Playgrounds continue to be a popular place for children to interact with each other and engage in fun and healthy activities. Since the first one was built around 130 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts, families with young children have received a variety of benefits from having playgrounds in their neighborhoods. While these play areas may differ in size and the type of equipment they have, they are an excellent place for children to receive the exercise they need.
Recent studies have shown that many children aren’t engaged in enough physical activity, however. When considering the six to 11-year-old-age group, just 43% are getting the recommended amount of daily exercise. This is surprising when taking into account that the recommend amount of exercise for this age group is just 60 minutes a day.
In addition to exercising children’s bodies, regular play also helps to develop their brains. There are a minimum of 400 genes that are located in the cerebral cortex that further develop when children are engaged in meaningful play. This includes interactive games and other types of physical activities that can assist them with developing dexterity, coordination, and balance.
Some children are, of course, more active than others. While this may vary from child to child, 60 minutes of moderate exercise is usually enough for them to maintain a healthy weight. Playground play is a fun way for children to be more active, from climbing up stairs to go down the slide to clambering up playground climbing walls. Horse spring riders can also be a good source of exercise along with other types of outdoor commercial playground equipment.
Currently, a large percentage of elementary school students have recess time. This amounts to 73% of the school districts throughout the United States. If all school districts provided this recess time, however, there’s an excellent chance that their students would benefit from this time out of the classroom. While all classroom activities may not be sedentary, providing recess allows children more time to be physically active when using commercial playground equipment.
Since you want to ensure that the children under your care are receiving enough exercise, you may be planning to build or update your existing playground. Were you aware that children will actually be encouraged to exercise more when you rebuild an existing playground? Recent studies show that this will increase their play time by as much as 66%! This is most likely due, in part, to the appearance of new equipment as well as the increased variety that is available. If a child has never seen or had access to a climbing wall, for instance, there’s a good chance that they will be both curious and encouraged to experience this piece of equipment.
When your day care center, school, or church is located in an area that experiences inclement weather, you may be interested to know that indoor playground equipment is also available. Whether you want indoor or outdoor equipment, or both, you want to be sure that it’s of the highest quality. Once you contact a company that provides quality commercial playground equipment, you can learn more about what would work best in your playground area. After your playground is built or upgraded, just imagine how happy the children will be to play there.
