Austin Stanfel

5 Physical Preschool Games to Boost Childhood Development

Do you want to make your children learn skills while playing and having fun? Are you working on your child’s mental and physical development? Do you want to make your child more patient? If yes, then you have come to the right place.

Children learn through playing. Playground Games and activities are best for children’s developmental, physical, and cognitive skills. Children should be allowed to play games daily to learn and develop new skills while enjoying themselves.

These five preschooler playground games will help in your child’s skill development.

Running, Jumping, Climbing

Children have more urge to move and run. Running, jumping, and climbing are very effective in children’s physical and mental development. Climbing trees and playgroup equipment can develop body awareness. Allow them to do so. Provide children with an age-appropriate challenge; this will allow your child to build up a sense of confidence and develop a spirit in him by performing different tasks.

Red Light, Green Light

Red light, Greenlight is a perfect game for your child to develop patience. Children don’t like to stand still, so this game will help them develop patience. It is straightforward to play this game. One kid stands facing the other side of the playfield; the main goal is to touch the person first without getting caught while moving.

Greenlight is when the person faces away; kids have to move on green light towards them. Red light is when the person faces you, which signals kids to stop moving.

Hopscotch

Hopscotch is a classic playground game. This sidewalk game will help your child with developing excellent critical thinking skills. Draw a hopscotch shape on the sidewalk; toss a rock underhand at the hopscotch shape.

A kid must navigate the hopscotch course avoiding the square on which the rock landed. Kids have to plan to figure out the best route. This will help your child enhance their thinking ability. This will sharpen their mental skills.

Hide and Seek

Hide and seek helps them learn the concept of object permanence. Hide and seek encourages the children to use their imagination and help them build up an ability to solve problems. This will help them develop many skills such as learning to deal with conflicts between participants, waiting to take their turns, work efficiently in teams.

Hide and seek will polish your child’s mental growth and give them physical benefits. Exercise helps build stamina and muscle development. Hide and seek will improve their balance and coordination.

Nature Play

Forest schools are top-rated these days and highly regarded in the childhood development of kids. Nature play is healthy; it will help your kid respect the environment. It will be an introduction to biology for your kids as well.

It stimulates creativity in children. It will help children to develop the skill of problem-solving. Kids who spend more time playing in nature have increased concentration and cognitive skills. They are sharper than other kids of their age group.

3 Ways to Customize Your Playground

There are tons of communities transforming their playgrounds to be more educational, fun, and customized to their landscape. What’s a better way to personalize a playground than to use the landscape around you? With the geography in, let’s say, California, it’s very rocky and full of mountains. So a significant aspect that they use throughout their playgrounds is mountain climbing and themed like the national parks that are all around them.

It’s time to bring your customization to your playground. Make it a vibrant and playful place for kids to learn and express themselves. You can still have a fully equipped playground. Just add a few custom pieces that remind people where they’re from. Let’s dive into some ways that you can customize your playground for the families in your community.

Custom Paths & Surfaces

The first of many great ways to personalize your playground is to include custom surfacing. One of the most fun things for kids is a rubber floor. They can bounce on the spongy consistency, and it is a safer place for them to play than jumping on bark or wood chips. You are even able to customize it into different colors and shapes. Some other parks have animal prints in their custom rubber flooring. This is beneficial in many ways because kids love animals, and if they see a particular animal in the rubber flooring, they’ll stop to look at it.

Design a Playful Experience

Another great way to personalize your playground is to include custom play sculptures. You can find structures that are lightweight and durable. Other added materials will make the structure different colors and more realistic looking. For example, some community parks are designing structures that involve animals native to that particular area. The idea is to make them more extensive than you’d find them in the wild; that way, the kids have a fun jungle gym to climb around. They are unique, eye-catching, and the children have a lot of fun playing with different animals.

Natural Surroundings for Custom Experience

Some designers encounter challenging landforms when creating a new park or playground. While some may see these as barriers to their design, others embrace the natural landscape and utilize it as part of the space.

For example, a landscape architect designed a park in Utah that wanted to embrace its natural and hilly geography. This made the a complete playground so much more interactive and added another element of fun and adventure.

In the end, use nature to your advantage. It will be worth it. There are a million ways that you can utilize the space around you. You don’t have to destroy nature when you’re building/designing a playground. Embrace nature and give the kids in your community a learning opportunity with a fun landscape park. They will love it and also be learning something new at the same time.

Benefits of Accessible Playgrounds

Playgrounds are a central point in many neighborhoods and a great place for children to hang out. At playgrounds, children can run and play with their peers while having fun and developing essential skills for their futures. The problem is that in the past, playgrounds weren’t something that was accessible to all children. This meant that some children, especially those with disabilities, weren’t able to access the playgrounds. This also meant that they couldn’t reap the many benefits that playgrounds have to offer children. This is why accessible playgrounds are the best way to go these days.

Plan for Accessibility

Whenever you plan an installation or renovation, you should consider the different barriers that could prevent any child from accessing the playground equipment. This means accounting for disabilities or things like whether or not the child needs a wheelchair. This matters because things like wood chips, narrow pathways, non-ramped platforms higher up, and raised slides can be nearly impossible for people with disabilities to access the playground.

If you’re unsure where to start planning for accessibility, you can look to the ADA requirements for guidance. They have released requirements for any Commercial playground Equipment , which was established to ensure all children can access any recreational equipment that they want to play with. This allows children to access all of the benefits that this offers for child development. The best way to plan an accessible playground is by utilizing these guidelines for your playground installation or renovation.

An excellent summary of these guidelines is offered by the U.S. Access Board guide, which offers essential information about ADA planning requirements. This is especially useful for making accessible routes in the playground, transfer systems, and accessible ground surfaces that you can choose from. It also covers a wide variety of other information that you may find helpful.

Understanding Who’s Required to Comply with These ADA Requirements

According to the ADA, “each service, program, or activity conducted by a public entity” needs to comply with their requirements. These places include government parks, public school playgrounds, and any other place considered public accommodation. Complying with these standards is not only the right thing to do morally, but it’s also the right thing to do legally. All children have the right to play, and the ADA requirements make this possible.

Conclusion

In the past, children of different abilities were unable to enjoy playgrounds with their peers. This could not only negatively impact their mental health, but it could also impact their ability to gain all of the benefits that playground play has to offer. By making playgrounds more accessible, you are making it so that all children can have these fantastic experiences offered by playgrounds. Playgrounds are a place where children learn essential skills that they need to succeed in the future. By making accessible playgrounds, you ensure that children of all abilities can benefit from playing at the park.

The Cost of Outdoor Fitness Equipment and How to Budget for It

Outdoor fitness areas are massively popular as more look to fight the fat and get healthy. Outdoor fitness equipment is trendy, with parks dedicating space exclusively for this purpose. Most adults can use them and are ideal for fitness enthusiasts and those looking to have fun. Unfortunately, planning an outdoor fitness area takes careful thought, consideration, and sizeable funds. While outdoor fitness equipment is a fantastic idea for communities worldwide, the costs might surprise you. So, what is the actual cost of buying outdoor fitness equipment, and how to budget for it?

It Isn’t Cheap

Costs can vary considerably for outdoor fitness equipment. In some instances, you could pick up individual pieces from anywhere between $1,000 to $5,000 – that is, if you’re fortunate. It depends on where you source your equipment from. On the other hand, if you wanted to create a sizeable outdoor area with several pieces of fitness equipment, costs are likely to soar over the $10,000 range. Depending on the overall size of the area, you could be talking more than $45,000.

Of course, these figures depend on the amount of equipment you wish to purchase only. You then must factor in the cost for installation, shipping, and everything else. It could be over $50,000 by the end of the project. While outdoor fitness equipment is widespread, its expensive, and you’ll need to budget for it seriously.

Do Your Research

It’s great you want to create an outdoor fitness arena because more people need the encouragement to get up, move, and stay active. However, before you rush to purchase any equipment, push the pause button, and think about the financial side. The costs may be closer to $50,000, so for that, you must know where the money is coming from. Do you need to fundraise, or is the funds already secured? If not, you need to research where this money will be sourced from a local grant or a benefactor. Then, you need to research the type of equipment available and how much it costs.

You could even look at quotes for the surfacing work that’ll be required, along with the installation costs. That’ll give you a great starting point and ensure you know how much you’ll likely need to budget for in the long term.

Plan, Edit, and Re-Plan

It’s essential to draw up plans for the outdoor fitness arena. It would help to sketch out where each piece of equipment will go and how the finished park will look. You can edit and rework the plans until its suitable for the area you’re working with. It could also be wise to consider the following factors:

Strength and Aerobics
Balance and Core Training
Stretching
Flexibility

While you might not consider these factors, they are essential, nonetheless. These will help you determine which equipment is necessary and what is going to be the most effective. If you can have even one piece of equipment to cover these bases, you’ll ensure the outdoor fitness equipment is open to everyone.

What Equipment Will Be in Greater Demand

Some pieces of outdoor fitness equipment are hugely popular with locals and others that are rarely noticed. While you do want to have lots of equipment, it isn’t always necessary or wise. This is especially true if there is a lack of space. Remember, fitness equipment costs a lot of money, so you must think about the most used pieces that’ll appeal to the local community. For example, the cardio walker might appeal to 99% of the local community, whereas a body curl station only appeals to 20%.

It makes sense to choose the cardio walker; that doesn’t mean you can’t buy the body curl machine in the future. This also allows you to focus your budget on the essential pieces. It’s an intelligent way to shore up your budget. Focus on what’s affordable and what offers the most value for money.

Leave 20% of Your Overall Budget to Unexpected Costs.

Let’s say you have an overall budget of $40,000, and you estimate costs to be around $32,000. You are probably tempted to purchase more equipment, especially since there will be roughly $10,000 leftover; however, that’s the wrong mindset to take. What would happen if there were unforeseen additional costs and there was nothing left to cover them? That is the fastest way to tank the outdoor fitness arena. Instead, you want to keep aside at least 20-30% of your overall budget. This would cover most unexpected costs and ensure the project remains on schedule.

Many people don’t do this; however, it can be a brilliant idea as costs can rise unexpectedly. If there is money left over at the end of the project, you could donate some to local causes, use it to plant new trees, or purchase accessories for the outdoor fitness arena or theme park.

Make Most of Your Money

Outdoor fitness equipment can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and it’s easy to be a little put off the idea. However, with a bit of careful planning, your dream of creating a new fitness park can be achieved. Budgeting isn’t too tricky either. Of course, you need to source and secure the funds and set aside a portion of the budget for unforeseen expenses.

Adding Inclusive Play into Existing Playground

Kids require the ability to play with other kids for their social and emotional development. Every kid deserves the opportunity to have this experience. Unfortunately, older playgrounds may not have inclusive play options that allow all of the children a space to play. The good news is that there are ways that you can add inclusive play into an existing playground so that you don’t have to spend the money replacing everything. By reading on, you can learn how you can add these inclusive options so that every kid can play safely.

Evaluate the Current Playground Design

Before you can begin any retrofitting process, you need to carefully evaluate your existing playground, including considering the age of the current equipment. This is when you can determine whether or not your equipment is up to the current standards. This is important because it will ensure that your playground equipment is safe enough to upgrade for inclusive play. If it is, you can move on to incorporating inclusive play into your new design. If not, you need to make sure everything is up to current standards of safety before adding inclusive elements into the playground.

Add Sensory Components

Embedded sensory panels and events that encourage creative play are a great way to make a playground great for every kid that comes to the park. Sensory play is meant to engage all of the body’s senses, which helps regulate the sensory systems that are essential for coordinating movement and behavior in kids. There are plenty of different options that you can choose from here, allowing you to pick the perfect sensory panels for your existing playground.

One of the great things about adding these features is that this is an affordable way for you to add inclusiveness to your play. You can replace any outdated panels that need replacement with these items, allowing you to upgrade the playground set without having to spend a lot of money.

Add Free-Standing or Ground-Level Events

These are essential features to have because it means that your park will have features that are accessible for kids of all ages and abilities. Ground-level events are especially great for accessibility and generational play. Again, consider your current design and see where you can include these types of devices for your space.

You have several different options in this category that you can consider, depending on the space available for these features.

Conclusion

By working with a professional Preschool playground equipment company, you can utilize your existing playground design while still adding inclusive features that allow kids of all ages and abilities to play at the playground. This is important because all kids should have the opportunity to play in a playground and reap all of the benefits that playgrounds have in common. Inclusive play means that everyone can play together and develop the social and emotional skills essential to becoming functioning adults.

4 Ways to Enhance your Park and Recreation Center

Parks and recreation centers are vital to the overall health of a community. They provide residents with open green spaces and recreational activities. More importantly, they provide the opportunity for a community to enjoy a shared space where they can have fun together.

People love parks and recreation centers, particularly in urban areas where many people live in apartment blocks. Aside from providing open spaces and a place to have fun and be active, they make the neighborhood look good, and they are an integral part of a community’s infrastructure.

Whether you’re building a new park or recreation center, you should consider their individual, family, community, environmental, and economic importance.

Individual Benefits:-

Parks and recreation centers promote an active lifestyle for the entire community, no matter what their age. Benefits for individuals include:

The opportunity to interact with other people in the community
A place to be active and keep fit
A calm, sharp mind
Preventing obesity
A healthy environment for old and young
Environmental Benefits

A public community space usually has lots of greenery, many trees, and expansive lawns. This has a beneficial impact on the environment as well as the community. Environmental benefits include:

Improved air quality
Water conservation
Protects fauna and flora
Minimizes traffic footprint
Economic Benefits

Parks and recreation centers are also of benefit to the local economy. The businesses nearby will benefit from the people who spend their time in these community spaces, especially when there is a playground and fitness Commercial playground equipment.

Stimulate the local economy
Increase property values

A communal public space adds remarkable value to a community. Improving the amenities of a park or recreation center and designing it to accommodate the local community’s needs is key to ensuring that it appeals to people and promotes social interaction and physical activity.

Here are four ways to enhance your park or recreation center to be conducive to physical activity and social interaction.

1. Create a Maintenance Schedule

Be intentional about what plant you grow where
Trim the greenery regularly
Regularly check and service playground equipment
Pick up litter and empty bins
Clean restrooms regularly

2. Create Dedicated Gathering Spaces

Sports fields to accommodate local sporting clubs
Shaded areas or Gazebos
Playground equipment
Fitness systems suitable for people of all ages
Places where people can sit down and eat
Barbecue areas

3. Have a Designated Dog Park

Freshwater for dogs
Free poop bags
Leash posts
Play equipment

4. Invest in equipment and furnishing

Group fitness equipment
Inclusive playground equipment
Comfortable, well-placed benches and tables
Park and recreation centers are vital to a community and impact health, economic, environmental, and even safety benefits. It is of the utmost importance that they are designed to be a fun recreational space for people of all ages and abilities.

What You Need to Know About Professional Playground Installation

When you are planning to install a playground at a school, park, or church, you may want to save money where you can and install it yourself. However, finding a professional commercial playground installation company can be one of the wisest decisions that you make with your playground set. You want any kids using the playset to be as safe as possible, and a professional installation team is the best way to ensure their safety. Reading on, you can learn why you need a professional installation team to set up your playset.

Why Do You Need a Professional Installation Team?

The most important reason you need a professional installation team to handle your playground installation is that you are getting a playground that is both installed and inspected by an expert team of Certified Playground Inspectors. This professional team will start by planning the delivery and setup, then install the playset and inspect the playground to ensure it’s as safe as possible. The team will work closely with you to ensure the playset is installed exactly where you want it.

These professionals have a great deal of knowledge and experience when it comes to installing and inspecting School playground equipment. They will focus on installing the playset to code while also ensuring that it meets your specifications.

What You Can Expect When Working with a Professional Playground Installation Team

Now that you know how important it is to hire a professional playground installation team, it’s time to look at what you can expect when working with professionals to install your playground.

They will start by making sure that the site is adequately prepared for the installation. They will make sure that there are no underground utilities in the area, determine whether or not you need permits for the job, level the site, and make sure that the site is big enough for the critical safety use zones.

You will need specific equipment to install a commercial playset. A professional team has a wide variety of tools that are required to install a playset. You need to be sure that you have the right equipment. Otherwise, you won’t be able to install the playset properly.

Lastly, the team of professional playground installers includes certified inspectors that will take a close look at the playset after its installation. This offers you peace of mind and certainty that the playset will be safely installed and ready for kids to use. You never want to take any chances when it comes to children playing.

Conclusion

Complete Playground areas can be an excellent place for kids to spend their time. However, you don’t want them to get seriously injured because the playset wasn’t correctly installed. This is why you should be sure to always hire a professional team for commercial playground installation. Not having your playground correctly installed can result in a playground that is up to code and could lead to potentially serious injuries. Always trust a professional company for your playground installation needs.

Rebuilding Communities Using Play

When people think about playgrounds, they think of great places to bring their kids to burn energy and socialize with other children. But playgrounds are more than that. These are excellent for communities to come together. When a playground is in disrepair or needs an upgrade, the community comes together to rebuild their community playground. This brings the community closer together and helps have a stronger bond during the difficult times that a community may face. Playgrounds are unique to communities, and especially when a storm ruins a playground, the community comes together to rebuild it.

But why are playgrounds so crucial for the community? Here’s a look at why playgrounds are essential for a strong community.

Forming Bonds with Fellow Neighbors

When you take your kids to the park, they will typically just start playing with other kids. Often, that gets the parents together, connecting and developing a strong sense of community. The stronger the bonds within the community, the stronger the community will be. Playgrounds are safe spaces where parents and neighbors can have positive interactions on neutral grounds. These interactions can positively improve one’s mental health and ensure that people feel belonging in their communities.

Teaches Kids Essential Social Skills

It’s a fact that children learn through play. This is where they develop the essential social skills to develop into productive adults in the future. These essential skills include playing cooperatively, turn-taking, and the ability to work as part of a group. If the park is an inclusive playground that children of all abilities can use, all kids in the community can learn these essential social skills.

Public Parks Improve the Local Economy

Did you know that houses in communities adjacent to parks can often be worth more than 20% more than other houses in the area? This is an excellent factor to consider when you want to rebuild the community through play.

Improve the Health of Communities

Playgrounds can be great for the health of the communities. First of all, the abundance of trees found in parks can help provide cleaner air and water in the local area, reducing pollution and side effects such as asthma and other respiratory issues. Commercial Playground Equipment also encourages the people in the neighborhood to get out and play, which keeps the children and adults active. This activity can help reduce problems like obesity, which negatively impact the health of the community.

Conclusion

Playgrounds are so much more than just play areas in the community for the kids. When a playground is destroyed in a community, the community can come together and rebuild it to rebuild the cornerstone of their community. The local playgrounds offer so many benefits for the community that when neighbors come together to rebuild it, they rebuild their community and make it stronger.

Pros and Cons of Each Type of Playground Safety Surfacing

The choice of playground surfacing is quite varied for the playground designer and customer, who may be implementing it. These surfaces lie underneath and around the playground equipment and structures and form part of the playground, and need to encompass the safety concerns that come with playground design.

When choosing the most suitable surface, reviewing all options is essential as some are better than others, depending on your requirements. For example, a rubber surface poured in place is ideal for parks with tall structures, whereas loose fill (often wood bark-based) options may be more suitable for the more budget-conscious playground designs.

Engineered Wood Fiber (EWF)

Engineered wood fiber (EWF) is a popular choice as a loose-fill surface for playgrounds. This affordable and versatile covering meets the more basic accessibility guidelines of the ADA and has excellent water absorbent qualities. If you need something quick and easy, combined with affordability, EWF meets those needs.

There are some negative aspects to this option. Engineered wood fiber is easily displaced and requires a regular maintenance schedule involving raking and replenishment to maintain the correct depth and impact attenuation to give complete protection to playground users. This material is also not particularly friendly to wheelchair users and other mobility devices.

Poured-in-place (PIP)

A Poured-in-place (PIP) rubber surface is a favorite unitary safety surface option, popular and accessible with the ADA; it is also inclusive. Available in a wide range of color options, i’s easy to match any playground design and allows the addition of incorporated maps and pictures, hopscotch, and other games. It is even possible to create unique shape designs, logos, and themes. Poured-i-place rubber surfaces are durable, soft, and cannot be displaced.

The negatives are the cost as it is an expensive option and needs to be professionally installed. It also requires a compacted crushed stone subsurface that will require certification using concrete or asphalt.

Recycled Bonded Rubber

A Recycled Bonded Rubber surface is made from recycled shredded rubber tires. This safe option is accessible to children with special needs. However, there are some negatives; six inches of material is required to protect the children fully and lasts approximately ten years.

Loose Fill Recycled Rubber

Loose Fill Recycled Rubber is also available in multiple colors, which benefits optimal playground design. This material will not decompose and has an excellent impact-absorbing quality. Although it has a higher initial cost, loose-fill recycled rubber can be more economical than EWF as it won’t decompose and requires less topping up of material.

Negatives are that it is not particularly inclusive, hindering wheelchair and mobility device access.

Recycled rubber tiles

Recycled rubber tiles provide excellent shock absorption, minimal maintenance, and extended durability. As with the other rubber products, tiles are available in almost any color option. Single damaged tiles can be replaced.

They do need to be professionally installed School Playground Equipment and have a high initial investment.

Synthetic Turf

The final option is synthetic turf. This is low maintenance. A natural-looking option will need to be professionally installed but will require no watering or mowing.

Outdoor Learning-Taking the first step

It is often said that a child’s brain is like a sponge and that they learn and soak up information at every opportunity. This is not restricted to the classroom. Spending time outside in a playground with their peers, with parents or teachers, is also a chance for children to absorb information by learning to use equipment designed for them. Combine this with the social interaction and collaboration that comes with it; outdoor play is incredibly beneficial for children. Studies have shown that this kind of activity can also boost physical health and provide better sleep patterns.

The recent pandemic has placed restrictions on many classrooms across the globe, and conducting classes outdoors is being considered by many schools.

Change of mindset

It was often considered that playing outside was governed by the weather. Wet and dreary days lead to wet and cold children, and many feared that this causes illness. There are unique opportunities for learning in wet weather. Worms often appear during or after rainfall. Children will no doubt be excited to feel a wiggly worm in their fingers.

Preparation

The somewhat obvious way to combat the weather is to prepare for it and wear appropriate clothing. Dressing appropriately will keep everyone warm and dry while they venture out. If cost becomes an issue, consider asking families to donate outgrown clothing to the school or community center. Of course, changing in and out of clothing eats into a schedule and can be trying for teachers; they can also be considered excellent learning experiences. This activity builds on coordination as children place fingers into gloves, keeping them paired up. Children can collaborate to help each other put on and remove snow boots.

Wearing the proper clothing is the key to venturing outside to learn and should put to bed the fear parents have of children getting cold and wet.

Time to reconsider

Classrooms can be easily expanded to the outside, which can be considered an extension of the classroom. Many kinds of learning can happen, not just restricted to science—an Art class with clipboards for tables or foldable easels. Make life easy using a cart with wheels to help transport the Outdoor playground equipment from the inside to out. Involve the children in the activity to give them responsibility. Drama classes can have a new perspective when the setting moves outside. Music classes will also have a new experience with instruments needing to be louder or children need to be closer to hear it. Moving classes to the outdoors will bring a whole new set of topics to discuss and brings a new perspective to the classroom experience. With just a little bit of thought and preparation, it can excite the children into learning with a fresh impetus. Combine this with the recent Covid-19 issues around social distancing, and this can help keep classes running for longer as studies have shown that contracting the disease is severely reduced while outside.