
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for
child
A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...
ren that facilitates
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people with disabilities. A playground might exclude children below (or above) a certain age.
Modern playgrounds often have recreational equipment such as the
seesaw
A seesaw (also sometimes known as a teeter-totter in North America) is a long, narrow board supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both ends; as one end goes up, the other goes down. These are most comm ...
,
merry-go-round
A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...
,
swingset,
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 Glee ...
,
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 ...
,
chin-up bar
A pull-up is an upper-body strength exercise. The pull-up is a closed-chain movement where the body is suspended by the hands, gripping a bar or other implement at a distance typically wider than shoulder-width, and pulled up. As this happen ...
s,
sandbox
A sandbox is a sandpit, a wide, shallow playground construction to hold sand, often made of wood or plastic.
Sandbox or sand box may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Sandbox (band), a Canadian rock music group
* Sandbox (Gu ...
,
spring rider
A spring rider or spring rocker is a bouncy, outdoors playing device, invented in the 1960s in Italy by the company Pozza. It mainly consists of a metal spring beneath a plastic or wooden central beam or flange, with 1 to 4 plastic or fibergl ...
,
trapeze
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...
rings,
playhouses, and
maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...
s, many of which help children develop physical coordination, strength, and flexibility, as well as providing
recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for happiness, enjoyment, amusement, ...
and
enjoyment
Joy is the state of being that allows one to experience feelings of intense, long-lasting happiness and contentment of life. It is closely related to, and often evoked by, well-being, success, or good fortune. Happiness, pleasure, and gratit ...
and supporting social and emotional development. Common in modern playgrounds are ''play structures'' that link many different pieces of equipment.
Playgrounds often also have facilities for playing informal games of adult
sport
Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...
s, such as a
baseball diamond
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...
, a
skating
Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates, and may refer to:
Ice skating
*Ice skating, moving on ice by using ice skates
**Figure skating, a sport in which individuals, ...
arena, a
basketball court
In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor ...
, or a
tether ball
Tetherball is a game where two players use their hands to strike a volleyball which is suspended from a stationary metal pole by a rope or tether. The two players stand on opposite sides of the pole, and each tries to hit the ball one way; one ...
.
Public playground equipment installed in the play areas of
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
s,
school
A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...
s, childcare facilities, institutions, multiple family dwellings, restaurants, resorts, and recreational developments, and other areas of public use.
A type of playground called a
playscape
A playscape is either a piece of land Landscaping, modified for children's play (a natural playscape), a particular structure on a playground, or a nontraditional type of play environment. Landscape architects and designers are increasingly using ...
is designed to provide a safe environment for play in a natural setting.
History
Nineteenth-century playgrounds
Through history, children played in their villages and neighbourhoods, especially in the streets and lanes near their homes.
[Evolution of American Playgrounds](_blank)
, Joe Frost (2012), Scholarpedia, 7(12):30423 The painting
Children's Games
This is a list of games that are played by children. Traditional children's games do not include commercial products such as board games but do include games which require props such as hopscotch or marbles (toys go in List of toys unless the toy ...
(1560) shows children playing in multiple ways in the streets and fields of an imaginary Dutch townscape.
In the 19th century, developmental psychologists such as
Friedrich Fröbel
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel or Froebel (; 21 April 1782 – 21 June 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique nee ...
proposed playgrounds as a developmental aid, to imbue children with a sense of fair play and good manners. In Germany, a few playgrounds were erected in connection to schools. In the 1840s in Britain, the Home and Colonial Infant School had
playgroundfor pupils that included climbing structures, seesaws and parallel bars.
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...
called for the establishment of public playgrounds within industrial cities such as
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England, in
''Past and Present'' (1843), saying that "every toiling Manchester" ought to have "a hundred acres or so of free greenfield, with trees on it, conquered, for its little children to disport in". The first purpose-built public playgrounds were subsequently created in 1846 in
Peel Park in Salford and Queen’s Park and
Philips Park in Manchester.
Later in the 19th century, the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association (1882) became an important advocate for children's playgrounds in London, in part at least to provide a steady supply of healthy and strong working-class children for the army, navy and factories. One of the first playgrounds in the United States was built in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
's
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...
in 1887.
Twentieth century playgrounds
Playgrounds in Britain
The engineer and philanthropist
Charles Wicksteed became an important advocate of children's playgrounds from the 1920s. He manufactured robust equipment, includin
swingsslidesan
other playground equipment The National Playing Fields Association also promoted playgrounds across the middle of the century - one of its founding aims was to 'secure proper playgrounds for children' - which in their mind equated to manufactured equipment.
In post war
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, pioneering designers, charities and child advocates, including
Lady Allen of Hurtwood, popularised the concept of the ’junk playground’ - where children played with rubble, built structures and invented their own entertainment. 'Bombsites and waste ground were transformed into hives of activity by children and progressive educationalists.' Allen campaigned for play facilities for children growing up in the new
high-rise developments in Britain's cities and wrote a series of illustrated books on the subject of playgrounds, and at least one book on adventure playgrounds, spaces for free creativity by children, which helped the idea spread worldwide.
In 2019, there were more than 26,000 children's playgrounds in the UK.
Playgrounds in North America
Over the course of the 20th century, the street increasingly lost its role as the default
public space
A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, su ...
for children's play and became planned for use by motor cars and momentum built to remove children from the new dangers and confine them to segregated areas to play. Organisations such as the
National Highway Protective Society highlighted the numbers killed by automobiles, and urged the creation of playgrounds, aiming to free streets for vehicles rather than children's play. The
Outdoor Recreation League provided funds to erect playgrounds on parkland, especially following the 1901 publication of a report on numbers of children being run down by cars in New York City.
[Outdoor Recreation League: Evolution of American playgrounds](_blank)
, Streets without Cars
In tandem with the new concern about the danger of roads, educational theories of play, including by
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...
and
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century.
The overridi ...
inspired the emergence of the reformist playground movement, which argued that playgrounds had educational value, improved attention in class, enhanced physical health, and reduced truancy. Interventionist programs such as by the
child savers sought to move children into controlled areas to limit 'delinquency'.
[ Meanwhile, at schools and settlement houses for poorer children with limited access to education, health services and daycare, playgrounds were included to support these institutions' goal of keeping children safe and out of trouble.][
In 1906 the Playground Association of America was founded and a year later Luther Gulick became president. It later became the National Recreation Association and then the ]National Recreation and Park Association
The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on utilizing parks and recreation to build strong, vibrant and resilient communities. They invest in and champion the work of professionals in the field ...
. Urging the need for playgrounds, former President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
stated in 1907:
:''City streets are unsatisfactory playgrounds for children because of the danger, because most good games are against the law, because they are too hot in summer, and because in crowded sections of the city they are apt to be schools of crime. Neither do small back yards nor ornamental grass plots meet the needs of any but the very small children. Older children who would play vigorous games must have places especially set aside for them; and, since play is a fundamental need, playgrounds should be provided for every child as much as schools. This means that they must be distributed over the cities in such a way as to be within walking distance of every boy and girl, as most children can not afford to pay carfare''.
Playgrounds in the Soviet Union
Playgrounds were an integral part of urban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. The defining theme is the presence of a large population in a limited space that follows social norms. This makes it possible for many subcultures close to each other, exposed to social influence ...
in the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were playgrounds in almost every park in many Soviet cities. Playground apparatus was reasonably standard all over the country; most of them consisted of metallic bars with relatively few wooden parts, and were manufactured in state-owned factories. Some of the most common constructions were the carousel
A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...
, sphere, seesaw
A seesaw (also sometimes known as a teeter-totter in North America) is a long, narrow board supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both ends; as one end goes up, the other goes down. These are most comm ...
, rocket, bridge, etc.
Design
Image:PlayEquipComboPlastic wb.jpg, Combination playground structure for small children; slides, climbers (stairs in this case), playhouse
File:Van_Saun_Playground.jpg, The playground at Van Saun Park in Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...
File:Keswick Playground (Fitz Park).jpg, The playground at Fitz Park in Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. It lies within the Lake District National Park, just north of Derwentwater an ...
File:Pelle Hermannin leikkipuisto - merirosvolaiva.jpg, A "sailing ship" in Pelle Hermanni park in Pori
Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...
, Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
File:Playground at Yonkers Ridge Hill January 2013.jpg, Playground in Yonkers
Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...
, New York
File:Royal Oak, Monmouth - geograph.org.uk - 1586525.jpg, The Royal Oak, Monmouth
Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...
playground
File:Mall culture jakarta56.jpg, A playground at a fast food restaurant in Jakarta
Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
, Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
File:Soufli - playground, agricultural machine.jpg, Thematic playground with agricultural machine
File:Perivoj Zrinskih, Čakovec - tobogani na dječjem igralištu.jpg, Playground slides at Zrinski Park in Čakovec
Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...
, Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
File:Playground at Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.jpg, Playground at Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
File:Play Area at Suvarnabhumi Intl Airport, Bangkok.jpg, The Wonder World play area at the departure lounge of Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
File:Fermilab Bubble Chamber and Park.jpg, The playground at Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located in Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle phys ...
includes a bubble chamber
A bubble chamber is a vessel filled with a superheated transparent liquid (most often liquid hydrogen) used to detect electrically charged particles moving through it. It was invented in 1952 by Donald A. Glaser, for which he was awarded th ...
model and a path resembling that followed by protons in a collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
.
Playground design is influenced by the intended purpose and audience. Separate play areas might be offered to accommodate very young children. Single, large, open parks tend to not to be used by older schoolgirls or less aggressive children, because there is little opportunity for them to escape more aggressive children. By contrast, a park that offers multiple play areas is used equally by boys and girls.
Effects on child development
Professionals recognize that the social skills
A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called socia ...
that children develop on the playground often become lifelong skill sets that are carried forward into their adulthood. Independent research concludes that playgrounds are among the most important environments for children outside the home. Most forms of play are essential for healthy development, but free, spontaneous play—the kind that occurs on playgrounds—is the most beneficial type of play.
Exciting, engaging and challenging playground equipment is important to keep children happy while still developing their learning abilities. These should be developed in order to suit different groups of children for different stages of learning, such as specialist playground equipment for nursery & preschool children teaching them basic numeracy & vocabulary, to building a child's creativity and imagination with role play panels or puzzles.
There is a general consensus that physical activity reduces the risk of psychological problems in children and fosters their self-esteem. The American Chief Medical Officer's report (Department of Health
A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
, 2004), stated that a review of available research suggests that the health benefits of physical activity in children are predominantly seen in the amelioration of risk factors for disease, avoidance of weight gain, achieving a peak bone mass and mental well-being.
Exercise programmes "may have short term beneficial effects on self esteem in children and adolescents" although high-quality trials are lacking.
Commentators argue that the quality of a child's exercise experience can affect their self-esteem. Ajzen TPB (1991) promotes the notion that children's self-esteem is enhanced through the encouragement of physical mastery and self-development. It can be seen that playgrounds provide an ideal opportunity for children to master physical skills, such as learning to swing, balance and climb. Personal development may be gained through the enhancement of skills, such as playing, communicating and cooperating with other children and adults in the playground.
Controlled risk in play at a playground helps children develop skills to assess physical risk and can reduce injury later in life.
Children have devised many playground games and pastimes. But because playgrounds are usually subject to adult supervision and oversight, young children's street culture
Children's street culture refers to the cumulative culture created by young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the next, and can also be passed between different groups of chil ...
often struggles to fully thrive there. Research by Robin Moore concluded shown that playgrounds need to be balanced with marginal areas that (to adults) appear to be derelict or wasteground but to children they are areas that they can claim for themselves, ideally a wooded area or field.
For many children, it is their favorite time of day when they get to be on the playground for free time or recess. It acts as a release for them from the pressures of learning during the day. They know that time on the playground is their own time.
A type of playground called a ''playscape
A playscape is either a piece of land Landscaping, modified for children's play (a natural playscape), a particular structure on a playground, or a nontraditional type of play environment. Landscape architects and designers are increasingly using ...
'' can provide children with the necessary feeling of ownership that Moore describes above. Playscapes can also provide parents with the assurance of their child's safety and wellbeing, which may not be prevalent in an open field or wooded area.
Funding
In the UK, several organisations exist that help provide funding for schools and local authorities to construct playgrounds. These include the Biffa Award, which provides funding under the Small Grants Scheme; Funding Central, which offers support for voluntary organisations and social enterprises; and the Community Construction Fund, a flagship programme by Norfolk County Council.
Safety
Safety, in the context of playgrounds, is generally understood as the prevention of injuries. Risk aversion
In economics and finance, risk aversion is the tendency of people to prefer outcomes with low uncertainty to those outcomes with high uncertainty, even if the average outcome of the latter is equal to or higher in monetary value than the more c ...
and fear of lawsuits on the part of the adults who design playgrounds prioritizes injury prevention above other factors, such as cost or developmental benefit to the users. It is important that children gradually develop the skill of risk assessment
Risk assessment is a process for identifying hazards, potential (future) events which may negatively impact on individuals, assets, and/or the environment because of those hazards, their likelihood and consequences, and actions which can mitigate ...
, and a completely safe environment does not allow that.
Sometimes the safety of playgrounds is disputed in school or among regulators. Over at least the last twenty years, the kinds of equipment to be found in playgrounds has changed, often towards safer equipment built with plastic. For example, an older jungle gym might be constructed entirely from steel bars, while newer ones tend to have a minimal steel framework while providing a web of nylon
Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups.
Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...
ropes for children to climb on. Playgrounds with equipment that children may fall off often use rubber mulch
Rubber mulch is a type of mulch used in gardening and landscaping that is made from recycled rubber, most often crumb rubber sourced from waste tires.
Composition
Rubber mulch typically consists of waste tire bits or nuggets of synthetic rubb ...
on the ground to help cushion the impact.
Playgrounds are also made differently for different age groups. Often schools have a playground that is taller and more advanced for older schoolchildren and a lower playground with less risk of falling for younger children.
Safety discussions do not normally include an evaluation of the unintended consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...
of injury prevention, such as older children who do not exercise at the playground because the playground is too boring.
Safety efforts sometimes paradoxically increase the likelihood and severity of injuries because of how people choose to use playground equipment. For example, older children may choose to climb on the outside of a "safe" but boring play structure, rather than using it the way the designers intended. Similarly, rather than letting young children play on playground slide
Playground slides are found in parks, schools, playgrounds and backyards. The slide is an example of the simple machine known as the inclined plane, which makes moving objects up and down easier, or in this case more fun. The slide may be flat, o ...
s by themselves, some injury-averse parents seat the children on the adult's lap and go down the slide together. This seems safer at first glance, but if the child's shoe catches on the edge of the slide, this arrangement frequently results in the child's leg being broken. If the child had been permitted to use the slide independently, then this injury would not happen, because when the shoe caught, the child would have stopped sliding rather than being propelled down the slide by the adult's weight.
Also concerning the safety of playgrounds is the material in which they are built. Wooden playgrounds act as a more natural environment for the children to play but can cause even more minor injuries. Slivers are the main concern when building with wood material. Wet weather is also a threat to children playing on wooden structures. Most woods are treated and do not wear terribly fast, but with enough rain, wooden playgrounds can become slippery and dangerous for children to be on.
Regulation
In the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC, CPSC, or commission) is an independent agency of the United States government. The CPSC seeks to promote the safety of consumer products by addressing "unreasonable risks" of injury ...
and the American National Standards Institute have created a Standardized Document and Training System for certification of Playground Safety Inspectors. These regulations are nationwide and provide a basis for safe playground installation and maintenance practices. ASTM
ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical international standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and s ...
F1487-07 deals with specific requirements regarding issues such as play ground layout, use zones, and various test criteria for determining play ground safety. ASTM F2373 covers public use play equipment for children 6–24 months old. This information can be applied effectively only by a trained C.P.S.I. A National Listing of Trained Playground Safety Inspectors is available for many states. A Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) is a career that was developed by the National Playground Safety Institute (NPSI) and is recognized nationally by the National Recreation and Park Association or N.R.P.A. (Some information sources offer interactive examples of playground equipment that violates CPSC guidelines.)
In Australia, Standards Australia
Standards Australia is a standards organisation established in 1922 and is recognised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Australian government as the primary non-government standards development body in Australia. It is a co ...
is responsible for the publication of the playground safety Standards AS/NS4422, AS/NZS4486.1 and AS4685 Parts 1 to 6. The University of Technology Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...
is responsible for the training and accreditation of playground inspectors. The Register of Playground Inspectors Australia lists all the individuals who have been certified to inspector playgrounds within Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
European Standards EN 1177 specifies the requirements for surfaces used in playgrounds. For each material type and height of equipment it specifies a minimum depth of material required. EN 1176 covers playground equipment standards. In the UK, playground inspectors can sit the examinations of the Register of Play Inspectors International at the three required levels - routine, operational and annual. Annual inspectors are able to undertake the post-installation inspections recommended by EN 1176.
Prevention strategies
Because the majority of playground injuries are due to falls from equipment, injury prevention efforts are primarily directed at reducing the likelihood of a child falling and reducing the likelihood of a severe injury if the child does fall. This is done by:
* reducing the maximum fall height of equipment, primarily by reducing the overall height of anything a child might climb on or into;
* reducing the likelihood of falling from equipment, through using barriers, discouraging climbing, and making upper surfaces inconvenient or uncomfortable for climbing or sitting on; and
* installing a more flexible surface under and around play equipment, so that a child who falls is less likely to break a bone.
How effective these strategies are at preventing injuries is debated by experts, because when playgrounds are made from padded materials, children often take more risks.
Playground injury
Each year in the United States, emergency department
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...
s treat more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger for playground-related injuries.[Tinsworth D, McDonald J. Special Study: Injuries and Deaths Associated with Children’s Playground Equipment. Washington (DC): U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission; 2001.] Approximately 156,040 (75.8%) of the 1999 injuries occurred on equipment designed for public use; 46,930 (22.8%) occurred on equipment designed for home use; and 2,880 (1.4%) occurred on homemade playground equipment (primarily rope swings).
;Percentage of injuries involving public equipment
* About 46% occurred in schools.
* About 31% occurred in public parks.
* About 10% occurred in commercial childcare centers.
* About 3% occurred in home childcare.
* About 3% occurred in apartment complexes.
* About 2% occurred in fast food restaurants.
* About 9% occurred in other locations.
From January 1990 to August 2000, CPSC received reports of 147 deaths to children younger than 15 that involved playground equipment.
* 70% of those deaths occurred in home
* 30% of those deaths occurred in public use
Girls were involved in a slightly higher percentage of injuries (55%) than were boys (45%).
Injuries to the head and face accounted for 49% of injuries to children 0–4, while injuries to the arm and hand accounted for 49% of injuries to children ages 5–14. Approximately 15% of the injuries were classified as severe, with 3% requiring hospitalization. The most prevalent diagnoses were fractures (39%), lacerations (22%), contusions/abrasions (20%), strains/sprains (11%).
For children ages 0–4, climbers (40%) had the highest incidence rates, followed by slides (33%). For children ages 5–14, climbing equipment (56%) had the highest incidence rates, followed by swings (24%). Most injuries on public playground equipment were associated with climbing equipment (53%), swings (19%), and slides (17%).
Falls to the surface was a contributing factor in 79% of all injuries. On home equipment, 81% were associated with falls.
In 1995, playground-related injuries among children ages 14 and younger cost an estimated $1.2 billion.
On public playgrounds, more injuries occur on climbers than on any other equipment. On home playgrounds, swings are responsible for most injuries.
Playgrounds in low-income areas have more maintenance-related hazards than playgrounds in high-income areas. For example, playgrounds in low-income areas had significantly more trash, rusty play equipment, and damaged fall surfaces.
Unintended consequences
As a result of what some experts say is over-protectiveness driven by a fear of lawsuits, playgrounds have been designed to be, or at least to appear, excessively safe.[Tierney, John (18 July 2011)]
"Can a Playground Be Too Safe?"
''The New York Times'' This over protectiveness may protect the playground owner from lawsuits, but it appears to result in a decreased sense of achievement and increased fears in children.
The equipment limitations result in the children receiving less value from the play time. The enclosed, padded, constrained, low structures prevent the child from taking risks and developing a sense of mastery over his or her environment. Successfully taking a risk is empowering to children. For example, a child climbing to the top of a tall jungle gym feels happy about successfully managing the challenging climb to the top, and he experiences the thrill of being in a precarious, high position. By contrast, the child on a low piece of equipment, designed to reduce the incidence of injuries from falls, experiences no such thrill, sense of mastery, or accomplishment. Additionally, a lack of experience with heights as a child is associated with increased acrophobia
Acrophobia, also known as hypsophobia, is an extreme or irrational fear or phobia of heights, especially when one is not particularly high up. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort, that share similar ...
(fear of heights) in adults.
The appearance of safety encourages unreasonable risk-taking in children, who might take more reasonable risks if they correctly understood that it is possible to break a bone on the soft surfaces under most modern equipment.
Finally, the playground that is designed to appear low-risk is boring, especially to older children. As a result, they tend to seek out alternative play areas, which may be very unsafe.
Risk management
Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks, followed by the minimization, monitoring, and control of the impact or probability of those risks occurring. Risks can come from various sources (i.e, Threat (sec ...
is an important life skill, and risk aversion
In economics and finance, risk aversion is the tendency of people to prefer outcomes with low uncertainty to those outcomes with high uncertainty, even if the average outcome of the latter is equal to or higher in monetary value than the more c ...
in playgrounds is unhelpful in the long term. Experts studying child development such as Tim Gill have written about the over-protective bias in provision for children, particularly with playgrounds. Instead of a constructed playground, allowing children to play in a natural environment such as open land or a park is sometimes recommended; children gain a better sense of balance playing on uneven ground, and learn to interpret the complexity and signals of nature more effectively.
Types
Playgrounds can be:
*Built by collaborative support of corporate and community resources to achieve an immediate and visible improvement to the neighborhood.
*Public and free of charge, typically found at elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
s
*Connected to a business and for customers only, such as those at McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
, IKEA
IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services.
IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...
, and Chuck E. Cheese's
Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza, and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American entertainment restaurant chain founded in May 1977.[Discovery Zone
Discovery Zone (DZ) was an American chain of entertainment facilities featuring games and elaborate indoor mazes designed for young children, including roller slides, climbing play structures, and ball pits. It also featured arcade games. A t ...]
.
*Non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
organizations for edutainment
Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to education, educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has inciden ...
as children's museums
Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fea ...
and science centers
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
; some charge admission, some are free.
Inclusive playgrounds
Universally designed playgrounds are created to be accessible to all children. There are three primary components to a higher level of inclusive play:
* physical accessibility;
* age and developmental appropriateness; and
* sensory-stimulating activity.
Some children with disabilities or developmental differences do not interact with playgrounds in the same way as typical children. A playground designed without considering these children's needs may not be accessible or interesting to them.
Most efforts at inclusive playgrounds have been aimed at accommodating wheelchair users. For example, rubber paths and ramps replace sand pits and steps, and some features are placed at ground level. Efforts to accommodate children on the autism spectrum
Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...
, who may find playgrounds overstimulating or who may have difficulty interacting with other children, have been less common.Play! A Portal to New Worlds
Pamela Wolfberg, PhD, Inclusive Play Advisory Board, 2009
Natural playgrounds
"Natural playgrounds" are play environments that blend natural materials, features, and indigenous vegetation with creative land forms to create purposely complex interplays of natural, environmental objects in ways that challenge and fascinate children and teach them about the wonders and intricacies of the natural world while they play within it.
Play components may include earth shapes (sculptures), environmental art, indigenous vegetation (trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, lichens, mosses), boulders or other rock structures, dirt and sand, natural fences (stone, willow, wooden), textured pathways, and natural water features.
File:Earthartist natural playground.jpg, A natural playground sandbox provides a place for passive and creative play
File:The Playground (1830) - Jacques Laurent Agasse (Kunstmuseum Winterthur).jpg, Jacques-Laurent Agasse: ''The Playground'', 1830
File:Corso Duca d'Aosta - Torino - Domenica di pioggia.jpg, Playground in Turin, Italy on a rainy day in 2019
File:AccessiblePlayground.JPG, Wheelchair-accessible public playground in the US in 2007
File:Aquatic-plant-garden-playground,sawara,katori-city,japan.JPG, Playground incorporating aquatic plant life in Sawara, Japan
File:HPIM3097 Rakvere rahvaaia lastelinnus uuesti ülesehitatult.jpg, A wooden castle at playground in Rakvere
Rakvere is the administrative center, or county seat, of Lääne-Viru County in northern Estonia, about 100 km southeast of Tallinn and 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea.
Rakvere boasts a distinctive architectural feature: th ...
, Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
File:Lekmodul på lekplats - Ystad-2019.jpg, Playground in Ystad
Ystad () is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, and tourist attracti ...
, Sweden in 2019. The colorful surface is soft rubber asphalt.
File:Artificial fruit.JPG, Hanging artificial fruit at a playground in Sri Lanka
File:Wasserspielplatz im Palmengarten in Frankfurt am Main.jpg, A water-based playground in Germany
Themed and educational playgrounds
Some playgrounds have specific purposes. A traffic park
A traffic park or children's traffic park is a park in which children can learn the rules of the road. A traffic park is also called a ''transportation park'' or traffic garden or ''safety village'' depending on locale.
Traffic parks are frequent ...
teaches children how to navigate streets safely. An adventure playground encourages open-ended play, sometimes involving potentially dangerous objects such as fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...
or hand tool
A hand tool is any tool that is powered manual labour, by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutter (disambiguation), cutters, File (tool), files, hammer, striking tools, chisel, struck or hammered tools, ...
s. An obstacle course
An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual, team or animal must navigate, usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with the ...
or ropes course
A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high elements, low elements, or some combination of the two. #Low course, Low elements take place on the ground or above the ground. ...
is designed to focus participants' attention on accomplishing a predetermined challenging physical task. A trampoline park
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled spring (device), springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes.
The fabric that use ...
provides trampolines.
Playgrounds for adults
China and some countries in Europe have playgrounds designed for adults. These are outdoor spaces that feature fitness equipment designed for use primarily by adults, such as chin-up
A pull-up is an upper-body strength exercise. The pull-up is a closed-chain movement where the body is suspended by the hands, gripping a bar or other implement at a distance typically wider than shoulder-width, and pulled up. As this happen ...
bars.
Playgrounds for older adults are popular in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. Seniors are the primary users of public playgrounds in China. These playgrounds are usually in a smaller, screened area, which may reduce the feeling of being watched or judged by others. They often have adult-sized equipment that helps seniors stretch, strengthen muscles, and improve their sense of balance. Similar playgrounds for adults have been built in other countries. Berlin's Preußenpark for example is designed for people aged 70 or higher.
See also
* Buddy bench
A buddy bench or friendship bench is a seat in a school playground where a child can go when they want someone to talk to.Chin-up bar
A pull-up is an upper-body strength exercise. The pull-up is a closed-chain movement where the body is suspended by the hands, gripping a bar or other implement at a distance typically wider than shoulder-width, and pulled up. As this happen ...
* Children's street culture
Children's street culture refers to the cumulative culture created by young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the next, and can also be passed between different groups of chil ...
* ''Children Youth and Environments Journal
A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...
''
* Cold War playground equipment
* Home zone/Play street
* Playground game
* Playground song
* Playground Surfacing
* Playscape
A playscape is either a piece of land Landscaping, modified for children's play (a natural playscape), a particular structure on a playground, or a nontraditional type of play environment. Landscape architects and designers are increasingly using ...
* ''Playtime
''Playtime'' (stylized as ''PlayTime'' and also written as ''Play Time'') is a 1967 Satire (film and television), satirical comedy film directed and co-written by Jacques Tati. Tati also stars in the film, reprising the role of Monsieur Hulot ...
''
* Playwork
* Recess (break)
Recess is a general term for a period in which a group of people are temporarily dismissed from their duties.
In education, recess is the American and Australian term (known as ''break'' or ''playtime'' in the UK), where students have a mid ...
* Rubber Mulch
Rubber mulch is a type of mulch used in gardening and landscaping that is made from recycled rubber, most often crumb rubber sourced from waste tires.
Composition
Rubber mulch typically consists of waste tire bits or nuggets of synthetic rubb ...
References
*Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
*Biddle, S. J., & Mutrie, N. (2001). Psychology of physical activity: Determinants, well-being and interventions. Abingdon: Routledge.
*Ekeland, E., Heian, M., & Hagen, K.B. (2005). Can exercise improve self-esteem in children and young people? A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39, 792–798.
*Department of Health (2004). The benefits of regular physical activity. A report from the Chief Medical Officer. At least five days a week: evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health. Retrieved September 25, 2006 from http://www.dh.gov/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/ PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=40809948chk=1Ft1Of.
External links
National Program for Playground Safety
– U.S. clearinghouse for playground safety information
The Overprotected Kid
– article about adventure playgrounds in ''The Atlantic''
This new ‘risky’ playground is a work of art – and a place for kids to escape their mollycoddling parents
(Sanné Mestrom, ''The Conversation,'' November 9, 2022)
at ''The New York Times''
{{Authority control
Play (activity)
Outdoor recreation
Parks