The Role of Playgrounds in Childhood Fitness and Development

By Your Health Magazine

If you’re considering whether or not to include a playground in your development plans, you might want to know how important their role is. Playgrounds aren’t just a place kids can go to pass the time; they’re a crucial part of children’s growth and development. Especially in today’s world, when kids spend so much time indoors or using screens, they play a vital role in the community. They get kids outside, moving, talking to each other, and learning critical life skills.

This is especially true in the United States, where walkable cities and towns are few and far between. With few town squares, public plazas, or other communal spaces, playgrounds are one of only a handful of places kids engage with their peers. They’re also one of the only spaces kids can run and move freely about, without dangers like traffic to limit their flexibility. Read on to learn some of the ways that playgrounds can help foster healthy development and fitness in kids.

Strength, Cardio, and Coordination

Time on the playground is exercise, no matter how you slice it, between all the running, jumping, and climbing. Monkey bars, ziplines, and climbing structures build arm, shoulder, and grip strength, and improve coordination. Propelling themselves forward and backward on a metal swing set works the legs and abdominal muscles, while pushing others works the arms. Even passive activities, like going down the slide, require climbing up to the top in the first place.

With little walking in most suburban kids’ day-to-day routines, this active time is incredibly important to building healthy bodies. Kids can learn from a young age how much stronger and healthier they feel when getting regular activity. Playground time also helps them build fine motor skills, and develop their balance and proprioceptive capabilities. They’ll be better equipped to join sports teams or dance groups or excel at other types of healthy movement.

Cognitive Development

Time on the playground doesn’t just develop the physical body, it also helps build cognitive skills. Children must learn to problem solve, especially on playsets with built-in puzzles, activities, and other interactive elements. Even without those special tools, they still have to contend with obstacles, mazes, climbing structures, and other spatial problem sets. They must need to strategize — for example, weighing the risk of falling versus going for the next rung.

Playgrounds also stimulate kids’ memory, sensory perception, and imaginative abilities. For example, if they’re playing hide and seek on the playground, they have to remember all the places they already looked. Their brains need to learn the differences between walking, balancing, or falling onto different materials like sand, wood, metal, and foam. If they’re playing make-believe, they improve their ability to invent worlds and scenarios in their heads.

Screen time is disastrous when it comes to children’s social skills, and many are already suffering the consequences. Especially for children raised during the pandemic, interacting with others can be especially difficult, painful, or awkward. The playground can be a place to work on those skills and hone their social abilities in a relatively safe environment. Unlike school, there can be less pressure to conform, and more incentive to collaborate peacefully.

For instance, children on the playground must learn to take turns and all share the same equipment. They have many opportunities to learn the social rules of the jungle gym and how to play fairly with others. They can also study other kids’ behavior and learn to introduce themselves, make friends, and build alliances. Depending on the location, they may also have to learn to interact with people from all different cultures, backgrounds, and walks of life.

Mental Health

Parents should be deeply concerned — but probably not at all shocked — that rates of depression are rising among children. According to a recent report depression in children and teens ages 3 to 17 increased by approximately 30% between 2016 and 2020. Of course, the pandemic was likely in large part responsible, largely due to the social isolation. Limited physical activity may have also played a role, especially for children forced to spend more time on Zoom than outdoors.

In any case, playgrounds can play a strong role in the development of good mental health in children. Physical activity, social connections, and time outdoors are known to reduce the symptoms of mental health disorders. Building positive social relationships can also teach children the skills they need to overcome any limitations they may have. Plus, of course, anything that keeps them away from screens is extra beneficial for mental health.

Inclusivity and Adaptability

A final case for the importance of playgrounds in childhood fitness and development is inclusivity. Inclusive playground spaces, such as those with adaptive elements for kids with physical disabilities, let everyone share in the fun. Those with sensory features can help kids learn to better manage various types of neurodivergence. Inclusive development, essentially, enables not just some, but all children to build cognitive, social, and physical abilities.

Building inclusive playground spaces also benefits kids who don’t have disabilities or accessibility needs. That’s because, in these shared spaces, they develop the skills necessary to build relationships with all types of people. When other kids have differences or struggle on the playground, they must learn to adapt or help out. In this way, accessibility and inclusivity improve every kid’s ability to problem-solve, empathize, and work in teams.

Building a Better World

Getting more kids off the internet and onto the playground is a chance to improve communities across America. Wherever playgrounds can be included in development — whether in public parks, on corporate campuses, or in town squares — they make all the difference. They’re a first step in creating a smarter, kinder, more active new generation. They also remind us how important communal spaces are for developing healthy minds and bodies in people of all ages.