A park playground is a proven effective place to not only give enjoyment to kids but also to stimulate their cognitive minds in playing with the playground’s features as wells as to develop their intercommunication skills when mingling with other kids in the park playground. On the other hand, not all park playground features are applicable for all kids of all ages.
According to playgroundsafety.org, the design of the playground features should be relative to the age of the kids who will be playing at it since their physical, intellectual, and social developments are different. The said organization stated that ages of the kids should be classified through these ranges: 6 months – 23 months, 2-5 years, and 5-12 years. Of all these age ranges, the kids between 2-5 years are the most active in playing in a park playground. Thus, designing park playground features for the kids in this age range is very important.
In the following, we have enumerated 5 park playground features that are appropriate for kids between 2-5 years old. This can serve as a guide for playground makers and for parents in knowing what features are the best for these kids.
Play Houses
One of the most consistent features of every park playground is the play house. Aside from the fact that the design of these play houses are colourful that entices children to play, these specific playground features can also be good parts of the playground where the kids can develop their social skills with the other kids while playing with the mini slides and other interactive features of the play house.
Play Panels
In addition to play houses, play panels can also be good park playground features for kids under the age of 5. These play panels can be walls for push shapes or one dimensional things like animals or castles. These things can help develop the cognitive skills of the children in figuring out how they play with these interactive play panels.
Sand and Water Play Features
Yes, these features can really make the children’s clothes dirty, but these features are the most effective way of develop the children’s enthusiasm when making a sand castle, for example, without worrying too much about their safety. Also, through these playground features, you can show to the children that even being in these kinds of terrains can also give them the chance to learn other things.
Seesaws
Just like play houses, seesaws can also be considered as one of the most consistent features of a park playground. These features can help the kids to help them develop their social skills since these can’t be played alone. Also, these features are safe since they are not too elevated from the ground.
Sound play features
Lastly, we agree that features that enabling the kids to play with sounds are good for kids under the age of 5. Even though these features may be too common for every park playground, these features can help the children develop their senses, especially hearing, and their creativity in making rhythmic patterns and new ways how they can make sounds.
