Private Outdoor GymPlaytime is an important part of a child’s development, throughout their formative years from 0 through to 8 years of age. As toddlers just start learning to crawl, walk and run, they’re gonna be bursting with energy and the need to play. Everything they do plays a crucial part in their development at physical, cognitive, emotional and social levels.
During these all-important years, toddler play equipment can provide a fantastic way to not only let the little ones have fun and expel energy but to get the physical exercise and mental stimulation they need.
Here are some of the benefits of jungle gyms and playsets for toddlers.
Toddler Playground Equipment for younger age groups
Toddler play equipment is, as the name suggests, designed for younger age groups. They’re sized accordingly and are made of safe, smooth plastics with bold shapes that don’t pose the risk of finger and hair traps. These playsets aren’t too high in the event of accidents, and slides are similarly not too steep to still be fun. Playpens and play fences also create a safe and controlled space for little ones to play in without wandering off. This is great for easy child monitoring and giving parents peace of mind.
The size of toddler jungle gyms and playsets also allows them to be used indoors as well as outdoors, making it ideal for creches, daycares, restaurants, and playrooms.
They’re colourful and mentally stimulating
Even at such an early age, children love colourful visuals and interesting shapes. Colourful shapes and playground sounds are all stimuli for the developing brain. Colours also tend to draw them in and distract them, keeping them busy for longer. But above all else, kids love to play, and the fun they have and the interactions they experience with others are mentally stimulating.
Toddlers playground equipment help refine fine and gross motor skills
As we touched on before, outdoor playground equipment for kids gives them an outlet for their energy, and a means by which to exercise, tone muscle, and refine their motor skills. If you don’t know, fine motor skills are the small gestures and movements we make with flexes of our hands, the movement of our eyes, and the movement of our fingers. Toddlers become better at grasping and holding things with practice, and the time playing will ultimately help them to write, button their own clothes, use arts and crafts, and other things that we consider complex levels of manual dexterity.
Gross motor skills involve the larger muscles in your body that aid you in bigger movements. For babies and toddlers, that’s going to be crawling, rolling over, sitting up, walking, standing up, running, balancing, and climbing. There are plenty of opportunities to do all these things with toddler playground equipment. From rocking back and forth on the kids’ rockers and spring riders to wooshing down slides and using swings, they’ll get to use all their limbs and full-body muscles regularly.
They improve coordination and cognitive skills
This relates directly to the above. As toddlers refine their gross motor skills, clambering and playing all over playsets, they’re improving their sense of balance and coordination, learning how to move their bodies in conjunction with their limbs to pull themselves up ladders, position themselves on slides, swing their legs to push themselves on the swing, and rock their body weight back and forth on rockers and seesaws. The visual and auditory stimulation as they’re playing and moving, especially on slides, swings and rockers also lends towards their cognitive skills.
They encourage children to socialize and work together
All experiences children have with one another helps improve their social skills, confidence, and empathy. This is true even for toddlers, who can learn much from interacting with adults and other children. As they share a playground space together, using the playset in turns or at the same time, they have to learn to share that space, to be patient, and to what behaviour is acceptable. They learn to make friends, discover new behaviours, and learn to play well with others. Seesaws and swings also teach kids to work together to have the most fun.
Contact Green Air about purchasing Playgrounds and Jungle Gyms for Toddlers
Green Air is committed to supplying child carers, teachers, and parents with safe, highly durable, and fun playground equipment for children of all age groups. We offer a sizable range of equipment to choose from, including swings, slides, seesaws, rockers, spring rockers, and play castles just to name a few. Feel free to mix and match to find the perfect set-up for your kids, and make an inquiry with us to learn more.