A ball pit (originally called a ball crawl, also known as a ball pool or ball pond) is a padded box or pool filled with small colorful hollow plastic balls generally no larger than in diameter. They are typically marketed as recreation and exercise for children. Bollhav

They are often found at nurseries,

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival ...

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

s, fun centers, fast-food restaurants, and large

video arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as c ...

s, frequently incorporated into larger play structures such as mazes,

slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places *Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...

s and

jungle gym A jungle gym (called a climbing frame in British English) is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of material, such as metal pipes or ropes, on which participants can climb, hang, sit, and—in some configurations—slide. Monkey ...

s. They may be rented for parties, and smaller versions are sold for home use.

History

Eric McMillan created the first ball pit in 1976 at SeaWorld Captain Kids World in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, as a result of his experience at

Ontario Place Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...

Urban legends

Beginning in the late 1990s, a number of

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s arose about children being severely injured or killed in ball pit encounters with

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs th ...

s or

hypodermic needle A hypodermic needle (from Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)), one of a category of medical tools which enter the skin, called sharps, is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. It is commonly used w ...

s. There is no truth to these stories.

In popular culture

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( ; born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as ''weird fiction'' and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

's short story "The Ball Room" ('' Looking for Jake''), the ghost of a child who died in a ball pit haunts a local IKEA-like store. In the ''

Johnny Bravo ''Johnny Bravo'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, which aired f ...

'' episode "Johnny Meets

Donny Osmond Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host, and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gol ...

", Donny pushes Johnny into a fast-food ball pit, where he comes across a young boy who claims to have been there since the age of five. In the ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently—Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, an ...

'' episode "Piggy's Pizza Palace", the Rugrats jump on a costumed pig named Piggy as an act of revenge to get Angelica's tickets back. It causes the ball pit structure to split open and the balls fall out all over the restaurant. In season 3 episode 14 ("The Einstein Approximation") of the TV series ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'', Sheldon seeks inspiration in a ball pit at a mall, then hides from Leonard, who spends a good amount of time and effort trying to retrieve Sheldon from the pit. In 2014, a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

vlogger under the name Roman Atwood made a video of transforming the living room of his home into a massive ball pit, intended as a prank for his girlfriend who had returned from a trip. He later collaborates with another vlogger,

Freddie Wong Freddie Wong (born September 13, 1985) is an American Internet celebrity, filmmaker, VFX artist, podcaster, and competitive gamer. Wong has participated in at least three YouTube channels; with ''RocketJump'', his production company's main ch ...

, to create a comedy video involving giant ball pit and "ball monster" prank. In 2016, a pop-up "ball pit bar" opened in San Francisco.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball Pit Play (activity) Entertainment Balls Sensory toys

History

Urban legends

In popular culture

See also

References