Outdoor Playground Equipment Can Cut Down on Obesity

Outdoor play structures ought to encourage kids to get moving. With the obesity problem in US children, it’s especially important for outdoor playground equipment to stimulate kids to exert themselves. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the incidence of child obesity at 16%. This is astronomical! Obesity shortens the life span of children, decreases their quality of life, and significantly increases the probability that they’ll be obese in adulthood. Outdoor play structures can help.

Outdoor playground equipment can only deal with the problem if it is accessible and properly designed to stimulate physical activity. Personally, I feel the fun of outdoor play structures should come from the physical challenge, but a lot of outdoor playground equipment manufacturers are now moving towards electronic components. I can’t help but think that outdoor play structures should carry different play values than the passive appreciation of electronic elements. Kids need physical stimulation to burn fat, and if a piece of outdoor playground equipment doesn’t offer that physical challenge, it seems to me it’s not doing its job as an outdoor play structure.

Innovative outdoor playground equipment designs need to entice children to move, especially since some outdoor playground equipment has become less fun with the preoccupation with safety. Electronic components may be fun for some kids, but they don’t necessarily stimulate them to be active. Creative outdoor play structures do. Rotating climbing nets, for instance, inspire kids to spin and climb. As outdoor play structures, bouncing mats get their cardiovascular systems going. And of course, kids love the freedom of propelling themselves on outdoor playground swings.

While outdoor play structures need to accommodate the obesity problem, they also need to accommodate obese children. ElephantPlay swings offer a wide swing set seat so that kids of a larger girth can play, too. And kids can spin on the outside of ElephantPlay rotating climbing nets no matter what their size.

It’s sad to see some children not fully appreciating their childhood. Outdoor playground equipment should inject that appreciation back into the lives of overweight kids and slim kids alike. That’s why the potential for physical stimulation should be a high priority in designing outdoor play structures.