By: Mike Alder
Submitted: 2012-02-13 10:38:52 | Word Count: 485
When I was out with my ten year old nephew recently I was pestered and pestered to allow him to go to the play park. He was out with his new state of the art stunt scooter, another example of pester power. I was to watch and admire and encourage and applaud. I have to say that I found it all a bit dangerous and as I did not want to be responsible for any broken limbs I agreed on a diversion to the park.
The play area has recently been given a makeover and what a fantastic job has been done. Gone are the rusty swings, slides and such and the broken glass and dog dirt on the ground. Instead there was a play area for toddlers to teens. An area that was safe as it was fenced off to keep out stray animals and also unwanted adults. The fencing was attractive and themed. My nephew spent all his time in the area designed for older children which was designed as a fort and had a stockade type fence. The area set aside for the younger children was in the style of a ship and the coloured fencing looked just like the boards from a boat.
[ advertisement ]
I was rather redundant as the nephew was having a whale of a time so I had a good look at what was on offer on the other side. I could not help thinking what a wise decision to segregate the two age groups, the younger children certainly benefitted from not having to get out of the way of more boisterous older children. Yet mothers and fathers could easily keep their eye on both.
The pirate ship area was being well used. The "ship" itself was central and had all the usual slides, walkways, ropes to swing on and poles to climb. To top it all there was the Jolly Rodger for all to see. Lots of skills were being honed here, but best of all it was fun. There were also sea animals to bounce on, dolphins and the like on springs to rock on and little trampolines to fall about on or balance on depending on skills. The sand pit area was a treasure to behold, hidden doubloons to find and little excavators to operate.
Great fun was being had in both areas. Here children were exercising and enjoying themselves in the open air, even though it was January and very cold they were having a ball. Most importantly there was not an electronic gadget in sight only updated versions of old favourites relished by past generations and bound to be enjoyed by those to come.
Author Resource:-Playground Equipment can help children appreciate the outdoors and develop a range of skills including creativity, imagination, fitness and social skills. Speak to Playground Markings Direct about playground installations, bespoke equipment and playground markings for low cost options.
