Page 26 - 10 Most Admiring Playground Equipment Manufacturers & Distributors – 2020

Playground

architecture

layground, controlled setting for children’s play. This the National Recreation Association proposed guidelines
institutionalized environment consists of a planned, recommending equipment for children that was
Penclosed space with play equipment that encourages appropriate to their age levels for instance, the association
children’s motor development. recommended that a preschool playground should have a
sandbox, chair swings, a small slide, and a piece of simple
For most of history, children merely shared public spaces low climbing equipment; the elementary school playground
such as marketplaces with adults; there was no conception should have a horizontal ladder, a balance beam, a giant
of a special area dedicated to children. stride (a large wheel placed at the top of a pole with chains
hanging down to permit children to grasp on and swing as
The “invention” of the playground in general is not the wheel turns), swings, a slide, a horizontal bar, seesaws,
attributed to any one person but rather is viewed as a and other low climbing equipment. Water play was soon
development and combination of the ideas of many added. These early recommendations have been fairly
thinkers who wrote on education and play.The history of consistent even to the present day, although materials have
playgrounds in the West can be divided into three periods: changed and safety concerns have increased. Thus, wooden
traditional, contemporary, and adventure playground swing seats have been replaced over time with flexible
design. materials such as cloth or plastic, and standard dimensions

The greatest difference between traditional and for apparatus such as sliding boards have narrowed so that
contemporary playgrounds is the kind of play equipment only one child at a time can slide down the board. The
installed. The earlier, traditional play spaces were called surface material of the playground has also evolved over
“outdoor gymnasiums” and had exercise apparatus, running time in order to permit safer falls.
tracks, and space for games.

26 February 2020