Inclusive Seesaws for Playgrounds

“Seesaw Margery Daw…” Do you remember singing that rhyme with friends while pushing yourself up and down on a seesaw? Do you recall keeping a friend or sibling suspended in mid-air to negotiate for that coveted marble or candy before letting them down? How many of us still share that song with our kids? Indeed, most of us would love our children to engage in more physical activity. Nonetheless, when talking seesaws, it’s best to begin with the fundamentals—the playground.

The Benefits of Playgrounds

Apart from the freedom and sheer joy of unstructured play, parks with inclusive play equipment and playgrounds offer many hidden developmental and therapeutic advantages.

• Social interaction: Shared play areas provide your children with opportunities to practice and observe social skills and make friends. For example, having fun with other kids on a playground seesaw helps your little one see what others are doing and learn to reciprocate and engage in conversation with new and familiar friends.

• Playground components: Each play area or apparatus encourages different play and supports diverse physical and emotional development goals. For instance, the humble seesaw encourages cooperation—and sometimes negotiation, and a good helping of self-confidence.

• Motion play: Most of the equipment in the playgrounds we design for you offer motion play. In other words, the children must use their bodies and cognitive skills to move the equipment. Moving the seesaw, swing or clambering on structures to move their bodies offers physical, emotional and intellectual lessons.

What’s in a Seesaw

Playing on a seesaw provides benefits for the physical growth of the child through experiencing balance and coordination. It enhances muscle strength and motor skills in preparation for other sports, games and fitness. Pushing off the ground firms up the legs, core and arms and teaches the body to control everyday items.

Playworld offers a conventional 2-seater seesaw with perfectly shaped seats at opposite ends of a sturdy double beam. Each child has a colorful safety handle to hold onto. The double pole hinges at the middle fulcrum, creating a stable, smooth pivot. As they push off the ground with feet on either side of the seat, one child rises, and the other goes down.

Also included are pliable yet sturdy landing pads at the bottom of each seat to ensure soft landings. These seesaws are ideal for younger children. The pole is a perfect length to curb the height kids can reach. It doesn’t take up much space either. You only need 4,52m x 7,34m to offer your little ones this fun toy. It is easy to assemble and lightweight. We also stock a 4-seater seesaw for larger families or four times the fun as a jolly addition to a school playground or park.

The wave rider seesaw, on the other hand, is a more novel experience. This clever design provides the feeling of riding wives like a surfer—undulating on strong but bendable center springs, two children can have hours of fun on this design. The molded seats with sturdy footrests and handlebars ensure a firm grip. In turn, this design engages many muscle groups and occupies the child’s mind with problem-solving. This durable toy displays clever design and is made of solid steel and aluminum, requiring only 4,01m x 6,06m of space and is suitable for kids aged 2 to 12 years old.

Other Favorites in our Motion Play Catalog

 Your kids will adore the Duo Seesaw with backrests. Like the wave rider, this kid’s seesaw also incorporates a spring mechanism that removes the necessity for little feet to touch the ground. Apart from the sturdy handlebars and footrests, this product ticks all the safety boxes. Suitable for ages 2 to 12, this toy only requires 4.04m x 6,17m of your backyard or patio. It is brightly colored to spruce up any play area.

If you need to accommodate four adventurers on a seesaw of the same design as the duo, you won’t be disappointed. The solid platform in the middle is inclusive and ideal for additional squeals of delight from children who may have physical and other disabilities. This sturdy four-seater is the perfect shared seesaw, made of durable steel and plastic and takes teamwork to another level. You’ll need at least 4,78m x 6,25m to place this gadget that can easily carry six children between the ages of 2 and 12.

Seesaw-play is usually a duet, but our other inclusive motion toys, like the Spring Mates Turtle or Unity Teeter Tunnel, offer the same motion as a seesaw. They can be enjoyed by a child on their own or even more than four friends in the case of the Teeter Tunnel.

Seesaw advantages

Physical benefits

A traditional playground feature, the seesaw has ample benefits for young children. For instance, in addition to the physical strength it encourages, these toys can enhance social, emotional, and cognitive neuro pathways. Keeping their balance is excellent practice for future sports and physical activities kids may aspire to.

Emotional Development

Apart from muscle development, a seesaw belongs in every playground because it can promote the child’s understanding of spatial awareness, which is otherwise experienced as far, near, below, above, outside, and inside.

“Marjorie Daw” could even help a child embrace the emotional maturity required for control while sharing fairly and the self-awareness that comes from confidence. The mental acuity for negotiating, plus the benefit of mutual effort, are other aspects that this unassuming playground addition can make.

Safety

As with all activities that involve our children, safety comes first. Apart from ensuring that the product you purchase is sturdy, durable and made with care by the crafter and thoughtful manufacturer, ensure that:

• The equipment is age-appropriate
• Be sure to remain vigilant and present when preschoolers play on a see-saw
• Teach the children safety precautions like holding on, waiting their turn to push off, and remaining seated are good examples of general safety rules.

Inclusive Play

Playworld believes “the world needs to play ^®,” and we apply our expertise to create play equipment for children of varying degrees of physical ability. Our Inclusive Play series has the necessary resources for those planning such a playground. Please use the convenient contact form to download the Inclusive Play Design Guide for answers to many of your questions. Also, please don’t hesitate to chat with one of our representatives to get you started. You’ll enjoy our video on inclusive play to formulate your plans. Our team is ready to serve you with excellent handiwork, experience and a deep appreciation for the craft of play.

A last word on seesaw play

This fun activity is about much more than physical development. It helps children embrace social situations by naturally teaching teamwork and building friendships. It shows that much can be achieved through mutual effort. Motion play, and the seesaw, in particular, is a soothing playtime activity for young children. Why not let your kids join in the fun today?