Playground Skills, Playground Fun

By Gail Troussoff Marks

Silver Stars Gymnastics

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Playground Skills, Playground Fun

When did playing on the playground get complicated?
In New York City there is a playground staffed with “facilitators” to help children play. While that may sound ridiculous, it actually makes sense. The playground is an important social scene and learning environment for children. Free play gives a child the opportunity to interact with other children, create imaginative situations, and practice motor skills. For many kids, it is a welcome release from structure. However, play requires initiative in a way that computer games and television do not. Parents can help nurture childrens imagination, and gymnastics can teach children movement skills.
Gymnastics classes provide guided activities on equipment that has similarities to play structures. Monkey bars in the gym have a soft landing mat underneath. In the gym, kids can stand on tiptoe to reach the monkey bars as they learn how to swing across the rungs.
Children hang from parallel bars and swing on rings with soft mats on which to land. The rope gives children a chance to swing while holding on tightly. The balance beam in the gym prepares kids to walk across boards, beams, or suspended bridges in play structures.
Gymnastics teachers introduce children to the equipment and teach them how to use it. Playgrounds look fun, but a child unfamiliar with climbing and hanging may find the structures daunting. Think about an adult walking into a fitness gym who has never used exercise machines. It can be intimidating trying to figure out how to use the equipment without looking ridiculous. I suspect a childs vision of the playground can be similar.
In past decades, children had more unstructured outdoor playtime. In todays urban society, television, video games, and the computer are powerful distractions. The screen can be more alluring than the monkey bars on the playground, especially since children may not be strong enough to swing across. Today, it has to be a conscious decision to play outside or go to a playground when in the past outdoor play was the more inviting option.
Active, physical play is important because it is a prime environment to learn motor planning and movement skills. There seems to be an increase in children with low muscle tone or those needing occupational or physical therapy. I cant help but wonder if that is somehow related to our more technological and less physically active society.
By building physical activity and motor skills into everyday life, parents can help kids develop the beginning of active lifestyles. With our busy schedules, it isnt always possible to devote a chunk of time to the playground, so adding bits of exercise wherever possible is useful.
Classes that offer obstacle courses allow children to climb over, under, through, up, down, forward and backward. Remember these ideas while running errands with your children and be sure to pause just a moment to suggest that they hop over a crack on the sidewalk, climb up the stairs, or go under a railing. Curbs and walls function as balance beams. Hopping on floor tiles in the supermarket can make shopping more fun. Using imagination and physical activity in your daily routines helps add to a childs comfort level when they go out to recess. Interactive play builds social and problem solving skills. Children that are comfortable on the playground have opportunities to engage with other kids and have fun.