"Inside the Playspace" Playground Blog

Recommendations for increasing physical activity in the early years

Policy-makers
Invest in active living for children under five; ensure childcare policies mandate daily physical activity and adequately resource staff; target caregivers with incentives and messaging to get kids active and be active with them.

Public Health & Healthcare Professionals
Promote physical activity, active play, and reduced screen time as part of early years support programs for families.

Parents
Keep TVs out of bedrooms, institute screen time limits, and create opportunities for active outdoor play for kids and as a family.

Early Childhood Educators & Schools
Train and resource staff; offer a minimum of 90 minutes of daily active play time, indoors and outdoors, structured and unstructured.

Visit Active Playground Equipment to assist you in creating a playground area to encourage physical activity.

Active Healthy Kids Canada influences thinking and action among issue stakeholders to help them build better programs, campaigns and policies in order to increase physical activity among children and youth.

Each year Active Healthy Kids Canada produces an annual ‘Report Card‘ on research they complete throughout the year.

Here are some quick facts and discoveries that are very interesting.

»» The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) indicates that only 36% of 2-3-year-olds and 44% of 4-5-year olds
regularly engage in unorganized sport and physical activity each week.

»» A survey of Edmonton parents indicates that only 42% of preschoolers get 90 minutes of physical activity per day.

»» In childcare centre settings, one US study shows that 89% of children’s time is spent being sedentary. Whatever the setting, children under five require adequate unstructured play and time outdoors for physical, cognitive and emotional development.

In 1971, the average age at which children began to watch TV was 4 years; today, it is 5 months:

»» More than 90% of kids begin watching TV before the age of two, despite recommendations that screen time should be zero for
children under two, and limited to 1 hour for kids 2-5.

»» The NLSCY indicates that 27% of those aged 2-3 and 22% of those aged 4-5 are watching more than 2 hours of TV per day. Overweight and obesity in Canadians under six is rising. Two regional reports tell us the prevalence of obesity in those aged 2-5 years is
between 8-11%.3,4 National data show that 15.2% of 2-5-year-olds are overweight and 6.3% are obese. This reality should be high on public health agendas given that:

»» Obesity in infancy persists through the preschool years.

»» Children who become obese before the age of six are likely to be obese later in childhood.

»» Obese children have a 25-50% increased risk of being obese as adults.

»» It is estimated that overweight 2-5-year-olds are four times as likely to be overweight as adults.

View the whole Report Card here.

To help get kids Active! Visit our website for unique playground equipment, and playspace ideas.

Here’s a very interesting article we found in USA Today on the growing popularity of natural playgrounds.

View our Natural Play Concepts Here, and read the article below:

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Special for, USA TODAY

BOSTON — The playground of the future is beginning to take shape — and it looks a lot like the backyard of the past.

Designers of children’s play spaces are increasingly looking beyond slides, jungle gyms and other plastic-coated structures in their quest to create fun, safe, healthy environments. As a result, kids are running outside and discovering play areas dotted with old standbys: sand, water, boulders, hills and logs.

“This is an emerging national trend of some significance,” says Richard Dolesh, chief of public policy for the National Recreation and Parks Association. “Parents and other adults want natural opportunities for kids … The question is: how do you ensure safety with the inherent challenges that nature brings?”

Natural play spaces, as they’re called, are becoming more common as municipalities, schools and child care centers seek sustainable ways to invest in new or aging playgrounds. Seattle is adding at least six natural play spaces to existing city parks. Boston-area institutions have at least four in the works. Similar projects are either underway or recently completed in Phoenix, Chicago, New York and Auburn, Ala.

Visit Active Playground Equipment Natural Play for natural playground concepts.

Did you know that Active Playground Equipment is made right here in Point Edward, Ontario? And did you know that we have a network of 15 local representatives able to serve you right across Ontario?

Visit Active Playground Equipment for Ontario’s most complete source for all things playground related. Our product line ranges from climbing boulders to traditional post and deck playground equipment. Traditional swings, shade and exciting motion playgrounds. Even unique dinosaur dig sites. We are also specialists at Inclusive, Accessible and Universally designed playspaces. Finally if you want to add outdoor fitness, we have durable fitness equipment and designers who specialize in natural play environments.

We can take care of all of your needs from playground surfacing, to toddler playground equipment, school playgrounds, swings, daycares and city parks.

Contact us at Active Playground Equipment.

On Wednesday, April 28, 2010 we will be attending Springfest 2010, an exclusive invitation-only event for 1500 Property managers, Owners, Facility Managers and Maintenance & Operations staff.

Please stop by out booth # 410 while you are at the show.

You are eligible for a free pass from Active Playground Equipment. Click here to obtain your free pass.

A ONE-DAY EVENT FOR BUILDING OWNERS, MANAGERS AND OPERATIONS STAFF
Springfest is a great one-day event for building owners, property managers, facility managers and others responsible for building maintenance and facility operations. Renew contacts in your industry and update yourself on key trends.

TIPS ON HOW TO REDUCE YOUR OPERATING COSTS!
Representatives from 150 suppliers will be on hand. Learn how to reduce your operating costs and to increase revenue with new income opportunities. Get factual advice and solutions to your building problems.

GREAT NETWORKING!
Make valuable contacts with 1,500 peers in the industry. Exchange ideas. Discuss common problems and discover new solutions.

WIN $500 IN CASH!
One lucky visitor will win $500 in cash. Simply follow the instructions in the Passport that you will receive at the Show to enter.

TELL YOUR COLLEAGUES!
Photocopy the registration form on the back of this brochure and reserve tickets by fax or online for all your colleagues: property managers, building owners, facility managers, plant engineers, and building maintenance and operations staff.

LOCATION: NORTH BUILDING
Springfest will be held on the Lower Level of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s North Building.

Contact Active Playground Equipment to obtain your free passes.

Visit our booth at the show.

Everybody is free to use the equipment (Minimum age 6 with adult supervision, for some units the minimum age is 13); there is no entry fee, subscription, or dress code. There are written and pictorial guidance about how to use the equipment on each piece of equipment.

A community can also set up special times during the week where professional instructors can execute fitness classes or sessions at the gyms for the community members.

Visit Active Playground Equipment’s Outdoor Fitness Equipment page for more information on Green Gym.

Click HERE to access it.

Outdoor fitness equipment can be installed at the heart of well-kept public parks which are situated along running or walking paths, senior homes, hotels, golf courses, military bases and many other open spaces situated in villages and towns (See location samples). GreenGym is also installed around children’s playgrounds providing a general solution, both for people coming to work-out and for parents, siblings, grandparents and nannies who want to do a little exercise while their children are playing nearby. Either way, the facilities promote family and social interaction. Some were designed to allow for simultaneous use by two or four people, another element contributing to the overall feeling of a playground.

You can place GreenGym parks from Active Playground Equipment anywhere with a goal to provide outdoor fitness exercise that meets the needs of your community. Many communities around the world are already benefiting from outdoor fitness parks. It’s the right time for your community!

Visit Active Playground Equipment Ontario for more details about GreenGym Outdoor Fitness Equipment.

Click Here for more details.

How many times have you ever wished you could be a part of a real archaeological dinosaur dig?

How many times do you wish to have your own children that same experience?

Active Playground Equipment has teamed up with Exploration Playgrounds, who for years has worked with museums and historic organizations in producing elaborate and detailed dinosaur exhibits molded from real authentic dinosaur bones.

T-Rex playground dig.

They have taken this approach to create some of the coolest, most authentic and imagination-inspiring playground dinosaur dig sites where children and adults of all ages can explore! Check out our website for more details and photos of this new line of playground equipment.

If you’ve hiked mountain paths, caught frogs and crayfish in a stream, rolled down a grassy hill, planted seeds, played in mud, or followed animal trails, then you’ve enjoyed natural play. The intent of our designs is to reunite kids with nature and the concept of natural play. Playspaces are designed to allow and encourage unstructured free play. This type of play is spontaneous as kids use their imagination to invent games, explore and discover the world around them.

By maintaining natural grades, naturalizing large portions of the site, or introducing a wetland, kids once again have play areas that stimulate and challenge them. Children can again enjoy long days of climbing trees and hills, building forts, and manipulating natural materials into tools and toys. This type of play is vitally important for healthy physical and mental development.

Our playground designers work in collaboration with you to combine plant material, pathways, drainage, and weather phenomena with play structures and site amenities to create play, social and learning opportunities in a natural setting. Our designs seeks to create a natural landscape in miniature, full of intriguing play and learning opportunities just waiting to be discovered by children of all ages.

Vegetation is used throughout the landscape to soften and cool the play space. Trees provide three-dimensional structure to the space, and screen the surrounding urban landscape. If appropriate, site fixtures, fitness elements, and site specific sculpture are incorporated into the design.

Visit the Active Playground Equipment Website for more details on Natural Playgrounds.

Active Playground has teamed up with Green Gym, a manufacturer of simply the most intelligently designed, and durable outdoor fitness equipment that we could find.

We had a chance to view some of Green Gym’s outdoor fitness equipment and it is truly superior in design and in durability to other products we have seen in the industry.

GreenGym is an outdoor gym, very similar to an indoor gym – from cross trainers to pec decks. We have carefully provided a range of equipment to suit all needs. The key differences being that the equipment is found outdoors so it is robust, weatherproof and colourful. It does not use weights for resistance, but rather one’s own body weight. The devices are inviting, and look more like friendly playgrounds than intimidating fitness equipment. GreenGym parks provide a great opportunity for all community members to enjoy fitness and healthy active living for free.

Click here for the corporate website for GreenGym, as well as click here for the Active Playground Equipment Website.