We Speak Playground

With seemingly endless waves of COVID-19 barraging the nation, some schools are open, some aren’t. There are also more families opting for home schooling even if their district is open. If your child is learning at home, it’s essential to keep them active outdoors to help them stay balanced, healthy and happy. Check out these upsides to promoting outdoor time for your kids in this growingly uncertain world.

We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to help you improve your playground project. That’s why we’re so excited to announce two new additions to the May Recreation lineup: Mini City and Miracle Museum.

Both of these product lines are designed to allow little ones to inspire, engage, and interact in a safe and meaningful way. They feature bright colors, durable construction and tons of interactive features to make your school, church, or neighborhood playground really stand out.

Getting your playground project up and running requires funding from donors in one form or another. If you are struggling with finding ways to engage with donors, consider the following four methods. Each one requires its own unique set of processes to implement, but they are all equally powerful ways to fund your playground project.

Having a playground in your neighborhood provides a safe space for children to get outdoors, socialize and get the body moving in active play. However, most people don't have the ready funding to have one built in their community. While hosting bake sales and other fundraising events can bring in the neighbors who will give donations, another way to get the funding for playgrounds is to find grants.

Playgrounds set the stage for many elements of child development. By learning through play, children are able to discover and understand the world surrounding them. They offer environments for advancing fine and gross motor skills. Beyond those physical developments, life skills and emotional growth moments occur that will guide and serve them through all stages of life.

Some dog lovers might argue that all you need for a good dog park is dogs. No one would argue. However, you can always make things more fun at your own dog park. Whether you run a local community dog park, or you are adding some special features to your backyard dog park, there are several ways to add joy to your canine oasis.  

The normal routines kids enjoyed just a few months ago are almost nonexistent today. They often aren’t allowed to see their friends or go to each other's house to play. If they played sports or enjoyed being part of a group of any sort, that has likely ended. Everyone around them is distant and wearing a mask covering their faces. Only their closest family hug them as everyone on the outside is keeping their six foot distance.

This has led many kids to experience the very real effects of depression for the first time in their lives. It’s understandable. After all, we as humans are social beings, so denying that need would understandably lead to anxious or sad feelings. Thankfully, there are ways to help your child overcome the doldrums they are experiencing by embracing the great outdoors through play. 

With all our lives semi-permanently adjusted due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and its risk of infection, everyone needs to do their part to maintain personal health protection and social distancing. Per the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), hand sanitizer and hand-washing are key activities that should be performed frequently to cut down on the chance of contact transfer of the virus along with masks. In this regard, May Recreation makes available an entire line of playground-specific hand sanitizer stands that can accommodate playground equipment and locations, complementing the regular cleaning of playground equipment and making sanitizing resources readily available for children.

Playgrounds and outdoor learning activities provide a wealth of benefits to children. They learn to socialize, enhance their hand and motor skills, practice sharing and learn other positive benefits. Recess time also keeps children engaged in an active lifestyle, as this activity promotes both good physical and mental wellbeing.

Normally when the days get longer and the weather becomes nicer, you'll see kids flocking to the playgrounds, basketball courts, soccer fields and more to enjoy time outdoors. Then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and playgrounds across the country were shuttered in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. Now that the country is opening back up, so too are playgrounds - and that's a good thing.