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conuly
Sometimes, when I read articles on "modern playgrounds" or the comments to them, I wonder if these people and I frequent the same playgrounds, I must admit.
For example, one common complaint in the comments is "Waaa, what happened to all the merry-go-rounds???" but the only merry-go-round* I ever saw as a child was in Belgium. Now that I'm a grown-up, I know of several playgrounds with merry-go-rounds (in three different styles! the custom-made bike merry-go-round in Battery Park City, one without handles that's tilted and that has plenty of free space underneath so children can't get trapped, and one that you jump and hang from), but I never saw them as a kid.
Or people complain about having fewer swings or see-saws, and while I see the point (especially when it comes to see-saws, which were my favorite as a child), I sometimes think that the problem isn't safety concerns (or not JUST safety concerns) but a different philosophy altogether for playgrounds, less free-standing equipment with ONE USE ONLY and more connected equipment that can be used in different ways, that lends itself to more imaginative play, and that allows more children to play on it at once. (And in the article I posted before, there was one comment whining that that equipment is "fun, but you can't follow your toddler around and it's not safe!" Well, dude, go to a toddler-geared playground and sit down on the bench!)
It's also worth noting that right now, lots of people are complaining that playgrounds are too safe, which means that in some areas, newer playgrounds are being built to be more dangerous-looking (if not actually more dangerous) because of that complaint, so of course, you can't just look at your local playground to see what the trend is. I think we're at the swing of the pendulum, actually.
That said, we went to this playground Thursday. She's right, there's nowhere near enough shade. Most of the playground wasn't being used because it was so hot!
However, this playground is a perfect example of new equipment that's as stretching as old. This one had what I think of "new-style" equipment - very ropes-focused and curvy. (I call this new, but what my mother calls new is the stuff that was common when I was young, wooden blocks with bars attached. And there's all the mostly-metal structures with lots of bridges that comes between my mother's new and my new. That's still current, of course.) And whatever people say about "jungle gyms are too small now", the spider-web style jungle gym was probably at least nine feet high. And the design of it means, I suspect, that it's more of a challenge to climb than the old-style all metal ones. Plus, it doesn't heat up so much in the sun, which is an advantage when the designers are too dumb to put in shade.
You can just see the "spider-web" in the back of this photo. It's the blue thing. The monkeybars are more visible in the front - if they're like the similar ones at Union Square, they turn slightly from side to side as you use them.
(A word on the sprinklers in that playground. They were made by this company that uses poles with hidden sensors to turn them on. You have to rub your hand over the flat part until it decides to work. There are no labels, of course. It's a stupid design, made stupider by the fact that they also include a pump that, as near as I can tell, either does nothing or was broken. Because I was the only one who knew how to turn on the sprinklers, I was the only one who had to keep getting up to do it.)
*To me, merry-go-rounds are the ones that are child-propelled. If they have horses and music and you pay to ride them, they're carousels. But I'm aware some people call carousels merry-go-rounds.
For example, one common complaint in the comments is "Waaa, what happened to all the merry-go-rounds???" but the only merry-go-round* I ever saw as a child was in Belgium. Now that I'm a grown-up, I know of several playgrounds with merry-go-rounds (in three different styles! the custom-made bike merry-go-round in Battery Park City, one without handles that's tilted and that has plenty of free space underneath so children can't get trapped, and one that you jump and hang from), but I never saw them as a kid.
Or people complain about having fewer swings or see-saws, and while I see the point (especially when it comes to see-saws, which were my favorite as a child), I sometimes think that the problem isn't safety concerns (or not JUST safety concerns) but a different philosophy altogether for playgrounds, less free-standing equipment with ONE USE ONLY and more connected equipment that can be used in different ways, that lends itself to more imaginative play, and that allows more children to play on it at once. (And in the article I posted before, there was one comment whining that that equipment is "fun, but you can't follow your toddler around and it's not safe!" Well, dude, go to a toddler-geared playground and sit down on the bench!)
It's also worth noting that right now, lots of people are complaining that playgrounds are too safe, which means that in some areas, newer playgrounds are being built to be more dangerous-looking (if not actually more dangerous) because of that complaint, so of course, you can't just look at your local playground to see what the trend is. I think we're at the swing of the pendulum, actually.
That said, we went to this playground Thursday. She's right, there's nowhere near enough shade. Most of the playground wasn't being used because it was so hot!
However, this playground is a perfect example of new equipment that's as stretching as old. This one had what I think of "new-style" equipment - very ropes-focused and curvy. (I call this new, but what my mother calls new is the stuff that was common when I was young, wooden blocks with bars attached. And there's all the mostly-metal structures with lots of bridges that comes between my mother's new and my new. That's still current, of course.) And whatever people say about "jungle gyms are too small now", the spider-web style jungle gym was probably at least nine feet high. And the design of it means, I suspect, that it's more of a challenge to climb than the old-style all metal ones. Plus, it doesn't heat up so much in the sun, which is an advantage when the designers are too dumb to put in shade.
You can just see the "spider-web" in the back of this photo. It's the blue thing. The monkeybars are more visible in the front - if they're like the similar ones at Union Square, they turn slightly from side to side as you use them.
(A word on the sprinklers in that playground. They were made by this company that uses poles with hidden sensors to turn them on. You have to rub your hand over the flat part until it decides to work. There are no labels, of course. It's a stupid design, made stupider by the fact that they also include a pump that, as near as I can tell, either does nothing or was broken. Because I was the only one who knew how to turn on the sprinklers, I was the only one who had to keep getting up to do it.)
*To me, merry-go-rounds are the ones that are child-propelled. If they have horses and music and you pay to ride them, they're carousels. But I'm aware some people call carousels merry-go-rounds.
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-23 01:18 am (UTC)On the other hand, tall slide? Check. Climbing structure? Check. Integrated play structures and even outdoor musical toys? Check. I think a lot of these are more fun than what they replace. I do miss the old-style merry-go-rounds and wish there were more things at least vaguely like them, however.
My toddler spends a lot of time on play structures for the 5-12 crowd. I used to be terrified. However, he has now learned which parts he can handle and not to dash out the openings where the climbing things he can't use yet are, and honestly he's pretty good at managing them. It's easy enough to parallel him on the ground, so if he dodged out I'd be able to grab/catch - and I can follow him if I must on top, but why bother?
That said, a number of our parks have the toddler play structure just 5-10 feet from the big-kid structure. This would be WHY he plays on those...because there's nowhere to take him where he can only get a toddler structure. (Untrue. Untrue. There is one park, but it is the most pathetic toddler structure ever. The cool ones are all in the generally-better-appointed parks which have stuff for older kids also.)
As far as see-saws, there's one in a park we go to. It's hard to get him time on it, he usually ends up doing it with us. The kids mostly ignore it in favor of the weird merry-go-round, the swings, the climbing structure and sand pit, the incredible slide.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-23 07:54 am (UTC)2) Well, I suppose see-saws can lead to some very imaginative play, but most of what I'm imagining now involves some rather significant risk of horrific injury so I guess that kinda takes us back to the original point. Thinking back, though, we didn't really have many see-saws and most of their use involves people standing in the middle doing balancing tricks or people playing chicken trying to throw each other off - both of which quite reasonably safe when there's nothing but soft ground to either side.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 11:05 pm (UTC)That playground was great for imaginative play, and staffed/supervised. Then they decided they couldn't afford staff, so took it down and put in a playground that didn't require supervision but was more dangerous (death merrygoround. A witch's hat- which is a spider web you pile children into and then start spinning- it is the kind of thing that you really should have a supervisor around for, not a stressed fourteen year old trying to make sure her little sister doesn't get bullied, sick or die)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-23 12:41 am (UTC)Gosh I feel old.
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Date: 2011-07-23 07:42 am (UTC)*nods* Both of those are merry-go-rounds for me. (And both are "Karussell" in German.)