Playground Adventures

My kids love going to the playground, and I mean LOVE (yes it is in all caps on purpose to try to convey the amount of jumping and excited yelling I hear when I mention going to the park). We are lucky enough to have one within walking distance from our house. It has a couple of slides, some swings, climbing ladders, a fireman's pole, and monkey bars (which we aren't too sure of yet). However, on days when we get bored of going to the same park, we are also lucky enough to have several within a 10 minute drive from our house.

In our quest for new playgrounds, I've discovered each one is different. For example, the park with all the ducks and geese has the teeter totter and the excavator/digger toy. The multiple part park is set in the woods and has swings, slides, climbing walls, and a dinosaur themed slide. However, it also has a ton of bikers and dog walkers. (To clarify, I love dogs. I have one and would like to have another. However, I've noticed not all of the dogs at this park are kept on leash, which could be problematic around small children.) There is a smaller playground near my in-law's that has a water feature the kids enjoy running through. The park that hosts a lot of school events has a multiple person teeter totter, a walking trail, swings, and a wide range of playground equipment. The small playground 15 minutes away is small but has lots of shade, which is great in the summer. However, it also has a crazy aggressive squirrel. The playground located within one of the county/state owned parks has a nice rubber mulch ground cover. It is also near picnic benches and grills, so it makes it great for getting together with friends.

There are a couple further away that we don't get to as much, but also offer great benefits. There is one close to my mom's, about 35 minutes away, that has rubbery ground covering and partial shading. We also just found one on our way to a wedding in a park. It has a great view of the city, walking trails, woods, lots of room to run and a playground.

Besides getting us out of our playground funk, new playgrounds offer lot of new opportunities to make new friends and usually new challenges. New ladders and climbing equipment offer chances to help with hand and feet coordination, longer or higher monkey bars the chance to increase arm strength and endurance, walking and running trails the opportunity to stretch out legs, open spaces the chance to play tag, short walls and balance beams the chance to work on balance, tunnels the opportunity to explore the unknown.

If you are like me and have a kid who likes routine or is cautious about new things, trying new playgrounds offers an easy and fun way to encourage them to get out of their normal comfort zone, to explore new things, and that new things can be fun. Plus, no matter where you are there is usually a playground! We've even gone to playground while on vacation! If you have to move, check out the playgrounds first! There's always something familiar about a playground and it might help your child adapt better to a new location. 

Castle themed playground we found on vacation