Have you ever visited a modern playground and as you walked on the synthetic surface felt that little bit of extra spring in your step? The evolution of the modern-day playground has come a long way from those of the past. Sure, there is still slides, monkey bars, swings and all your favourite pieces of equipment. But now there is also a few extra features which you may or may not have noticed. More and more playgrounds are being fitted with rubberised ground, and similarly other materials which provide superior protection to accidental falls and injuries.
Back in the past.
Historically, not a huge amount of thought went into designing playgrounds, and little if any regard was put into the safety of small children who might use the equipment. Many swings never even had a safety harness or chain until the start of this century. I can recall many parks as a child where the only equipment was one slide and one set of swings. Neither would be located particularly close to each other and the ability to fall or jump from this equipment was far too easy.
The surrounding ground would be worn away grass to leave dried out dirt as hard as cement, or they would use cement. Taking children of a certain age to the park would almost always result in injuries. Thankfully, things have come a long way since then.
Technology
Polymer technology has come a long way. This has allowed for modern slides to be constructed from plastics, rather than steel. Equipment which may have historically had a large, unprotected distance to the ground, are usually flanked by covers, guide rails and curved edges.
The equipment framework itself is made from refined or synthetic timber, most of which is designed to be somewhat modular, almost like a Lego set for adults! This allows for many exciting designs, some of which can even be fashioned to resemble almost anything.
The ground seldom uses bitumen or concrete, with preferred surfaces of poured rubber or tiles, tanbark, artificial grass and even play sand.
Exciting Designs
One of the added benefits of the modern materials used in surface is the ability to layout modern playgrounds in a far better manner, so that individual pieces of equipment are not too close, nor are they too far away. Sometimes they can even be fashioned to all fit together in a space so that they resemble items from life or even your imagination. There are playgrounds around which I have seen that resemble, Trains, Castles, Aeroplanes and even a Dragon about to take flight!
Further to this the rubber ground can also be designed with almost every possible colour you can think of. This is the reason that some outdoor playgrounds are now using this technology to create works of art built into them. An example of this can be found in Melbourne’s sky rail running between Caufield and Dandenong. Several specially designed parks with a variety of playgrounds, exercise equipment and outdoor sports court were installed.
It has become quite apparent these designs have increased quality of life to residents and clearly added to the vibrancy of local communities.
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