playground equipment

Hanging apparatus usually conjures up memories of those hours spent trying to master the monkey bars as a child. Monkey bars remain one of the most challenging pieces of playground equipment and are now available in a variety of lengths of solid bars, swinging trapeze, parallel bars and up and over bars. These pieces of equipment help children build up their upper body strength as well as providing a sense of achievement once they have completed them.

Climbing playground equipment is by far the most popular type of apparatus. Climbing frames remain one of the most popular pieces due to their vast variety of shapes, sizes and challenges. From the traditional jungle gym to the web climbers,water parks, rock climbing walls and net traverse, there is something to keep children constantly entertained as well as helping them exercise without knowing it!

Different from traditional and recreational climbing, sports climbing has more strict requirement for the activity and the participant . Sport climbing is a style of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors fixed to the rock, especially bolts, for protection, in contrast with traditional climbing, in which the rock is typically devoid of fixed anchors, and climbers must place removable protection as they climb. Since the need to place protection is virtually eliminated, sport climbing places an emphasis on gymnastic ability, strength and endurance, as opposed to adventure, risk and self-sufficiency. Since artificial means are used primarily for safety rather than to make upward progress, sport climbing is considered a form of free climbing.

On a route suitable for sport climbing, pre-placed bolts follow a line up a rock face. Sport climbs are typically between 20 and 120 feet in length, and have eight to twelve bolts (some routes may have as few as three bolts, while other routes may have twenty-five or more).

Sport climbing can be undertaken with relatively little equipment. Equipment used in sport climbing includes: A dynamic rope, Quickdraws, A belay device, Climbing harnesses for belayer and climber, A few runners, A helmet, and Climbing Shoes and chalk bag are normally used, although not technically necessary.

To lead a sport climb is to ascend a route with a rope tied to the climber’s harness, and with the loose end of the rope handled by a belayer. As each bolt is reached along the route, the climber attaches a quickdraw to the bolt, and then clips the rope through the hanging end of the quickdraw. This bolt is now protecting the climber in the event of a fall. At the top of sport routes, there is typically a two-bolt anchor that can be used to return the climber to the ground or previous rappel point.
Because sport routes do not require placing protection, the climber can concentrate on the difficulty of the moves rather than placing protection or the consequences of a fall.

Sport climbing differs from traditional climbing with respect to the type and placement of protection. Traditional climbing uses mostly removable protection (such as cams or nuts), and tends to minimize the usage of pre-placed protection. Sport climbing typically involves single pitch routes, whereas traditional climbing can include single-pitch routes as well as longer, multi-pitch ascents. There are areas like El Potrero Chico that feature multi-pitch sport climbs, but longer routes generally lack pre-placed anchors due to economical, logistical or ethical reasons.

Rock types that produce good sport climbs include limestone, granite and quartzite, though sport climbs can be found on almost all rock types.

Playground slides are found in parks, schools, playgrounds and backyards. The slide may be flat, or half cylindrical or tubular to prevent falls. Slides are usually constructed of plastic or metal and they have a smooth surface that is either straight or wavy. The user, typically a child, climbs to the top of the slide via a ladder or stairs and sits down on the top of the slide and “slides” down the slide. In Australia the playground slide is known as a slippery slide or slippery dip.

Sliding pond or sliding pon is a term used in the New York City area to denote a playground slide.A playground slide is called Ghasargundi in Marathi (a language in India). An archaic word for the slide in Marathi is “Fisal Patti”. This word was used decades back by those couldn’t pronounce Ghasargundi well.

Playground slides are made of different materials. In the past, metal slides were popular and abundantly available. However, over time, these developed a number of problems that made them a poor choice. For instance, metal has a tendency to rust. Rust can be extremely dangerous as tiny hands could easily tear when they come into contact with these frayed edges. Also, metal tends to heat up quickly in the afternoon hours. Small children have to be extremely careful while using these. Due to these risk factors, metal swings have been largely replaced by plastic swings.

Playground slides come in a variety of shapes. The most commonly seen type is the slide that has a smooth ramp on one side and a secure stair on the opposite end. It is possible to add a few twists to the basic structure and get oodles more fun. For instance, the slide can come with a small playhouse. Children will play in the playhouse and slide out through the ramp. Some slides are totally enclosed, giving you the experience of sliding through a tunnel. Even the normal slides may come with slight twists and turns, which can give you a totally different but exhilarating result. For instance, the turning slide is a wonderful experience, quite different from the normal but equally thrilling.

These days, you have slides that can be used by more than one child at a time. These slides will start at the same point but have channels that lead to different destinations. If there is more than one child, such a slide is a wonderful addition to the park as it enables them to play team games.

As you can see, playground slides are fun and can give your children great opportunities for play. However, slides can be a mite dangerous if small children are left unsupervised on them. Children playing on slides must be closely supervised by an adult to ensure their safety. At any time, safety is the most significant.

The jungle gym, also known as monkey bars or climbing frame, is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of thin material, such as metal pipe or, in more current playgrounds, rope, on which children can climb, hang, or sit. The monkey bar designation was for the resemblance that playing children had to the rambunctious, climbing play of monkeys, though the term nowadays often refers specifically to a single row of overhead bars designed to be swung across.

The large, metal, cubic-shaped jungle gym was once common on playgrounds, but it led to injuries when children hit their heads on the bars or swung on them improperly, causing bruises, sprains, and fractures. It is more common now to find rope constructions similar in function, or wooden platforms with ladders and railings around the outer edges.
The first jungle gym was invented in 1920 and patented by lawyer Sebastian Hinton in Chicago. It was sold under the trademarked name Junglegym. The term “monkey bars” was first documented in 1955, though Hinton’s initial patent of 1920 appeals to the “monkey instinct” in claiming the benefits of climbing as exercise and play for children.Hinton’s chief goal, however, was to enable children to achieve an intuitive understanding of 3-dimensional space through a game in which numbers for the x,y, and z axes were called out and each child tried to be the first to grasp the indicated junction. Thus the abstraction of Cartesian coordinates could be grasped as a name of a tangible point in space.

One common type of jungle gym is a row of overhead bars, high enough for a child to hang from them but not so high as to cause serious injury in a fall. A child can “walk” hand-over-hand from one end to the other.

To reduce the risk of injury from falls, jungle gym areas often have a thick layer of wood chips or other impact-absorbing material covering the ground; the National Safety Council recommends that playgrounds have at least 12 inches (30 cm) of such material

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