The tremendous physical changes taking place during early and middle childhood creates opportunities to influence child activity in ways that stimulate beneficial growth; and outdoor play environments are excellent venues in accomplishing this stimulation. We illustrate this by discussing three different types of play equipment – slide, bridge/tunnel climber, and swing - and identify the types of play each encourage, review how the various gross and fine motor skills are enhanced, and examine how constructive materials and safety aspects cooperate as well.
Healthy play environments include equipment that encourage multiple play types. Shapiro and Maras (as cited in Colorado State University-Global Campus, 2016) conclude that the child …show more content…
Early childhood is usually defined as birth to five years, and middle childhood is usually defined as age six to eleven years (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Because gross motor skills develop in stages, play equipment, such as slides, bridge/tunnel climbers, and swings, impacts children in different ways according to their age. For example, in early childhood a slide encourages a three year old to alternate feet in order to carefully climb stairs to reach the top of the slide, and by age four can more easily stop and dismount at the bottom of the slide. Less conducive for early childhood age children, our bridge/tunnel climber during middle childhood builds upon gross motor skills strengthened by our slide equipment. With early childhood gross motor skills mastered, the ten year old utilizes complex synchronous movement involving feet, legs, body, and arms, allowing him to fittingly maneuver around the menagerie of bridges and tunnels, with the ability to focus on playmate social …show more content…
Types of play, gross and fine motor skills enhancement, and constructive materials and safety, are important factors in play venues. The tremendous physical changes taking place during early and middle childhood creates opportunities to motivate child activity in a way that stimulates beneficial growth; and outdoor play environments containing a wide variety of applicable play equipment are excellent venues in accomplishing this
Healthy play environments include equipment that encourage multiple play types. Shapiro and Maras (as cited in Colorado State University-Global Campus, 2016) conclude that the child …show more content…
Early childhood is usually defined as birth to five years, and middle childhood is usually defined as age six to eleven years (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Because gross motor skills develop in stages, play equipment, such as slides, bridge/tunnel climbers, and swings, impacts children in different ways according to their age. For example, in early childhood a slide encourages a three year old to alternate feet in order to carefully climb stairs to reach the top of the slide, and by age four can more easily stop and dismount at the bottom of the slide. Less conducive for early childhood age children, our bridge/tunnel climber during middle childhood builds upon gross motor skills strengthened by our slide equipment. With early childhood gross motor skills mastered, the ten year old utilizes complex synchronous movement involving feet, legs, body, and arms, allowing him to fittingly maneuver around the menagerie of bridges and tunnels, with the ability to focus on playmate social …show more content…
Types of play, gross and fine motor skills enhancement, and constructive materials and safety, are important factors in play venues. The tremendous physical changes taking place during early and middle childhood creates opportunities to motivate child activity in a way that stimulates beneficial growth; and outdoor play environments containing a wide variety of applicable play equipment are excellent venues in accomplishing this