Playground equipment is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of outdoor recreational equipment utilized by children for free play.
Although it is not likely to be the first item most customers think of when considering medical supplies and equipment, playground equipment plays a vital role in childhood development!
Playgrounds (and their associated equipment) offer children of all ages a chance to develop motor, social, emotional, and cognitive skills.
Because of the variety of playground equipment available, choosing the best product can understandably seem like a daunting task. This article will provide you with several features and considerations to help you make the best choice!
Features to consider when purchasing playground equipment
Equipment location: how much space is needed?
Perhaps the most obvious consideration to make when purchasing playground equipment is the amount of space available to you. Whether you plan to place the product in a backyard, a park, or a school setting, spacing is one of the most common limitations.
Fortunately, the majority of products—particularly products that require more space, such as swing sets or play forts—provide customers with precise dimensions of surface area required for their optimized use.
Therefore, customers are encouraged to measure the dimensions of the area in which they plan to place the playground equipment prior to making a purchase.
Naturally, not all playground equipment is advised for young children to use. With this in mind, most products provide customers with age recommendations for their use. While some products (swing sets with child seats) can be used by most ages (with adult supervision!), other products are better suited for older children or adolescents.
User considerations: limited mobility or no physical limitations?
Many times, playground equipment is designed to bear special considerations for young users. These considerations include wheelchair accessibility and safety harnesses for extra support (among others).
In some special cases, playground equipment is designed specifically for use by these young patients. For example, some swing sets make use of platforms on which wheelchairs can be locked, allowing children to swing. This Wheelchair Swing Platform is a great option for users who call wheelchairs their primary mode of transportation!
Equipment style and personal preferences: what is needed and wanted?
Playground equipment, as you might imagine, is a rather general term that covers a large selection of different product types, and every child has their own preferences regarding what playground equipment they enjoy most.
Before making a purchase, it’s important to consider what specific type of playground equipment would be most appreciated by the children who will use it. Also consider the benefits and outcome of each individual product, and how it could help encourage skill-building in needed areas.
Among the my options, some types of playground equipment includes slides, swing sets, hand-over-hand bars, play forts, spring rides, and see-saws.
Cost considerations: make an investment, or purchase economically?
As was previously noted, RehabMart’s category of playground equipment includes a wide variety of products (220, to be exact!). This variety allows for a wide range of costs and features available to searching customers.
If you are the superintendant of a school and looking to create a recess area where young children will play on a daily basis, your process of selecting playground equipment will look noticeably different than if you are a parent seeking a way to add variety to their child’s backyard.
