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.

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.

Visiting the playground is likely one of your child’s favorite activities. The playground is also where you child learns to interact socially with other children and gets that much needed physical exercise. It’s unfortunate that the playground is also a source of germs, but there are some clever ways to avoid germs on the playground.

At May Recreation, we know how important communities are. There has been no time in recent history when this has been more true than during the coronavirus outbreak. Our first responders, medical professionals, local school personnel, including teachers, educators and administrators, grocery store clerks, postal employees, delivery drivers, pharmacists, garbage collectors and so many more, are putting their lives on the line to provide vital services to the communities in which they live and serve. We'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge their efforts and to thank them for the essential care, supplies, and services they are providing to their communities during this difficult time.

Social distancing – it’s like a never-ending rainy day, without the rain. We’re not stuck indoors due to anything our kids can see and the electricity still works; thank goodness! With many adults now unexpectedly working from home and schools closed, the simple answer for an activity is indulging in different forms of screen time on repeat. But we all know the easy way out isn’t always the best way.

Click here to download a copy of Cleaning Miracle Equipment to Remove COVID-19.

Please use the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) recommendations for disinfection to remove COVID-19 from your Miracle equipment.

Childhood obesity has become a growing problem in recent generations. With today's technology-driven landscape, many kids don't move as much as they should, which means they're not burning calories. As a result, their bodies accumulate more fat than generations before them did. According to the CDC, obesity affects about 13.7 million children and adolescents between the ages of two and 19, which is about 18.5% of that population. Children between the ages of 12 and 19 have the highest obesity rates, measuring at 20.6% of the population.