To Play or Not to Play: National Playground Safety Week
When the weather is nice outside and you want to take the kids to the local playground, do you know what to look for to make sure your playground is safe? Sometimes the risks don’t appear as obvious as those associated with swimming or biking; but, they’re there and easy to spot. You just need to know what to look for.
National Playground Safety Week, April 25-29, sponsored by the National Program for Playground Safety, is a time to focus on your children's outdoor play environments. Here are a few simple tips to help you recognize whether your local playground is safe and ready for your little ones.
Top Playground Safety Tips
- Playground surfacing material should be 12 inches deep and extend 6 feet in all directions around equipment.
- Look for playgrounds with shredded rubber, mulch, wood chips or sand. Grass and soil are not good surfaces.
- Make sure playground equipment is inspected frequently and kept in good repair. If it’s not, report this to your local parks and recreations office.
- Remove hood and neck drawstrings from children’s clothing and outerwear and don’t let kids wear helmets, necklaces, purses or scarves on the playground.
- Don’t allow your kids to engage in, or play near, any pushing, shoving or crowding around playground equipment.
- Keep toddlers under age 5 in a separate play area, away from equipment designed for bigger kids.
- Actively supervise kids on a playground. Just being in the same area isn’t good enough – they need your undivided attention while playing on or around the equipment.
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Take Action: Is Your Local Playground Safe or Not?
Help us to raise awareness about the safety of playgrounds in your area.
Send us a picture of your local playground highlighting a safe playground or one that needs improvement in your area.
We will feature these on our website and offer advice on how you can work with your local parks and recreation office to help make safety improvements.
Please include your name and where the photos were taken including: name of playground, city, state, etc. We will not include your name without permission.
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