Children are still developing their minds and bodies, and it is always healthy for young boys and girls to go outside and exercise to develop muscles and gross motor skills, and research has even shown that getting enough exercise each day contributes to a child’s mental well-being, and a child who does not get proper exercise may suffer neurological consequences of this inactivity. Today, the bad news is that kids are often not getting enough exercise, but the flip side is that it is never too late for any able-bodied child to get outside and play sports or use playground equipment. For parents, a themed playground can be a great place to take their kids for fresh air, exercise, and meeting other kids, and for businesses and city managers, building a themed playground is always a possibility for development on city land. Such play areas range from a custom playground in a park to a daycare playground for smaller children to a church playground. How can businesses and city managers set up the right premises for kids to exercise?
Why Exercise?
Exercise is critical for human health, and adults and children are biologically designed to move every day. Today, due to the proliferation of fast food and electronic screens, many children are not getting the exercise they need, and this can lead to excess body weight, mood or sleep disorders, and the raised risk of health problems later in life. The good news is that responsible parents can get their kids up and moving, and exercise is a natural part of a child’s development.
In general, kids should get about a full hour of moderate exercise per day, such at a commercial playground or playing on a sports team, and this helps them maintain a healthy body weight and develop muscle and gross motor skills. It has been found that only bout 43% of 6 to 11-year-old Americans are getting this recommended amount of daily exertion, but any concerned parent can help raise awareness of this and get their kids moving. Kids can take part in school sports teams like the soccer team or a local team to exercise, and another common way to get moving is through playgrounds, which have open space and different equipment for both exercise and amusement. This is usually easy to come by; 73% of school districts in the United States today offer recess time for elementary school students, and public parks can add to this.
On Parks
There are plenty of parks across the United States for kids, adults, and household pets such as dogs to get fresh air and exercise, or at least relax around nature. Chicago alone has over 300 playgrounds among all its public parks, and most American urban centers should have at least a few parks that parents can take their kids to. In fact, rebuilding a playground means that a child’s play time may be increased by two thirds, and a good park will be a lot of fun for kids and they may look forward to going there. Features such as tire swings, regular swing sets (which include safe swings for toddlers), slides, ropes or small rock walls to climb, monkey bars, merry-go-rounds (moved by human labor), and others are out there for kids to have fun, play together, and most of all, get the fresh air and exercise that they need.
Building a park can be lucrative because it can make an area more attractive for households with kids to move to, and landscapers and contractors are hired to remake the area and install park and playground features.
Building a park often falls to a town’s parks and recreation department, and work on a park can range from planting trees and shrubs to paved or mulch walk paths, and installing benches, lights, trash cans, and bathrooms. For kids, a themed playground can be installed, and this means hiring construction crews who will have the equipment and tools to set up swing sets, slides, merry-go-rounds, and much more. A themed playground can be based on a visual theme that kids may like, such as the Wild West, space (rocket ships and cartoon aliens may dominate the theme), or anything else kids might like.