How Playgrounds Help Children Develop Coordination

When children play in parks or playgrounds, they don't realize that they're building skills and coordination while they're busy having fun. Many recreational activities help children develop their coordination. Play involving balls, running, popping bubbles, or building things are great ways to build large and small motor skills. In fact, all the verbs usually associated with childhood - climb, balance, skip, walk, slide, kick, jump, crawl, swing, pull - also happen to be activities that improve physical motor skills.

Playgrounds also go along with building social skills in children. See-saws give toddlers the opportunity to interact with another child and develop balance and coordination. Climbing a slide for the first time is a great confidence builder. Climbing structures help children learn to take small risks as they master physical tasks. These activities also build muscle and increase fitness.

While playgrounds may not have facilities suitable for using wheeled toys, parks often do. Preschoolers develop coordination with wheeled toys such as tricycles and bicycles. These toys help a child learn to judge speed, steer accurately, and balance, as well as strengthening leg muscles.

Playground play does not necessarily have to be organized or directed to benefit children's coordination and physical development. In fact, children will be more likely to stick with an activity if they have come up with it themselves. Of course parents or adults who are supervising need to make sure they are not doing anything dangerous to themselves or others, but children are remarkably adept at thinking up activities when presented with basic playground equipment and toys.

Playgrounds are also great partners in fighting childhood obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that almost 19% of children aged 6 to 11 are obese, as are 17% of those aged 12 to 19. A study by the RAND Corporation shows that accessible school playgrounds and athletic facilities play a role in preventing childhood obesity, but that many of them are locked and inaccessible on weekends, particularly in poor neighborhoods with high minority populations.

The study, which focused on girls in sixth grade, found that school facilities that were locked on weekends were more likely to be located in poor neighborhoods, and that the number of locked school facilities was correlated with significantly higher body mass index (BMI) in girls. Previous studies have shown that Hispanic and African-American girls had BMIs that were more than 7% greater than Caucasian girls of the same age, and that they reported being less physically active than white girls as well.

The RAND study is titled "Weekend Schoolyard Accessibility, Physical Activity, and Obesity: The Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls (TAAG) Study."

According to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Medical Correspondent, another study found that inner-city children living in neighborhoods with more "green space" where non-directed play is the norm gained 13% less weight over a two-year period than kids who lived where there was more concrete and fewer trees.

Open-ended play on playgrounds with basic climbing and moving activities is one of the best ways for children to develop their large and small motor skills and their skills in socializing. That these facilities may go far in preventing or addressing childhood obesity is yet another reason to support adequately funded community playgrounds and recreation facilities.

Playground equipment offers challenges for children of all ages with classic spinning events such as merry go rounds