Volume 5 Issue 2 Page 2 of 2
Spring 2005
Playground Safety con't
No surface is totally safe. Many injuries are preventable, but they will sometimes occur even at the safest playgrounds and even with the best supervision.
It is also important to teach your child basic safety lessons about playground equipment. Here are some safety guidelines your child should know:
- Insist that your child sit in the middle of the seat, holding on with both hands. Don't allow two children to share the same swing. Teach your child never to walk in front of or behind a swing while another youngster is on it.
- Be sure children on slides use the ladder instead of climbing up the sliding surface. Don't permit pushing and shoving on the ladder, and have children go up one at a time. Teach your child to leave the bottom of the slide as soon as he reaches it..
- Don't allow children under age 4 to use climbing equipment that is taller than they are (such as a jungle gym) without close supervision.
- Between the ages of 3 and 5, your child should use a seesaw only with other children of comparable age and weight. Children younger than 3 years don't have the arm and leg coordination to use the equipment.
- Children younger than age 5 should play on separate equipment from older children.
© Copyright 2000 American Academy of Pediatrics
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Fun Outdoor Game Idea: Amoeba Tag
Avoid being tagged by the ever-growing and dividing blob! Need six or more players.
How to play:
Players must define boundaries for the games. A player is chosen to be 'it' or 'the blob' and the others run. When tagged by 'the blob', players must joins hands forming a larger blob and continue chasing the others. Once 'the blob' is made of four people, it splits into 2 blobs (2 pairs) and each blob continues chasing the others. The last person caught then becomes 'the blob' and the game starts all over again.