Playgrounds offer children the perfect space to run, jump, and play freely with joy and exuberance, but the equipment, surfaces, and surrounding area can also pose injury risks which is why playground safety is an important issue.
Ensuring Fun and Safety: Your Guide to Playground Safety
The Power of Play: 7 Benefits of Sports and Teamwork for Children
Participation in team sports is not just about the joys of running around outside, scoring goals, smacking baseballs, and making game-saving tackles – it’s a powerful tool for the development of physical, mental, and social skills in children.
Topics: Play & Fitness Pediatric Health & Wellness Mental Health Child Development
Why Should I Add Fitness Equipment to My Park?
It is understood that exercise goes hand-in-hand with a healthy lifestyle overall. Therefore, one way to get more out of your park investment is to incorporate fitness equipment either designed for adults, kids, or both to use when visiting.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that for overall health or to maintain healthy levels, adults should do between 150 and 300 minutes of physical activity (moderate) weekly along with between 75 and 150 minutes of physical activity (aerobic) in the same time span.
Topics: Play & Fitness Pediatric Health & Wellness Mental Health Child Development
Tips for Making A School Playground Inclusive
Making a school playground inclusive is an all-in intentional effort. It’s more than building a ramp. While providing universal access is a major part, it's only a head start. The structures and equipment within the area need to encourage and challenge every child no matter what his or her abilities.
Topics: Pediatric Health & Wellness Inclusivity Child Development
May is Mental Health Month. Fortunately, mental health and its importance to a person's overall health is getting more attention recently. Good mental health is especially important for kids who might need additional support and access to resources due to their limited reach and knowledge.
Helping Children Make Friends at the Playground
Whether you’re a parent, caregiver or teacher, it’s only natural to want all of the children in your life to have plenty of friends and fun growing up. As an adult, it’s likely you’ve seen kids struggle to make friends—even in a playground or group setting. However, with a bit of guidance, compassion and knowledge, you can assist youngsters with making new friends and getting along with others, which are skills that serve them for a lifetime.
Topics: Childhood Unplugged Pediatric Health & Wellness outdoor learning
The Consequences of Increased Screen Time for Kids During the Pandemic
When the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly arrived in March 2020 many kids across the U.S. went overnight from a normal childhood environment where technology had a limited role to a digital-first world with school districts shutting down and lockdowns preventing outside play.
While the lockdowns eased and some school districts got back to in-person learning, or hybrid approaches, in the fall of 2020, other areas of the country had kids learning online for a full year.
Topics: Pediatric Health & Wellness
Help Kids Develop Motor Skills with Time on the Playground
Childhood is a time for learning and developing skills that will benefit kids as they grow up. For many kids, the playground serves as their very first classroom, giving them a chance to learn social skills and gain excellent problem-solving abilities. Beyond that, each type of specialized play equipment helps kids develop fine and gross motor skills of all kinds. Here’s how that works.
The playground you set up for children at your daycare center should be designed to meet a wide range of needs for growing kids. Of course, you want to create a fun place that will encourage children under your care to play and get exercise (and enjoy plenty of fresh air and sunshine), but it also needs to encourage learning and socialization. That’s what’s best for promoting early childhood development.
Topics: Pediatric Health & Wellness Inclusivity Accessibility
Unseen Risks of the Pandemic: Children's Mental Health
The current Coronavirus pandemic has people worrying about their health. Unfortunately though, the pandemic is taking its toll on people in a number of ways, including those who may not have even caught the virus. One of the unseen risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic is children's mental health. The mental health of children may be declining.
As a parent, this can be concerning, and you may be wondering why this is happening, what types of mental health issues children may be facing, and what you ca do to help your child's mental health. Here are some of the questions you may have, along with the answers.