How playgrounds benefit your child

give their self-esteem a boost by being brave enough to try a new piece of equipment or by making a new friend.

The playground gives them options. They don’t have to do anything they don’t want to but if they choose to act, it’s almost certain they will experience a benefit.

Playground play is also great for developing problem-solving skills, increasing creativity and encouraging critical thinking. Do too many children want to play in the castle? They can work together to create a game and solve the problem. Does everyone want to go on the slide? Well, they can queue and wait their turn, right?

Family Corner (www.familycorner.co.uk) is the family arm of the Early Years Alliance (www.eyalliance.org.uk). The charity provides expert-written articles on all aspects of child development including health, behaviour, communication and fun activities.

As a parent or carer of young children, you’ve no doubt spent many hours sitting or standing in a playground watching your child play or pushing them on a swing. As well as being great for getting kids playing outside, playgrounds also have a range of developmental benefits - not just physical and social but cognitive and emotional too.

Unexpected physical benefits

Playgrounds provide children with the opportunity to develop their complete physical selves:

Swings and climbing frames develop advanced balancing skills and improve their equilibrium for surer footedness.

Climbing and running benefit muscle development and weight management.

Exposing children to daylight helps stabilise their circadian rhythms which can improve sleep patterns.

Playing outside exposes youngsters to more organic bacteria and microbes, which can help build a more robust immune system and an advanced microbiome.

The emotional and cognitive benefits

Anxiety, self-esteem and introversion are all common issues faced by children. A playground gives them a safe space in which to confront those feelings without judgement or expectation.

They can choose to play with the other kids in the castle or observe and learn how they can socialise before taking the first brave steps. Similarly, they can play by themselves on the swings or slides to reduce their anxiety as they don’t need any help from others to accomplish that (though the kit is designed to encourage engagement and communication). Finally, they can

Social and educational benefits of playgrounds

When your child is new to a setting or you’re on holiday and want your kids to make new friends quickly, you encourage them to visit the playground, right? This is because playgrounds are designed to encourage engagement and collaboration and to facilitate independent play.

For example, the castle and climbing frames result in children making up imaginative role-play games together where the setting becomes a fantasy world. Competition often breaks out on the swings to see who can go the highest and kids also take turns on the slide and wait patiently for the next go. They need a buddy to sit on the other end of the seesaw. Before they know it, they have a new friend.

As for the educational benefits of playgrounds, it’s all about learning to be brave and patient and experiencing things like excitement, fear and nervousness for the first time. Many play parks also have pieces of kit specifically designed for educational purposes like big magnifiers, storybook corners and sensory play kits.