The race is exhilarating! Three ten-year-old boys and an 11-year-old girl on teams race across the horizontal climbing bars. Their arms are stretched and tense as they grasp onto each bar. Cheering erupts from the kids higher up on the playground dome climber. After grabbing the last bar, the girl and her teammate jump down first. They raise their arms victoriously with loud whooping cries. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? But did you know that climbing does not offer just fun as a benefit?.
Children aged five to 18 need weekly physical activity. Climbing is an excellent fitness activity. It strengthens muscles and bones and develops upper body strength.
Adding various exciting and safe playground climbing opportunities reduces the time kids are sedentary. Unlike the inactivity of playing video games on the couch for hours, climbing equipment offers other vital benefits for child development.
In early childhood, climbing is essential. It helps hone directional and spatial awareness and contributes to enhancing physical skills such as:
Proprioception is the ability to sense our body’s position and movement in space. Humans would be lost without this ability. Climbing requires hands and feet to negotiate varying inclines, levels and distances between platforms. These skills can enhance a child’s proprioception.
Proprioception activities quickly improve core executive functions in a child, such as working memory.
A University of North Florida research project shows that proprioceptive activities can affect memory within a few hours. The study found that the working memory of participants increased by 50 percent two hours after climbing.
Climbing makes children think and use their bodies. The result is often enhanced memory and improved classroom performance.
The brain considers climbing structures a sequence of problems to overcome. Thus, climbing uses the same cognitive functions involved in using logic and solving puzzles.
Kids who start clambering at an early age adapt to new or unknown environments to encourage skills such as:
Whether playing on the climbing rings or using a playground dome climber, it’s a puzzle waiting to be solved.
It increases:
It shows children the value of decision-making.
Climbing often happens in groups. It encourages cooperation, whether hanging out on the structure or racing to the top. Kids take turns and learn teamwork. They usually celebrate accomplishments in climbing as they congratulate each other on new accomplishments.
Children teach each other lessons about:
When climbing together, they require social and obliging skills. This cooperation builds trust—the center of every friendship. It fine-tunes the social and collaborative skills they use in school and later in life.
Making their way up or over a structure helps foster emotional maturity by boosting confidence and self-satisfaction. Children enjoy the opportunity to challenge themselves, and succeeding creates healthy esteem. Clambering around a structure is also a physical activity that can improve mood and overall well-being. It focuses little minds on the climbing task, putting anxieties and worries aside.
Kids can imagine scaling Mt. Everest or skyscrapers like their favorite movie characters. They participate in their invented world through imaginative, social, and cooperative play. Most climbing equipment offers numerous options to nurture the imagination.
Climbing equipment can also help develop the physical, emotional and sensory needs of children with additional needs. It’s a motivating way to provide occupational and physical therapy. It allows the child to have fun, discover, and explore using their senses.
Climbing allows the child to move their bodies and be more involved in physical activities.
Climbing helps with developing communication skills. Children must be clear and concise when giving each other instructions. While solving a problem, they can’t be unambiguous. Purposeful communication is essential.
It also helps children understand the meaning of words and language. They learn to connect their actions to verbal language.
It’s constructive for children to learn how to manage and assess risk. Climbing is a great place to experiment and learn during active play. By exploring and climbing, children will discover how to test their limits. Climbing encourages children to go outside their comfort zone.
Being daring and taking calculated risks improves mental attitudes and confidence. It promotes overall well-being.
Most playground injuries are preventable. There are several ways to avoid accidents, starting with adult safety guidance. Free play is necessary, so adults ought to supervise but not structure or guide all play.
Teaching children to use the climbing equipment correctly will help them avoid falls. Kids should know to use both hands or at least have three points on the climbing equipment at all times. That means two hands and one foot or two feet and one hand.
Adults should tell children to stay well behind the person before them. They also need to be aware of swinging feet to prevent kicks. Ensure the kids know that when dismounting, they do so at the lowest point, always have their knees bent, and land on two feet.
Watch what children are wearing. Necklaces or sweatshirts with necklaces can get caught on equipment and become a strangulation hazard. Remember to keep jump ropes and pet leashes away from climbing equipment.
You must choose climbing equipment that is geared toward your child’s age. Other criteria for climbing equipment include:
For school-aged children, ensure that platforms are over 30 inches above the ground and have guardrails or barriers to prevent falls.
Ropes, cargo nets, and other vertical and horizontal spaces should be less than 3 ½ wide or more than nine inches wide. These guidelines are imperative to prevent a small child’s head from getting trapped.
Make sure to evenly space horizontal supports used to climb a ladder. Any round rungs should be about one to 1 ½ inches in diameter to ensure a firm grip by young hands.
In hotter climates, it’s advisable to have canopies over the climbing equipment to provide shade.
Climbing equipment requires maintenance. Check for sharp edges regularly. If the Climbing equipment is wooden, ensure you check for protruding nails or screws. Metal structures shouldn’t have rust or peeling paint. Never use paint containing lead..
Stay clear of hard surfaces like concrete or asphalt. Although a grassy area may appear soft, it doesn’t absorb much shock.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends a thick layer of one of these materials, including:
Concrete/Asphalt is ideal for our fitness equipment, such as LifeTrail®, sports courts, or ENERGI™, and the electronic playground NEOS, but not for children’s playgrounds.
Clambering on safe structures provides youngsters with many physical benefits—but it goes beyond that. Climbing equipment teaches children social and problem-solving skills. Kids learn spatial awareness and risk assessment. These traits help them academically and later on in life.
Climbing equipment must be safe and fun. Contact Playworld today to find the perfect climbing equipment. We’ll find you excellent equipment and help you plan your entire playground.