Physical activity is essential for infants, toddlers, and children of all ages. Thus, explaining why most children enjoy participating in various activities and games.
Unfortunately, not all parents understand the significance of playtime, whether outdoors or indoors. It would be a grave error to ignore this fundamental need, considering how much it will contribute to the maturity and growth of your children down the line.
But imagine if you could get playground equipment that could check all the boxes and meet the physical, mental, and emotional needs of your child. One such play set is the jungle gym.
What Are Jungle Gyms?
Chicago attorney Sebastian Hinton invented the jungle gym in the 1920s. It was made of solid bars that were linked together, and it went on sale under the brand name “Jungle Gym.” But the first monkey bars weren’t introduced until the 1930s. Later, Hinton got a patent for his invention.
The primary objective of Hinton’s invention was to enable children of any age to acquire an intuitive awareness of three-dimensional space by playing.
This was achieved using several specially created cubes to encourage children to optimize their motions in every direction. When sat in any of these cubes, kids could move laterally, zigzag, vertically, or horizontally.
Hinton’s jungle gyms took off due to the varied benefits it provides children. Continue reading to learn seven of them.
The Various Benefits of Children’s Jungle Gym
1. Develop social skills
Whether jungle gyms are indoors, outdoors, public, or private, children rarely play with them alone. So, they can count on finding or joining other kids to play. When you let your kids play on this equipment, they have more chances to meet new people and make new friends. Your child’s life will improve due to this increased sense of belonging.
It will also allow them to get better at handling problems and developing a wide range of social skills, such as:
- Knowing how to wait their turn
- Realizing the importance of giving back
- Acquiring the skills of compromise and cooperation
Today’s jungle gyms are much more sophisticated. They come in various styles, in durable steel and with many exciting accessories. Your kids are sure to have fun when they have an option to customize how they play.
2. Physical Exercise
When kids exercise, they stay healthy. A jungle gym was created to do a single thing: to keep your kid moving and having fun. Your youngster can burn calories and prevent child obesity while having fun on the playground, thanks to the wide variety of equipment available.
What could seem like a thoughtless game is actually a challenging aerobic workout. Thus, for proper physical growth, the gym is a must-have. Children can use them to safely and consistently develop muscle in their limbs, core, and other body parts.
Additional physical advantages include:
- Superior instincts
- Increased agility and endurance.
- Enhanced dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and quickness.
- Heightened immunity
3. Provides Mental Stimulation
Exercising in a jungle gym has been shown to positively affect children’s mental health in various subtle ways. Even if they are less obvious, they are nevertheless important.
Unstructured playing assists kids in managing their emotions, which lowers anxiety and stress levels.
These playgrounds usually help to divert kids’ attention away from their concerns. Children of all ages are typically happy after participating in any outdoor activity. Jungle gyms offer other advantages for children’s mental health:
- Trains them on productive means of handling adversity.
- It gives them a feeling of being in charge.
- Motivates them to face their worries head-on.
4. Enhances Creativity
Only while playing in a jungle gym do children have the liberty to play however they choose. This can be the first place where toddlers learn about nature and engage in unstructured play. Young children benefit significantly from this imaginative and creative play provided by jungle gyms.
Imagination training is more important than ever because kids are constantly exposed to boring content online, in video games, and on television. When kids are allowed to play in jungle gyms with swing sets, for instance, they may develop a sense of creative expression.
On the playground, it’s not uncommon to see children acting like a particular piece of equipment is a rocket or a race car. So, playing in a jungle gym opens a world of possibilities.
A jungle gym also offers diverse activities a child could desire, from rolling and spinning to ascending and building forts. While having fun, children develop their creativity and ability to find a solution.
5. Boosts Academic Performance
There is some correlation between a child’s success in school and the time spent playing in an unstructured setting. Children can improve their innovative and problem-solving abilities on the playground, essential for academic achievement.
So, get your kids into the jungle gym if you’d like them to improve their academic performance. In addition, children can free their minds and build confidence. Using this playground can help children develop self-confidence and the ability to set and achieve goals on their own.
Furthermore, different parts of a jungle gym can help your kids sharpen their cognitive skills, from climbing posts to hanging frames. Your toddler could be afraid of slides the first time they see them but exposing them to the slides often can help them get over their reservations.
6. Teach About Their Bodies
Exercises performed in a jungle gym are ideal for identifying the body’s physical makeup and modifying it to suit certain needs. Crawling, climbing, and navigating obstacles between objects are all skills your children can develop in a jungle gym.
7. Teaches Them to Share
A jungle gym is an excellent place for your youngster to play by themselves. However, if they invite their pals or siblings, they’ll have a far better time. When your child plays in a jungle gym alongside other kids, they will understand the value of sharing their space and toys.
In addition, since children have imaginative scenarios, they must learn how to interact with one another through play and conversation. This is the ideal solution for youngsters who have trouble getting along with others but still want to involve siblings in their games.
Conclusion
All the advantages of jungle gyms mentioned above demonstrate why having this type of children’s playground at home is a great way for parents to relax while their kids have fun and learn about the world around them.
Jungle gyms have many benefits over their traditional counterparts, including the fact that they are much easier for adults to set up and take down and provide a safer environment for children to practice using playground equipment.
