playground equipment

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

Outdoor playgrounds can be found any place where kids would like to play, like parks, schools, picnic places, recreation clubs, daycare centers, churches and backyards. An outdoor playground is designed for kids specially, while kids are playing, parents can have time to relax themselves, the function of playgrounds is not only used for kids to have fun, but also can practice their full ability in physical strength, dexterity, agility and concentration. Outdoor playgrounds are made with different exercising purpose; they can be climbers, slides, walking bridges and some overhead hangings.

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.