Modern playground safety - Mouths of Mums

For many parents, letting their children play on the equipment at a playground can be a wonderful event.

However, as with most activities involving young children, caution should always be observed to ensure their safety.

Each year, more than 200,000 children worldwide find their way to hospitals seeking treatment for everything from burns to broken bones.

But with a little common sense and paying attention to playground rules, both parents and their children can have a wonderful time climbing on the monkey bars or swinging high in the air on a swing set.

Inspect the Playground

Before turning your kids loose, it’s always important for parents to take a quick look at the playground and its equipment.

The best playgrounds use a variety of materials to create soft surfaces in case kids take a tumble, with some of the most popular materials being sand, wood chips or rubber.

If the kids will be playing on monkey bars, it’s a good idea to make sure the bars on them are far enough apart to keep the kids from getting stuck in them.

Most playground safety experts put the guidelines for this at between 3-9 inches, which will accommodate children of various sizes.

Look for damaged equipment

It also makes sense for parents to look closely at the equipment their kids will be playing on before giving them the green light to go have fun.

Making sure there are no loose screws, split boards or corners that are sharp and rusty will help to make sure the playtime experience is filled with fun.

Any playground equipment that has this should be avoided and then reported to the school or other agency that oversees the playground.

Beware of hot surfaces

Spending time at a playground on a summer day can be a great family outing, but while there it’s a good idea to be aware of the temperature of the equipment.

Many kids have a tendency to run toward a slide, climb it and slide down before you know what happened.

However, on hot summer days slides and other equipment can reach temperatures that can cause burns to youngsters.

While metal surfaces usually get the hottest, some plastic surfaces can also reach dangerous temperatures.

Wearing appropriate clothing

Kids who want to run and jump and climb don’t think about the clothing they are wearing at the time, but their parents definitely should.

Too often there are stories of children wearing hoodies or jackets that have strings that get tangled up in monkey bars or other playground equipment, sometimes causing strangulation or other injuries.

Most experts also recommend having kids wear only closed-toed shoes to protect their feet while playing.

Children who are allowed to play barefoot or wearing loose-fitting sandals or thongs can often be hurt by slipping or can get broken toes or feet from having their feet hit against the hard surfaces of the equipment.

At what age can kids play by themselves?

This is always a difficult question to answer, since no two kids are exactly alike in terms of maturity and physical development.

However, most child safety experts recommend that parents only let children who are age six or older to play with limited or no adult supervision.

Most kids who are this age are able to comprehend and follow playground rules and have a general understanding of their limitations when climbing, allowing them to play in a safe manner.

By observing rules and paying attention to details, both parents and kids can have a great time at a playground while enjoying lots of quality family time together.

Do you always check the playground out before letting your kids run off to play?

Main image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.

38 Comments

- - mom101628 said
  - 20 Apr 2017
    4:41 pm
My kids loved going to the playground and because there was always a group of us we could check out the equipment before anyone started on it. Good healthy fun.
- mom486197 replied
  
  30 Aug 2024 , 2:32 pm
  I agree, i am the same and do this as well with the other mums that i organise park play dates with.
- - mom81879 said
  - 30 Sep 2015
    7:32 am
We have a playground we regularly visit, so I’m probably not too proper with my checks :/ I’ll have to step this up

- - christial said
  - 29 Jun 2015
    9:02 pm
This makes me think I should probably check the surfaces before I let my son run ton the playground.

- - Kell said
  - 15 Jun 2015
    8:38 pm
I good reminder to take the time to check for unsafe equipment

- - mom103920 said
  - 03 Jun 2015
    1:44 am
I always check, but this is out of habit since we found a needle in a playground years ago. We’re happy to let our kids climb trees and swing and jump and slide, and we realise accidents will and do happen. But just in case there is faulty equipment or a preventable danger, I think its only common sense to check first.

- - mom113055 said
  - 26 May 2015
    3:36 pm
love reading these

- - smiles said
  - 30 Apr 2015
    7:44 pm
Playgrounds make me very nervous and some are really quite high. I suppose they still must be under some specification but it does worry me at lot, I have an accident prone child so that may explain why why I get so anxious.

- - lisa4 said
  - 29 Apr 2015
    10:08 pm
No I don’t check.. There is always going to be hazards and kids need to recognise these themselves so they learn to keep themselves safe.

- - eviejude said
  - 29 Apr 2015
    7:32 pm
My daughter broke her wrist in prep. She was playing chasey on the play equipment bridge after school with the boys and fell off. They weren’t meant to be playing chasey on the play equipment and I now know why. My husband was ‘supervising’ at the time.

- - mom56312 said
  - 13 Apr 2015
    5:17 pm
I always have a quick look around and check the parks, and i take a towel with me so i can give it a quick dry off if its early morning or a wet day play in the park, but parents need to be aware accidents do happen nothing can be done about thoose. My kids love to climb trees sadly they can onl do that at my mums where trees are inadbundance. I can remeber when i was a kid the parks use to full of them. The park we attend reuglarly use to have them around the egdes but they have been all cut down. Turns out someone complained that their kid hurt themselves climbing one. I say it the parents responsebilty to stop thier kids from climbing the trees if they dont want their kids to get hurt.

- - stepmom107932 said
  - 05 Apr 2015
    3:09 pm
sometimes yes sometimes no. our little one is tough and knows to make sure things are safe before hand.
we always try to have her in covered shoes as well. hate her playing barefoot with all the dangers of needles and whatnot about.

- - mom113055 said
  - 25 Mar 2015
    6:23 pm
great stuff

- - mom74312 said
  - 25 Mar 2015
    10:18 am
Playgrounds these days seem to be getting better and better. A lot more choices than there used to be. Council’s seem to be taking outdoor play and safety seriously so if you don’t have decent play equipment near you, get a group together to lobby your local government area

- - mom113055 said
  - 10 Mar 2015
    2:14 pm
safety is very important

- - mom113055 said
  - 09 Mar 2015
    8:34 pm
safey is very important

- - mom113712 said
  - 09 Mar 2015
    12:52 pm
I am always checking the equipment at our local park and it still bothers me that even complaining to our council that it haven’t been fixed. They just put in new stuff but still left the old the there and haven’t tried to either fix it or replace it. Otherwise my kids are really good with what they can and can’t do

- - mom101330 said
  - 25 Feb 2015
    8:35 pm
Great and informative article. I am just surprised how high they make playground equipment these days. I say the higher the kids go the further they can fall.

- - mom64736 said
  - 25 Feb 2015
    12:04 pm
We just had a playground open locally where they put a full metal slide out in open sun. When queried about it they said parents just shouldn’t put their kids on there on hot days. Well why not just chuck a shade cloth over it? That would fix the issue and is totally doable. Some of the modern playgrounds are poorly planned too.

- - rovermum said
  - 25 Feb 2015
    10:57 am
I’ve always been confident in the playgrounds/play areas my son has played. We’ve been fortunate not to have any incidents. I love that he can experience the type of play we did as kids.
- mom93821 replied
  
  28 Feb 2015 , 10:58 pm
  This kind of experience is important for kids in developing gross motor skills and confidence too.
- - rachkap said
  - 25 Feb 2015
    2:17 am
Safety is super important – I have often wondered if anyone is assigned to check local playgrounds in parks.