Age Appropriate Play Equipmentcomponentplaygrounds.com /blog/age-appropriate-play-equipment.html

Play is a Child's Work

Kids of all ages spend a good part of their day playing. While it might seem like they’re simply goofingoff, this behavior is an essential part of kids growth and development. For kids, playing is a form ofwork. It allows them to explore different environments and objects, work on their social skills, learn newconcepts and improve their physical coordination. From babies to grade-school kids, being able tospend time doing physically activities and exercising their imagination is a must.

What type of play is appropriate for your kids? That all depends on their ages. These are some of thevarious forms of play that kids go through as they grow:

Exploratory: Exploratory play involves kids using all of their senses to explore the world aroundthem.

Solitary: Solitary play refers to when kids play on their own and don’t show much interest inplaying with other kids.

Onlooker: This occurs when kids watch others play without getting involved.

Parallel: Parallel play occurs when kids play alongside each other with similar toys but don’tplay together.

Associative: Associative play refers to when kids interact more with each other while playingwithout really focusing on the activity they’re doing.

Cooperative: This involves kids playing together, which helps them build important social skills.

Infancy Play: Birth to 18 Months

During infancy, babies engage in exploratory or unoccupied play. It might not seem like they’re doingmuch at this stage, but they’re actively using their senses to learn more about their environment and

the objects around them. This is why babies often put toys and other items in their mouth. Babies alsouse their sense of touch to discover new textures, such as water or clay. Letting them handle a varietyof objects helps them learn even more and allows them to begin working on their sensorimotor skills.

To give your infant a chance to explore even more, consider putting her in a full bucket swing onceshe’s old enough to support herself while sitting up. She’ll have a great opportunity to take in all thesights, sounds, smells and textures of the outdoors while enjoying the fresh air. She should be oldenough for this type of swing once she’s around 6 months old.

Toddler Play: Early Childhood: 18 Months to 3 Years

Once kids reach toddlerhood, they’re able to walk around on their own, which gives them moreopportunities to play and explore. At this stage, kids are typically content to play on their own. Thisallows them to figure out how to use new toys and other items at their own pace. Toddlers also spendtime watching other kids play, which helps them learn even more about how to use their hands tomanipulate objects.

Kids that are closer to 3 years of age typically spend more time doing parallel play near other kids. Thisgives them a chance to mimic what other kids are doing. They also start to use their imaginations morewhile playing, such as coming up with imaginary friends or pretending that they’re in a different place.

You can give your toddler more time to develop his motor skills and work on coordination by having himgo on playground slides designed for kids his age. You can also put him in half bucket swings when heoutgrows full bucket ones in order to let him do more exploratory play.

Preschooler Play: 3 to 5 Years

Younger preschoolers spend a great deal of time engaging in associative play, which helps them getused to interacting with and speaking to other kids. As they get older, they begin spending more timeplaying with other kids in more focused activities, such as games or building things together. Duringthis stage, kids also make leaps and bounds in terms of motor development and show more interest inoutdoor activities that challenge them.

To encourage your preschooler to enjoy outdoor activity, let her climb up and go down slides made for

younger kids. She can also practice walking and running on ramps and balancing on spring rockers. Atthis age, she can still use half bucket swings as well.

School Age Play: 6 to 12 Years

School age kids are full of energy and love being able to work on more developed physical skills, likeclimbing and jumping. They’re also finally able to move onto concrete operational play, which involvesbeing able to use logic to think things through. This can help them stay safe and make betterjudgements when playing outdoors on various types of equipment.

Your school age kid can enjoy a wide range of playground equipment, including flat seat swings, tallerslides and monkey bars. Kids this age also love having different platforms and levels to run around onand explore on more elaborate swingsets.

No matter what age your child is, making sure he has plenty of chances to play will help him developphysically, socially and emotionally. Giving him opportunities to put his skills to use outdoors onswingsets and other playground equipment has the added benefit of getting him out in the fresh air andsunshine while having fun.

Playground Equipment Salt Lake City

Whether you’re looking for a simple starter swingset or one that combines a swingset and clubhouse,contact Component Playgrounds. We sell a wide range of swingsets and other playground equipmentfor all ages.