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

One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought, storms, famine or pestilence upon human beings. Beginning with Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite the country, all the emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperor would ask Taiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, he proclaimed it as one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would last throughout the night. They clean it all up in the morning.

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment, so followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

Yet another common legend dealing with the origins of the Lantern Festival speaks of a beautiful bird that flew down to earth from heaven, which was hunted and killed by some villagers. This angered the Jade Emperor in Heaven because the bird was his favorite one. Therefore, he planned a storm of fire to destroy the village on the 15th lunar day. The Jade Emperor’s daughter heard of this plan, and warned the villagers of her father’s plan to destroy their village. The village was in turmoil because nobody knew how should they escape their imminent destruction. However, a wise man from another village suggested that every family should hang red lanterns around their houses, set up bonfires on the streets, and explode firecrackers on the 14th, 15th, and 16th lunar days. This would give the village the appearance of being on fire to the Jade Emperor. On the 15th lunar day, troops sent down from heaven whose mission was to destroy the village saw that the village was already ablaze, and returned to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. Satisfied, the Jade Emperor decided not to burn down the village. From that day on, people celebrate the anniversary on the 15th lunar day every year by carrying red lanterns on the streets and exploding firecrackers and fireworks.

There are many stories on how this festival was created. One other story is about a maid. In the Han Dynasty, Mr. Eastern was a favorite advisor of the emperor. One winter day, he went to the garden and heard a little girl crying and getting ready to jump into a well to commit suicide. Mr. Eastern stopped her and asked why. She said she was a maid in the emperor’s palace and her name was Yuan-Xiao. She never had the chance to meet her family after she started working at the palace. She missed them so much every 12th lunar month. If she couldn’t have the chance to show her filial piety in this life, she would rather die. Mr. Eastern promised her to find a way so she could reunion with her family. Mr. Eastern left the palace and set up a fortune-telling stall on the street and disguised himself as a fortuneteller. Because of his reputation, many people asked for thei r fortunes. But every one got the same prediction - a severe fire accident on the 15th lunar day. The rumor spread quickly.

Everyone was worried about the future and asked Mr. Eastern for help. Mr. Eastern said, “On the 13th lunar day, the God of Fire will send a fairy lady in red to burn down the city. If you see a lady in red wearing green pants riding a black horse on that day, you should ask for her mercy.” On that day, Yuan-Xiao pretended to be the red fairy lady. When people asked for her help, she said, “I’m the messenger of the God of Fire and came to check on the city and I’m going to set up fire on 15th. This is an order from Jade Emperor. He will watch from the heavens. I will give you a copy of the imperial decree from the God of Fire. You should go to ask your emperor to find a way out.” After she left, people went to the palace to show the emperor the decree which reads “The capital city is in trouble. Fire burns on the palace, and fire from Heaven burns all night long on the 15th.” The emperor of Han Dynasty was very shocked. He called and asked Mr. Eastern for advice. After pondering for a while, Mr. Eastern said, “I heard that the God of Fire likes to eat Tang-Yuan (Sweet dumpling). Does Yuan-Xiao often cook Tang-Yuan for you? On the 15th lunar day, let Yuan-Xiao make Tang-Yuan. Your Majesty will take charge of the worshipping ceremony and you will give an order to every house to prepare Tang-Yuan to worship the God of Fire at the same time. Also, deliver another order to ask every house in the city to hang red lantern and explode fire crackers. Lastly, everyone in the palace and people outside the city should carry their lanterns on the street to watch the lantern decoration and fireworks. If everything goes this way, the Jade Emperor would be deceived. Then everyone can avoid the fire accident.”
The emperor happily followed the plan. Lanterns were everywhere in the capital city on the night of the 15th lunar day. People were walking on the street. Fire crackers kept making lots of noise. It looked like the entire city was on fire. Yuan-Xiao’s parents went into the palace to watch the lantern decorations, and Yuan-Xiao made a big lantern and wrote her name on the lantern. They happily reunited together after her parents called her name. Everybody was safe during the night. The emperor of Han Dynasty had a new order that people should do the same thing every year. Since Yuan-Xiao cooked the best Tan-Yuan, people called the day Yuan-Xiao Festival.

Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples. The brightest lanterns were symbolic of good luck and hope. As time has passed, the festival no longer has such implications.
Those who do not carry lanterns often enjoy watching informal lantern parades. In addition to eating tangyuan, another popular activity at this festival is guessing lantern riddles (which became part of the festival during the Tang Dynasty), which often contain messages of good fortune, family reunion, abundant harvest, prosperity and love.

This article is witten by Amy. a present of Y&G company which is a professional manafacturer of amusement equipment, including outdoor playground equipment, indoor play area, fitness equipment, plastic toys, games machines, merry go round, swing sets, seesaws and so on.

Playing is a good way to release kids’ nature. However, nowadays, many children are wasting their time in playing computer, watching TV and immersing some video games. In addition, the rubbish foods, soft drinks and fried foods, this unhealthy diet is another risk to threaten kids’ growth. Outdoor playground is a good facility to work out kids’ energy and nurture their spiritual, moral and character development. Kids Playing in playground could develop health, initiative, cooperation and self-confident while diminishing idleness, selfishness and rowdy behavior. Because outdoor playground is just like a complicate social network, while kids are playing there, they can try to learn some basic relationship skill, the narrow over hangings can make them learn self-control and negotiation, while at climbers and slides, they can know the definition of taking turns.

There are so many advantages for outdoor playgrounds, then what should be noticed when purchasing an outdoor playground? First, when installing an outdoor playground, you should consider whether the space is enough for an outdoor playground to stay; second, you should decide what kinds of size and shape you want; third, whether the surrounding environment is safe for an outdoor playground, is there any trees, fences, sidewalks or drain which would affect it? Fourth, whether the material of outdoor playground is safe or environment-friendly. Fifth, make sure that choose a reliable playgrounds company which can guarantee the quality of outdoor playground.

If you are concerning about the price problem, you can certainly feel free, actually the home fitness equipment is much cheaper than you have thought. If you are looking for a low budget fitness equipment, then you can visit Y&G playgrounds website, there are a large amount of suitable fitness products. Besides the price issue, you also need to consider other elements when purchasing fitness equipments. For example, you can not buy four hundred pounds of weight if you are twenty-three percent body fat; the more physically fit you become, the more equipment you should invest in. also, you have to figure out the real space of your own gym room, you can not put a super fitness equipment to a tinny space.

If you only have a small space for gym workout, there are still available some small accessories, like inflatable balls, ankle weights, medicine balls and elastic bands, these are all good for home body-building. Just remember that the more equipment you get, the better workout effects you can have.

The structure of indoor playground differs from size, color, theme, modality and function; it can be single-unit or multi-unit; and the material chosen can be LLDPE, rotational mould, galvanized steel, sponge, wood, covered with PVC in general, but different designs different materials. Different colors and sand shapes are also available of all kinds of indoor playgrounds.

When choosing indoor playground, there are many aspects we should notice:
1.    Whether the location is large enough to install an indoor playground?
2.    What kind of size and theme you plan to buy? Indoor playgrounds are designed according to different age groups. You can choose the most suitable one for your kids based on his or her age.
3.    Is it safe enough for kids to play?
4.    Is there any potential danger that can threaten your children’s body or health? Like protruding objects and not environment-friendly materials.

The design of indoor playground is various and creative, it comprises of castles, tube crawl, talkie tube communications, clear lexan panels, space murals, speed slides, play panels, double bumpers, trampolines ocean pool, forts, barns, planes, ships, trains and cars and so on in general. As well as the shape and design of indoor playground, we have to mention about its wide suitable sites, it can be installed in malls, retails outlets, hospitals, schools or homes and also can be customized to suit children of all age groups from infants to teens. Indoor Playground structure also tends to attract people from all around the world. The kids can use off their energy and take their time in the best possibly manner without getting into trouble or harming themselves. Make sure you do choose a reliable playgrounds manufacturer that has full experience to make the best playgrounds for your kids.