic success in a variety of ways.
Play and Acedemics
Contrary to popular opinion, education is not a race. It is faulty reasoning to believe that the sooner children enter into an academic setting the sooner they learn to read, calculate and acquire academic skills, thus gaining a step-up on pint size adversaries. Child development experts and child psychologist agree that children develop readiness for learning most skills through play. [5]

Rushing children through instruction that they are not ready for can result in a frustrated child who begins to question their learning abilities and internalize their perceived failings by feeling “less than” the child sitting next to them. The old adage, “success breeds success and failure breeds failure” should not be ignored. Yet, since the No Child Left Behind Act was implemented in 2002, there has been a general focus on academics much to the dismay of the play community.

Early childhood programs shifted their emphasis from play, to a more academic curriculum. The result, according to several studies by Kathy Hirsch-Pasek and colleagues, indicate that there has not been an academic advantage in either reading or math for children in these programs. In fact, children dropped into academic settings too soon, show increased test anxiety, were less creative, and displayed more negative attitudes toward school than other children in play oriented preschool environments. Further, by pushing them into certain activities before they are ready, we run the risk of stunting the development of important intellectual, social, or emotional skills in our children.

Consider the metaphor of the flower. While it is true we can engineer it’s early bloom through artificial light, and Miracle Grow type nutrients, the lifespan of the engineered bloom is significantly decreased and undeniably more fragile when compared to a flower grown in the natural environment and allowed the luxury of time. Children too should be afforded this opportunity to unfold naturally without artificial engineering.

It is important to acknowledge that play is not meant to be educational. Rather education flows naturally into the environment of a child at play.

Child’s play as work

An overscheduled, overprotected child might seem like a distinctly modern problem, but in fact the tension between a child’s unstructured play and an adult’s version of child’s play look very different. Children’s play agenda is a never-ending search for “Joy”, while a parent’s play agenda for their child might be lodged in the “get ahead” syndrome. For example, a parent enrolls their young child in a gymnastics class so their child can be the next Nadia Cominici or Mary Lou Retton, rather than because their child loves tumbling.

Playing with things instead of playing with others

Why? Because we like You!

In 1955, with the advent of television in most American homes, play entered into a new arena, Television.

In 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club (MMC) burst on the scene and became the first TV show exclusively for children entertained by children.

Mattel, one of the early sponsors of MMC expanded advertising to daily commercials instead of the previous Christmas sales season, and by doing so contributed to an infinitely exploding toy market that even today, continues to expand.

You may be wondering what historical significance this has with play? The answer is straight forward. In a nutshell, this was the beginning of children playing with things, rather than playing with each other.

Why the decline in play?

You may be thinking, with so much support for play, why is it declining? First, technology is one culprit. Technological innovations such as TV, video games, computers and electronic games have infiltrated American homes with unintended consequences. Our modern technology has contributed to “keeping children indoors”, where researchers have long indicated children are most often sedentary, and which limits time outdoors where children are more active. [6]

Technology contributes to keeping children indoors.

We know that children naturally play. It is not necessary to “teach” a child to play. Developmentally, play is motivated by pleasure. Play is instinctive and part of the maturational process. It is the supervising adults that have curtailed the time allotted for self motivated child play.

One has to wonder, are we getting in the way of children’s play? Take for example the commercial toy makers. With the downturn in the economy, it was reported that toymakers saw a decline in profits for the first time in decades. I wonder how many toys the average preschooler has acquired? Is this really necessary? For centuries children have demonstrated that they can “pretend” and transform everyday objects into magical playthings at a moments notice. John Albee declared, “All movable objects are playthings to [a child]. He makes them also, like the Creator, out of nothing; if he wants a horse, he has one in an instant by straddling a stick or tying a string to a companion.” [7]

Another general assumption for the decline in play is a perception that certain neighborhoods are considered “unsafe. ” However, this issue deserves further thought and consideration. An interesting research study examined a national sample of preschool children and mothers’ perceptions of neighborhood safety. While there was a positive relationship between a mom’s perceptions of safety and their children’s TV viewing time, researchers were not able to show a significant link between their outdoor playtime and/or risk for childhood obesity. [8]

Anxious parents scheduled children’s play

Parents and other anxious adults may agonize over how to keep children safe and entertained at play. We, as adults, need to learn from the past that youngsters crave and deserve a chance at playtime to do whatever they want to do, create whatever they want to create or generally have the freedom and luxury to do nothing at all.

These days, parents are more likely to organize “play dates” where children are supervised by parents, or schedule their child into organized team sport, rather than allowing their children to hang out on the street corner waiting for spontaneous play with neighborhood kids.

Why play?

Play holds the key to a happy and healthy life.

We return to our original question, Why Play? First, let’s differentiate the difference between work and play. “Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do,” writes Mark Twain in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I find myself yearning for the days of Tom Sawyer when leisure antics were the norm for children’s behavior and play was natural, spontaneous, and yes, sometimes mischievous.

Recently we, adults and children alike, appear to have lost our motivation to play. With the economy spiraling downward, fear and uncertainty can manifest itself into anger and frustration. Who feels like playing in these uncertain times?

But for children, oblivious to the worlds’ angst and anxieties, let’s not forget as caregivers we can encourage children to go outdoors and play. As childcare workers, we also hold within our power the important ability to balance the time spent indoors and out. Schools and daycare centers can bring back recess and playtime for children by scheduling a minimum of 30 minute break times in the day for fun and unadulterated play.

Why play? It is because play is the antidote for depression, isolation, and fearfulness. And it is play that holds the key to leading a happy and healthy life whether we are 1 or 100 and everywhere in-between.

If you are looking for more information about our playground equipment or surfacing, then feel free to visit www.Aplusplaygrounds.com or call 866-395-PLAY (7529) … Nationwide Sales and Installs.

If you are looking for more information about our playground equipment or surfacing, then feel free to visit www.Aplusplaygrounds.com or call 866-395-PLAY (7529) … Nationwide Sales and Installs.