Playground Magazine Fall 2014

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FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 3

Contents 8

Playground Magazine | Volume 14 No. 3 | Fall 2014

Features

So, What’s the Big Deal about Swinging?

8

By Tom Norquist

Beyond Swings, Spinners, and Slides

12

By Jay Beckwith

An Interview with Pam Powers of Let's Move! Active Schools

16 courtesy of Tom Norquist - GameTime

Teenagers Need Active Play, Too!

20

12

By Kwame Brown

TO DO NO HARM: We must re-think our playgrounds

24

By Angela Hanscom

Get Moving on the Playground: The Importance of Motion Play

26

By Ian Proud

STRAPS: Pulling for Athletes With Disabilities

29 SkyGame courtesy of BigToys

16

By Bob McCullough

Departments 5 7 28 30

CPSI Course Calendar The Play and Playground Encyclopedia Who’s Talking About Movement?

4 Great Movements

Cover photo of girl on ZipKrooz courtesy of Landscape Structures Inc.

Courtesy of Let's Move! Active Schools

4 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

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CPSI Course

Calendar September 29-1

Sacramento, CA

916-665-2777

30-2

Dublin, OH

614-895-2222

October 1-3

Flagstaff, AZ

602-335-1962

11-13

Charlotte (NRPA Congress!)

919-832-5868

21-23

St. Charles, IL

708-588-2287

22-24

Harrisonburg, VA

804-730-9447

27-29

The Woodlands, TX

512-267-5550

29-31

Lexington, SC

803-808-7753

November 4-6

North Kansas City, MO

573-676-2828

4-6

Winter Park, FL

850-878-3221

5-7

Bellevue, WA

360-459-9396

5-7

Salt Lake City, UT

801-782-5512

18-20

Diamond Bar, CA

916-665-2777

December 2-4

Harrisburg, PA

814-234-4272

January 7-9

Landover, MD

301-352-7203

12-14

Michigan City, IN

317-573-4035

13-15

Laveen, AZ

602-335-1962

20-22

Lakewood, CA

916-665-2777

February 4-6

Hulbert, OK

972-744-4303

4-6

Sunrise, FL

850-878-3221

11-13

Lansing, MI

517-485-9888

24-26

TBD, TN

615-790-0041

25-27

Boise, ID

208-883-7089

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FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 5

Rita Watts - Editor

Let's Get Moving

Publisher Curtis Stoddard

Editor Rita Watts

Advertising Director LaDawn Goebel

Design Jake Amen Printing Falls Printing

Accounting Evelyn Coolidge Webmaster Jake Amen

Contributing Authors Jay Beckwith Kwame Brown Angela Hanscom Bob McCullough Tom Norquist Ian Proud

Copyright, 2014 published by Playground Professionals, LLC, 4 issues per year, sub rates, back copies, foreign, reproduction prohibitions, all rights reserved, not responsible for content of ads and submitted materials, mail permits, printed by Falls Printing, Idaho Falls, ID.

CORPORATE OFFICES Playground Professionals LLC P.O. Box 807 Ashton, Idaho 83420

www.playgroundprofessionals.com

6 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock.com

As I sit at my desk reviewing this issue’s articles about Movement, I am reminded that there has been much in the news about our sedentary lives lately. Articles are suggesting that “sitting is the new smoking” and that “sitting is killing us.” It’s not just that Americans aren’t exercising enough. It is that the hours spent sitting in front of the TV or at our desk jobs in front of our computers actually negate some of the benefits of exercise!

Of course, this applies to our children as well. With the sad trend of reduced or eliminated time for recess and physical education and the rise in the amount of time spent with electronic devices, our kids have become increasingly sedentary. There have been some efforts to combat this trend.

Recent studies have had students stand at their desks and move around the classroom which resulted in doubling their activity level compared to the traditional classroom. The results went beyond physical benefits alone and included less stress levels and higher scores on state standardized tests. While this is not likely to be introduced widely in our schools, there have been some who recognize the benefits of having children sit on exercise balls while at their desks which allows for more movement. There are also programs that suggest active 10 minute breaks in the classroom to help deal with the negative effects of sitting too long.

First Lady Michelle Obama has embraced the cause of fighting childhood obesity and raising the activity level of our children through her Let’s Move! initiative. Many programs have resulted from her efforts including Let’s Move! Active Schools, which offers opportunities for physical activity before, after, and during school to help children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day. To learn more about this great organization, be sure to read our interview with Pam Powers of Let’s Move! Active Schools.

Although time for outdoor play seems to be squeezed to a minimal part of a child’s life today, playing on the school playground or on public park playgrounds still offers some of the best opportunities for physical activity. Playground manufacturers are keenly aware of the benefits of movement in their play equipment pieces, and in recent years they have been introducing some exciting moving elements. Zip lines, track rides, a multitude of spinners, seesaws, swings, spring riders, slides, and net climbers all promote movement and offer great play value and fun. Some manufacturers have also developed fitness equipment for older children to use to boost their fitness levels.

Many of the articles in this issue relate the health benefits of movement with the playground equipment pieces that offer the movement. While kids are having fun, they are also developing important abilities provided by movement – vestibular coordination, proprioception, spatial awareness, visual coordination, rhythm, balance, and motor skills to name a few. Who knew?! Restricting children’s play time and fun on the playground could actually hinder important developmental achievements.

Are you sitting down? Maybe you should stand up to read this issue! Let’s get moving! www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

The Play & Playground Encyclopedia www.playgroundprofessionals.com/encyclopedia Research over 600 listings of play and playground related companies, organizations, events, books, magazines, safety, people and blogs.

Vestibular Coordination

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/encyclopedia/v/vestibular-coordination The vestibular system is the parts of the brain and inner ear that process the sensory information involved with controlling eye movements and balance. 1 The receptors located within the inner ear respond to gravity and detect motion and change of head position. They interpret speed and direction of movement, relationship to gravity, and impact balance, posture, and bilateral coordination. 2 A properly functioning balance system allows people to see clearly while moving and to determine direction and speed of movement. It also identifies orientation with respect to gravity and directs the body to make automatic postural adjustments to maintain posture and stability in various activities and conditions. 3 Balance is achieved by a complex set of sensorimotor control systems that include sensory input from vision (sight), proprioception (touch), and the vestibular system (motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation). 4 The vestibular and visual systems are inseparably linked as neurological and functional connections. Together, visual perception and vestibular coordination provide the foundation for skillful movement through space. Proprioceptors in the neck, eyes, and body help to coordinate movements of the body to orient the head to the task at hand, which enables the body to maintain balance. 5 The visual system has sensory receptors in the retina called rods and cones.

When light strikes them, they send impulses to the brain that provide visual cues identifying orientation to other objects. The proprioceptive information received from the skin, muscles, and joints involves sensory receptors that

are sensitive to pressure or stretch in the surrounding tissues. Cues from the neck indicate the direction the head is turned.

Cues from the ankles indicate the body’s movement or sway relative to both the standing surface and the quality of that surface, whether it is hard, soft, slippery, or uneven. The vestibular system, which in each ear includes the utricle, saccule, and three semicircular canals, provides sensory information about motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation. The utricle and saccule detect gravity and linear movement. The semicircular canals detect rotational movement. All of this information is sorted out and integrated with learned information through the brain stem to the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex to result in establishing balance. 6 Disorientation can occur if the sensory input from the eyes, muscles and joints, or vestibular system conflict with one another. This can occur through injury, disease, or the aging process that disrupts the integrated sensorimotor feedback. Impaired balance can be accompanied by dizziness, vertigo, vision problems, nausea, fatigue, and concentration difficulties. 7 Balance and vestibular coordination is required for children to enjoy playing on playground equipment. Climbing on ladders, rock walls, and cargo nets all take coordination and balance adjustments to successfully navigate them. Children need vestibular coordination and good visual perception to overcome a fear of heights. 8 Children who have difficulty with sensory integration may have difficulty with balance. If they have under-responsive vestibular systems, they may have difficulty standing up straight and lack coordination. If they have over-responsive

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vestibular systems, they may experience motion sickness and dizziness and dislike being picked up. Therapists have discovered that children can be helped by engaging in rhythmical movement activities, such as sitting in rocking chairs, swings, and hammocks. 9 References

1 “Vestibular Exercises for Children.”

Livestrong.com. <http://www.livestrong.com/ article/215788-vestibular-exercises-for-children/> 16 Sep. 2010.

2 “Visual-Vestibular Coordination.” Occupational Therapy Associates. <www.otawatertown. com/pdfs/vis-vestibular.pdf> 16 Sep. 2010.

3 Haven, Lisa. “The Human Balance System – A Complex Coordination of Central and Peripheral Systems.” Vestibular Disorders Association. <http://www.vestibular.org/> 16 Sep. 2010.

4 Ibid.

5 Op. cit., “Visual-Vestibular Coordination.”

6 Op. cit., Haven, Lisa.

7 Ibid.

8 Frost, Joe L., Pei-San Brown, John A. Sutterby, Candra D. Thornton, The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds. Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International, 2004. p. 57.

9 Ibid., p. 172.

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FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 7

So, what’s the Thinking about the wonderful and graceful art of swinging takes me back to one of my favorite childhood play experiences, swinging like Tarzan of the jungle on ropes suspended from branches of super tall Douglas fir trees in the Northwest.

Swinging has been around in some form or fashion since man’s earliest moments. Homo erectus and then Homo sapiens were among the first to experience swinging pleasure on jungle vines.

Though we really don’t have factual evidence of the unveiling of the first modern day swing, a pendulum-type device suspended from a horizontal beam, we do find illustrative evidence in Europe and Asia of people swinging several centuries ago. You may recall from Western Civilization course studies, photos of welldressed children playing on swings with flat board seats in the beautifully manicured Victorian gardens of the 1800s.

During the Industrial Revolution and the advent of child labor laws, children 8 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

BIG DEAL

needed public places to gather and play.

With the development of the public park, the swing became one of the newly formed play environments’ most popular devices. This phenomenon begs the question, why? Why do humans of all ages enjoy the activity we call swinging?

It is important to note that public playground swings are no longer attached to composite play structures. Injury data from the ’70s and ’80s revealed that having a separate area for swings would help prevent injury from players running into swingers on the playground. In addition, large and heavy metal animal swings introduced during the post-World War II period have been eliminated from North American playgrounds to prevent injury from impact and create safer playgrounds.

Why We Swing?

When we think about why most humans truly enjoy swinging, we need to break down what is actually happening. While swinging, we experience a

full range of sensation, from the calming rhythm of our to-fro movement to the excitement of rapid travel through space and time. These experiences are linked to pre-birth childhood movement in the mother’s womb and the child's first sensation of gravitational forces.

Let’s take a deeper dive into why we enjoy swinging. Swinging stimulates our bodies’ sensory systems, namely our vestibular and proprioception systems. I love to swing because of the way it affects my inner ear. Vestibular stimulation occurs when we experience movement through time and space in combination with the earth’s gravitational forces. Experts, including Dr. Stuart Brown and Dr. Joe Frost, explain that during swinging, the three semicircular canals in the inner ear are responding to movement and acceleration in the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal planes. For me it just feels really good, especially when I close my eyes.

The same experts have explained that such stimulation is directly related www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

about

SWINGING?

to sense of balance. This reminds me of my first play research experience back in 1984 when Ken Kirn, the President of Columbia Cascade, explained that young children who have difficulty with balancing may also have difficulty with reading.

Ken introduced me to the world of play research and to one of its true play design pioneers, M. Paul Friedberg. This early introduction to play research and design sparked my lifelong love for play.

When we think of man’s evolution, we are reminded of our relationship to chimpanzees, which are reported to have 98.5% of the same genes as humans, and they spent millions of years swinging and moving freely in the tree canopy. During this time, the swinging (three dimensional movement through space) stimulated the cerebellum, thus further developing the balance, planning, and language systems, and improved the ability to establish emotional regulation. Swinging fires up the brain by activating the connections in the prefrontal cortex, and some of my friends www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

claim to experience this “rush” during and immediately after they swing.

Beyond vestibular development from swinging is the natural effect on our proprioceptive system, our sense of locomotion or sense of muscle location and position. Swinging helps us humans develop and maintain the body’s proprioceptive system which draws information from our muscles and joints. The information from our muscles and joints is developed by our bodies as they moves through space, and this movement creates signals to our central nervous system, which cause us to react to the stimuli. I often think of how I shift my body during the swinging movement, which basically consists of pumping my legs combined with an appropriately timed torso lean. If I swing too hard and cause that “bump” at the top of my swing arc, then I readjust by slowing my legs and reducing my torso lean to create that beautiful rhythmic motion.

Many of us love to swing because it is good for us…we feel much better after

by Tom Norquist

a ten to fifteen minute swinging session. Our central nervous system and inner ears are stimulated in a natural and substance-free manner; it costs us nothing but the joy of spending ten to fifteen minutes freeing our minds of our daily troubles. Swinging’s lasting effects helps me think clearer and to create a positive attitude in a troubled world.

There are many types of swinging devices on modern playgrounds, including the traditional single to-fro pendulum swing, the full 360 degree rotating multiple occupancy tire swing, the newer multiple occupancy to-fro swing, the 360 degree single disc swing, and the new reactive disc swings. All of these devices create pure forms of joy for children and their parents. If you want to know how popular swings are, visit your local elementary school (hopefully it has swings!) and watch where the children run to during recess (hopefully it has recess!). You will find that swings fill up first! Be sure to get permission and register as a guest FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 9

from the school office before setting foot on an elementary school playground during school hours.

How We Swing

all photos courtesy of Tom Norquist - GameTime

10 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

The most popular and common to-fro swing in North America is the strap or belt seat. Typical swing configurations include a bay with two seats suspended from a horizontal beam. Frequently, several bays of swings are installed to allow multiple individual users. The modern day strap seat is designed to maintain its function in extreme high use conditions. Strap seats typically are made from rubber, designed to have a soft leading edge and include heavy duty lightweight interior structural steel for added strength and durability. Rubber completely molded over an interior stainless steel strap is one of the preferred manufacturing methods.

Early versions of the strap seat using standard black steel did not last as long due to internal corrosion.

The overall strap seat design considers the size and weight of the user while minimizing the head impact of the seatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading edge. All to-fro swing seats must meet a head impact test as set forth in ASTM (ASTM International) F1487 Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Playground Equipment for Public Use. Remember, the minimum clearance from the bottom of both to-fro and multiple occupancy swing seats when fully loaded to the protective surface shall be no less than 12 inches for both preschool and school age children.

Swing beam heights of to-fro swings should be taken into consideration. Lower swing beam heights for younger children seem to be common practice and make sense. Seat typology is also critical for children, usually toddlers, unable to support themselves in a traditional strap seat. Full bucket seats work well for both the infant/ toddler (under two) and the lower spectrum of the preschool (2-5). Care should be taken in selecting full bucket seats as parents of children have been known to experience difficulty when placing a two or three year old in a seat designed specifically for the under two child.

Another key design element when utilizing full bucket seats is the seat installation height, which tends to be close to 24 inches above the protective surface, enabling parents and caretakers to load and unload the child at or slightly below

adult waist level. This installation feature also helps to prevent larger children from innocently loading into the full bucket seat which may result in a difficult dismount.

There are many versions of adaptive seats with back support, allowing children who have difficulty maintaining an erect body position the ability to enjoy movement through swinging. One of the pioneers of this type of seat was the JennSwing, still currently available, which is a fairly large rotationally molded seat that supports the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full body. Since this invention, many other adaptive seats have been developed, including some with five point harness straps and/or locking arm mechanisms (similar to those seen on some amusement park rides).

My personal favorite is the Zero-G seat, available in both a smaller 2-5 preschool version and a larger 5-12 school age size.

These two size appropriate seats help secure the user better than the one-size fits all approach of many adaptive swing seats.

The Zero-G seats also features a grooved back design allowing parents and caretakers to temporarily strap the user into the seat for a safer and more stable ride.

Earlier, we discussed the vestibular and proprioceptive benefits of swinging.

Now while discussing to-fro swing seat typology, it is a perfect time to interject a story about a dear friend of mine back in Portland, Oregon. Having spent 34 years in the City of Roses and then moving to Fort Payne, Alabama in 1993, I will always have Northwest roots. With the advent of social media, Facebook became a perfect way to keep up with childhood friends and their aspiring families. Several years ago, a friend sent me a Facebook message about a woman who was raising money for a special swing seat for her daughterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s school. Upon reading the post, I reached out to my Facebook friends and asked if anyone knew the family and voila, an amazing actress friend from high school made the connection. I sent a private email to the family stating that our company wanted to gift her a seat for her daughter and that coincidentally, I would be in her area within the next month and would install it for her. Fortunately, Delta Air Lines allowed us to ship the University of Oregon colored Zero-G seat as luggage.

When we arrived at the school, local news reporters were there to cover the story.

Since that time, I developed a tremendous respect for parents of children with Rhet Syndrome and helped place several www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

other seats. Swinging for these children is extremely therapeutic and helps to ease the pain they experience as a normal part of their day. It’s hard to explain, but the smile and joy of one beautiful child while swinging on her school playground reminded me, and hopefully helps us, better understand why we work to improve play environments and enhance play.

Within the last decade, several European basket-style swings migrated into North America. Initially, they were introduced in Canada and then a few began to creep into the United States.

The problem was, a decade ago the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) did not recommend multiple occupancy to-fro swings, most likely based on their recall of all the larger metal animal swings. However, these new basket-style swings typically had a “bumper” on their leading edge that softened the blow if a person were to be accidentally struck by the seat.

Both CPSC and ASTM considered this technological improvement, and ASTM developed a testing methodology, similar to an existing European test, for all to-fro swing seats. Now you can provide traditional to-fro seats as well as the modern basket-style multiple occupancy to-fro seats. This is a really exciting new experience on the playground that allows a rich and deep social play experience to what was traditionally a single user event.

The modern playground tire swing continues the thrill of a single player

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swinging while adding multiple developmental benefits – revolution, collaboration, “dizzy play,” and socialization.

Seemingly evolving from a tire suspended on a rope to an overhead tree branch, the public playground tire swing includes a 360 degree rotating suspending mechanism, usually centered on a fairly long horizontal beam. Some manufacturers still use recycled tires, but the industry norm is a lightweight rotationally molded seat that looks like a tire. For safety reasons, the horizontal beam is designed to allow 30 inches of clearance with the tire seat fully extended at either end from the supporting posts.

This multiple occupancy rotating swing is a playground favorite, usually supporting two or three swingers, with others helping to push and spin the users. Research and personal observation reveal that one of the favorite activities is for one user to keep the ball of their foot firmly planted while others help the device to spin rapidly in a circular motion. This form of “dizzy play” led to the design of many new freestanding rotating devices on the playground. Clearly, the tire swing is one of the playgrounds most popular devices.

As swings seem to be making a vital comeback on the modern playground, look for new designs using structural technologies to create new experiences.

We are seeing cantilevered traditional tofro swings as well as disc swings that can now fit into narrower spaces with smaller required use zones. These new disc swings

allow a 360 degree rotation but with only one end being supported for a much more elegant display. Additionally, European manufacturers are introducing multiple user disc swings that appear to safely allow an action/reaction scenario between two users.

So my advice to you is that if you haven’t personally been on a swing lately, go to your local park and rejuvenate your senses through a simple swing session. It’s an exciting time to be a Swinger!

About the Author

Tom is Senior Vice President of Marketing, Design and Product Development for GameTime, a leading playground manufacturer. As a founding board member in 1995, past president, past treasurer, and current secretary of the International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) and long-term active ASTM representative, over the past 31 years Tom Norquist has been involved in all aspects of the play industry. Tom is a founding steering committee member and active leader of the US Play Coalition. Additionally, Tom serves as a board member on Dr. Stuart Brown’s National Institute for Play.

FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 11

Beyond Swings, Spinners, and Slides

by Jay Beckwith

While not everything that moves is living, one of the fundamental tenants of science is that inanimate objects are not alive. Any health professional will tell you that when people stop moving, their lifespan is dramatically reduced. Child developmental experts will point out that during the early years of life, movement is not only essential to physical development but to the core functions of the brain.

Since we know that movement is so essential to life and the full development of human potential, it is surprising that when it comes to playground design and apparatus selection, we seldom consider how our choices will support optimum movement opportunities. Budget, space limitation, even color choices generally take precedence.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Get Serious About Movement

Slack line courtesy of Angie Six

12 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

When creating a play environment, it is helpful to think about two types of movement: the body moving in space and muscular movement. Swings, spinners,

and slides, the three Sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, are the main ways playgrounds provide movement in space.

The main appeal of this type of apparatus is that it stimulates the mechanisms of the inner ear. Referred to by physiologists as the vestibular system, the maturation of this system is essential for all activities that require balance without which bipedal movement such as standing, walking, and running are impossible.

While the role of the three Sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is fairly well known, fewer people recognize an even more important benefit of vestibular stimulation, that is the development of the visual system. The vestibular system sends signals to the neural structures that control eye movements and provide the anatomical basis of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, which is required for accurate vision, distance sensing, and the like.

To get a sense of this mechanism, imagine that you are sitting at a stoplight, when out of the corner of your eye you notice the car next to you is moving.

Your immediate reaction will be to press on your brakes, because at that moment www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

you can’t be sure if the neighboring car is moving or you are rolling. That’s because in this example the rate of movement is below the threshold of the vestibular system. What this in turn tells us is that when it comes to vestibular stimulation, speed is less important than acceleration.

That means that a really steep slide with a long run-out, or one with waves in it, because of the varied rates of acceleration, are more “fun” than slides with constant slope.

Sunflower swing courtesy of KOMPAN

Some years ago, as a consultant with KOMPAN, I helped design a “swing” that had a very short pendulum and very rapid reciprocation. This design was specially intended primarily for independent play by kids 3 to 5 years old. This design is particularly exciting for this age as it feels very “tippy” and the child has to hold on and keep his balance even though the arc of the swing is very small.

While the swing action of this swing is certainly age appropriate, it has other important benefits as well. Kids at this age will not only sit on the swing but will also lie on it. They do this for two reasons. First, the vestibular system, that has a snail shelllike shape, must function in 360 degrees of body orientation and so needs to be stimulated in all body positions. The second reason is that this is also the age when children establish the mid-line of their body, which they do by putting weight on their core, or tightening their belts.

This swing design illustrates that by thinking about maximizing movement opportunities, there is much we can do with simple and commonplace play equipwww.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

ment to enhance their benefits to children. Every piece of play apparatus can and should have multiple benefits.

Move that body!

The second general types of movement opportunities on playgrounds are those that require moving the body. Climbers, upper body events, and balance challenges are the main types in this category.

It is unfortunate that most people think that any device that supports getting up on a play structure is a “climber.”

This stems from the lack of a distinction between walking and climbing type movements. When we walk, our feet point forward and our arms are at our sides. Stairs are specifically designed to use a walking gait to ascend. It is not just the typical enclosed steps that use walking style movement, but also arch climbers and other common designs that require feet and face forward ascent on evenly spaced rungs. Stair-like climbers are developmentally appropriate for children from about 12 to 24 months. For older children, stairlike climbers provide no developmental benefit!

True climbers on the other hand require the body to move in all directions.

The quintessential climber is a boulderlike design where the climber must place hands and feet in many different orientations in order to ascend the apparatus.

Hand and foot holds are irregular in size, placement, and orientation. Not only do superior climber designs require unique and innovative whole body movements, but they also require different types of

Courtesy of RockCraft

finger grips and foot support positions.

Because true climbers present a challenge to hands and feet, the texture of the holds is paramount. Smooth metal and plastic surfaces are not optimal for good climbing, yet these are the materials of choice throughout the playground industry.

These days it is rare to see a playground with even one true climber included in its design. This is another example where an understanding of, and dedication to, quality movement opportunities can vastly improve the benefits of playgrounds for kids.

Tot's Toddle Rocker courtesy of GameTime

Start Monkeying Around!

Overhead “monkey bars” were included in the very earliest playgrounds, as they have always had strong appeal to children.

Monkey bars beautifully demonstrate how a simple piece of apparatus can span a wide range of user abilities. Consider the skills that are progressively built on monkey bars: 1) support body weight with hand grip, 2) reach out with dominant hand to next rung, 3) reach with alternating right, left hands successively, 4) skip rungs.

In addition to strength and coordination skills, monkey bars also support “lateralization,” the ability to synchronize both sides of the body. This leads to the skill of “brachiating,” which is the fluid hand over hand motion that is the apex skill.

Overhead events can also illustrate the notion of “graduated challenge,” presenting physical challenges that require progressively greater and greater skills.

We are all familiar with turning, chinning, monkey bars, and track rides that typically make up the range of upper body challenge. Have you ever seen monkey bars with unequal rungs that would require a higher level of motor control and coorFALL 2014 Playground Magazine 13

dination? How about the little known SkyGame from BigToys? This design is brilliant in that it requires a great deal of strength and coordination, and the kids become so engrossed in the game of passing each other that they forget to be tired.

The point here is not that any of these various designs are better than others, but that the typical playground has only one, or perhaps two, upper body challenges.

Thus it fails to provide the full range of benefits for children of all ages and abilities and thereby fails to engage kids to the extent needed to provide a high level of activity and health benefits.

A Balanced Diet Of all the activities on playgrounds, balance events are the rarest. It’s not because of cost, since these are generally the least expensive apparatus options.

No, they are left off, because adults don’t appreciate their benefits. But just watch kids around you, and if there is a curb or a rail or anything they can balance on, they find it immediately.

Like other play events, balance activities are available in a range of challenges from static balance beams to slack ropes.

Motivating Movement I get a bit tired of adults wringing their hands about the “obesity epidemic” and what can be done about it. For gosh sakes, the solution is staring us in the face.

Give kids the chance to move and have fun and they will. Kids who have abundant access to quality play spaces tend to maintain a higher level of fitness than kids who rarely play vigorously. We also know that fit kids are better able to deal with high calorie foods and tend to make better dietary decisions.

To meet the real needs of kids from 3 to 13, we need playgrounds that are very

complex and have top to bottom challenges in all the event types. We have known for decades that when you have complex linkages between a large number of events, kids will play games of tag until they are sweating and exhausted; that is, unless grown-ups make needless rules that limit play behavior or limit access by reducing or eliminating recess.

The Old Bug-a-boo We want our kids to be safe don’t we?

Well, actually no! Of course we don’t want kids to be exposed to hazards like sharp edges or places where they could get entrapped, but we have to accept that all physical movement has some risk.

Ask any parent, or just remember your own childhood, and you will be forced to accept that kids will play-up-to-the-pointof-pain. I call this the “Beckwith Maxim,” but it is just nature’s plan. That means that some pain will always accompany active play. Well-meaning “responsible adults,” who think they know better and can somehow change human nature, just need to get a grip.

Sure, our legal system has become unhinged from reality. For decades insurance companies paid outlandish sums for the typical bumps and scrapes of childhood, because it was cheaper than litigating. Now, insurance companies and risk managers have the shield of ASTM standards, and agencies have cleaned up their maintenance procedures, so much of the liability exposure has all but disappeared.

In the wake of their expedient policies, we are left to marginally functional playgrounds and fat kids.

Let’s Make a Change

I’ve been part of the playground “industry” for more than four decades.

I can personally bear witness that, for the most part, the people who make up the playSkyGame courtesy of BigToys ground business, whether they make, sell, or install playground apparatus, genuinely care about kids. Most also know what makes for a great playground, and they are universally frustrated that they often can’t do what they know in their hearts is better for kids and their communities. These folks

14 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

are right to be frustrated. As individual business people or companies, it is almost impossible for them to make change by themselves.

Let’s state the argument. Do we believe that ready access to high quality playgrounds, as we have defined it above, would have a major impact on the health of children?

Yes? OK then, what’s preventing us from providing the very best playgrounds we can imagine? You say limited budgets and small spaces? Who sets those budgets and chooses the places? Why it’s the planners, agencies, and the community, of course. And these decisions continue to be made, because it’s the way it’s always been done.

Throwing Down the Gauntlet!

I hereby lay down the gauntlet!

Individuals, no matter how knowledgeable and motivated, are not likely to change the entrenched playground design and purchase paradigm. Real change requires a movement.

There is a precedent for this. The “golden age” of playground innovation and concern for safety of the ᾽70s and ᾽80s resulted in the replacement of the vast majority of the then existing playground apparatus. The ADA movement of the ᾽90s saw these upgraded for access.

These movements combined passionate individuals with professional organizations and governmental agencies to create models and standards upon which plans and purchasing requests could be built with confidence.

Many of the same forces for change exist today. The rise of social media has given us access to a dozen or more really powerful advocates, who clearly articulate the need for more physical activity, more access to natural settings, more innovative playground designs, and more challenge.

What’s different today is that these advocates are generally not part of a professional organization that is in a position to make change. In the ᾽80s that role was primarily the Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Dance (now known as SHAPE America). The Access Board spearheaded the ADA movement.

To make the changes to the current playground paradigm and establish a new one that emphasizes high levels of challenge and physical movement, we need another organization to step up to the plate. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

SkyGame courtesy of BigToys

I suggest that that organization is the International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA). As an industry it has, in addition to tens of thousands of so-so playgrounds, many examples of really high quality playgrounds that are making a difference in the health of our youth in the communities where they can be found. It is time that as an industry it begins to actively advocate for communities to commit to these higher quality designs.

Consider what happens today.

Typically a group of community representatives is asked to provide input on playground equipment selection. This process is either to look at manufacturers’ catalogs or design proposals. While it’s great to get such input, there is almost no information about the deeper physical benefits the apparatus can provide. More importantly, all of the decisions about space and budget have already been determined.

To make change, the community has to be better informed. To make change, agencies have to allow community input before they set budget and space limitations.

Sure, one company could be bold enough to try to change this on a caseby-case basis, but that is almost surely a prescription for bankruptcy. The only way this can work is for the industry as a whole to become advocates, so that their recommendations will be seen as impartial. By partnering with organizations and agencies as well as independent experts concerned with youth fitness, a new vision for playgrounds can and will emerge.

So IPEMA - show us the pictures of your best! Add more information about physical benefits to your catalogs and advertising. Bring out the experts to give the public a full understanding of what are the best practices! Help communities understand in-depth what a really good playground looks like.

Here then is my challenge:

IPEMA, you can and should become the movement about movement!

PLAY & PLAYGROUND

Jay Beckwith

• Began designing play environments in 1970.

• Has written several books on designing and building play equipment.

• Is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector.

• Has written publications and developed programs for playground safety.

• Has consulted with playground manufacturers in their design process.

• Writes a blog at playgroundguru.org.

• Completed a comprehensive upgrade of the Gymboree Play and Music apparatus.

• Currently developing location based mobile games with the goal of using smartphones in outdoor play.

Read More at

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alz.

F’Re FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 15

An Interview with

Pam Powers of Let's Move!

Active Schools

PM - Pam, your background in physical education for elementary school children shows you have long been concerned with getting our kids moving. Tell us a bit about your past involvements that led to working with Let’s Move! Active Schools.

Pam holds a BS in Physical Education and an MS in Curriculum and Instruction. She has an extensive dance background and competed in Ballroom Dance in Latin Style.

Pam has been involved in the fitness industry since she was eighteen and has served as an evaluator for the Aerobics Federation.

In 2004, Pam was recognized as a National Association for Sport and Physical Education Teacher of the Year and was the recipient of the Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007. Other awards include Outstanding Jump Rope for Heart Coordinator and Professional Merit Award.

Pam has presented at a wide range of conferences and in-services for teachers across the United States and she is an author and NASPE Pipeline presenter. She currently lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and is the national recruitment manager for Let’s Move! Active Schools. www.letsmoveschools.org 16 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

PP - I grew up taking all types of dance and began teaching 3-5 year olds movement and dance when I was fourteen. By nineteen, I was teaching aerobics classes and became an evaluator for the Aerobics Federation. Also, I developed fitness classes geared for school-aged children at the gym so they had something to do while their parents worked out.

Then I taught elementary physical education for ten years and became involved with SHAPE America, formerly AAHPERD throughout a teaching award.

I traveled through the United States, presenting developmentally appropriate activities based on the National Standards.

All of these past endeavors have led me to my current work and my desire to empower teachers, districts, and communities to getting kids more active.

PM - What is the connection between Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! and Let’s Move! Active Schools?

PP - Let’s Move! Active Schools is the strand of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative. Let’s Move! is a comprehensive program dedicated to solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

One of the five pillars of Let’s Move! is increasing physical activity. That’s where Let’s Move! Active Schools comes in.

Powered by a national collaboration of leading health and education organizations, Let’s Move! Active Schools is aimed at equipping school leaders and teachers with the tools and resources to get kids moving for at least 60 minutes a day before, during, and after school.

PM - What is the mission of Let’s Move!

Active Schools?

PP - Let’s Move! Active Schools is a physical activity and physical education solution to ensure 60 minutes of physical activity is the new norm for schools. We make it simple for teachers and strategic for administrators by streamlining the selection of programs, resources, professional development, and funding opportunities, and delivering each school a customized action plan. Ultimately, Let’s Move! Active Schools helps schools develop a culture in which physical activity and physical education are foundational to academic success. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

PM - What is the state of our nation’s commitment to physical activity for our children?

PP - Unfortunately, if our nation were committed to physical activity for children, all schools would have every student active 60 minutes a day and offer students daily physical education. Through Let’s Move! Active Schools, we hope to spread awareness and a solution to help change this culture.

PM - Is combating childhood obesity the main reason children should be more active or are there other benefits that are important as well?

PP - Research shows that only one third of school aged children get enough physical activity 1, contributing to childhood obesity and health-related issues such as type two diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. We also know that when we are sedentary for too long, our brains go to sleep. If we move around before concentrating on work, such as a reading assignment or test, we are more alert and attentive. Other benefits include less behavior problems in class, better attendance, and a lifetime of healthy habits. 2

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PM - With the focus on standardized testing and academic achievement so prominent in our schools today, physical education has been significantly downsized.

Why should physical education remain an important part of our children’s school day?

PP - The recent 2014 CDC Health and Academic Achievement Report underscores the value of physical education and links it to enhanced academic performance: “Participation in physical education class has been associated with better grades, standardized test scores, and classroom behavior among students.” With the increased focus on testing, physical education should be even more prominent in schools, as it is a proven brain booster.

PM - Many schools have eliminated or shortened recess as well. Does it really make a difference for children to have regular recess breaks? How can kids get moving if the weather doesn’t allow for outside play?

PP - Recess, particularly when structured and placed at the right times, is highly effective in the school day. One example is to offer recess before lunch rather than after. Schools find when they do this, the students are quiet when they sit down to eat, eat more of their lunch, throw away

less food, and make better food choices.

Also, offering lunchtime intramural opportunities for middle school students is an idea being introduced in one state.

Inserting this into the school day would give the students an opportunity to participate in physical activity and constructive play, and help them concentrate during their afternoon classes. Let’s Move! Active Schools provides a vast list of resources that provide teachers with activities to keep kids active indoors when the weather does not allow for outside play.

PM - What types of activities can be encouraged for children before and after school? Is it difficult to persuade schools to allow their facilities to be used beyond classroom time?

PP - There are many terrific options for before and after school physical activities. With the combined brainpower and assets of a talented cadre of supporting organizations, Let’s Move! Active Schools specifically identifies programs, resources, and grants to help schools implement before and after-school opportunities. For example, Fuel Up to Play 60 offers a playbook with a number of activities included that can be incorporated before and after school. The 100 Mile Club offers a program that can be added throughout the FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 17

day, and BOKS offers programs that help kids get their day started right. In addition, there is professional development available through the grant for schools that are signed up. This professional development is tailored to meet the needs of the school or school district and may be in the form of a webinar or in person training.

participate with their students. They could join in the walking and running programs with their students, start a friendly classroom physical activity challenge for different grade levels, or volunteer to lead before and after school activities or lunchtime groups. Students love to see their teachers be active with them!

Building team support to add this type of programming is important. So, Let’s Move!

Active Schools offers a dynamic, actionfocused Physical Activity Leader Training for all those willing to champion 60 minutes of physical activity a day in schools.

It is very helpful in gaining the needed support.

PM - To be an Active School, family and community engagement is encouraged.

What kinds of involvement are suggested?

What are the benefits to children for having this support?

PM - How do you encourage teachers and staff to include more movement into their lives?

PP - If there are teachers and staff who are not active, Let’s Move! Active Schools is a great way to engage this group. In fact, one of the five components of an Active Schools is “Staff Involvement.” Teachers and staff are not only encouraged to demonstrate active lifestyle choices in and out of school, but Let’s Move! Active Schools also gives teachers and staff the tools to

Parent involvement within Let’s Move!

Active Schools is really important. The biggest difference made in a child’s education is parental involvement. If we can engage the parents and use them to advocate for physical activity, they can be a huge support in helping to make change happen.

Communities love to support their schools.

Reach out to local fitness clubs, karate, yoga, Boys and Girls Clubs, and YMCA. They will often partner with schools to offer before and after school fitness classes, talk about what they have to offer the students, or offer use of their facilities.

PM - Many children aren’t active, because their parents aren’t active. How can this challenge be combatted?

PP - Engaging and educating parents around what children are doing at school, whether it is in math or physical education is important. One idea is to send students home with a family physical activity calendar with ideas to get the whole family moving together. Students then report back on their family’s progress. Another way to involve the parents is to hold family fitness nights and invite the parents to participate in the activities that their children are learning in class. As well, local gyms will offer family memberships and have flyers that can be distributed through school.

Send this home with students encouraging their parents to exercise with them.

PM - Do you have any success stories you would like to share that illustrate the benefits gained by offering more physical activity to children through Let’s Move!

Active Schools?

PP - All across the country, we are starting to see positive changes. Take Bower Hill Elementary School in Venetia, Pennsylvania for example. Recently,

photos courtesy of Let's Move! Active Schools

18 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

the school started a walking program that quickly grew into a marathon challenge, where teachers and their students would attempt to walk a marathon over the course of the year, all building up to participation in the final mile at the Pittsburgh Kids Marathon. Check out www.letsmoveschools.org/latest-stories for other great stories!

PM - Are you aware of any grant programs that help schools implement physical activity programs?

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PP - Let’s Move! Active Schools has teamed up with some outstanding supporting organizations that invite schools to apply for their grants when they sign up! Some of the grants offered include Fuel Up to Play 60, Presidential Youth Fitness Program, Active Schools Acceleration Project, Action for Healthy Kids, and BOKS. PM - What gets you excited about your work?

PP - I received an email the other day from a district coordinator who I had been working with to sign up schools. He sent me a note from a principal thanking him for the suggestions provided through Let’s Move! Active Schools. The suggestions resulted in the principal moving recess before lunch, and even more, in a dramatic change in the students. With this change, the students were calmer during lunch, eating more of their food, and making healthier selections! This was just one of many successes that happened during my first year working for Let’s Move! Active Schools. What gets me excited is when I hear about schools making students a priority and doing what is best for kids.

PM - Thank you, Pam, for describing the important work Let’s Move! Active Schools does in encouraging children and adults to get moving! Do you have any last words for us?

PP - Thank you for the opportunity to share my love and passion for children.

References

1 National Association for Sport and Physical Education. The Fitness Equation: Physical Activity + Balanced Diet = Fit Kids. Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1999.

2 2014 CDC Health and Academic Achievement Report www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 19

Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com

Teenagers Need Active Play, Too! Physical activity is important, Active Play: the act but often teenagers are left out of moving the body via of the conversation. These days, the focus nationally on physical an intrinsic motivation activity tends to be on early playto engage in playful ful exposure during childhood and on disease avoidance/aesthetexploration and ics in adulthood. With our focus interaction with others and on these two bookends, there is a gap in providing viable spaces the environment. and situations where adolescents can have meaningful movement experiences outside of organized, parenting blogs and main stream media, regimented activity. more and more people seem to be talking In order to solve any issue, we must about the lack of physical activity among clearly define it. So, in the first part of this today’s youth. The lack of physical activity article, that is exactly what I am doing. is being discussed in health and wellness, education, and even military sectors. Each From Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! sector has its own concern about the lack campaign, to the plethora of articles on 20 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

by Kwame Brown

of physical capability and activity.

If one takes a look at the research on physical activity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the transition from childhood to adolescence shows a huge decline in physical activity levels. Yet comparatively little funding and planning is done specifically to provide physical activity for young people during this important period, outside of organized sports. We are missing the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Physical activity isn’t the only issue at hand. We have begun to notice the dying off of play in favor of regimentation and www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

passive entertainment. Organizations like KaBOOM!, US Play Coalition, Playworks, and Alliance for Childhood also have us talking about the value of play, and how opportunities for free play have ebbed away in our neighborhoods. Each of these organizations is and has been providing some kind of path to provide play, whether through the construction of play spaces, advocacy, or programming. A much more diffuse group of individuals in the health and wellness world have been discussing the need for play among adults as well.

This includes heavy thinkers like Frank Forencich and Stuart Brown, as well as a host of movement professionals who have begun to focus on exploring movement more playfully. But unfortunately, this too misses the transition from childhood to adulthood.

For ease of discussion, I am combining the issues of physical activity and play since they are not only both important but intertwined. In fact, a primary issue within this interaction is the presence of intrinsic motivation to engage in physical activity. Active Play, a term I am using throughout the rest of this article, denotes the act of moving the body via an intrinsic motivation to engage in playful exploration and interaction with others and the environment. This is where we need to focus our energy, on the combined value of play and movement.

Over the past 20 years or so, a dominant pattern has emerged.

We seem to all agree that infants, toddlers, and preschoolers need play. In response, we build playgrounds across the United States. We initiate early childhood programs, both private and public, that provide for Active Play. Once kids reach the age of 9 or 10, with the aforementioned absence of the neighborhood play of childhood, they have little choice outside of regimented sports and “exercise” programs. Once adolescence is reached, beyond sports there really isn’t much to do except shop, go to the movies, or hang out indoors playing with electronic devices. We seem to almost make the tacit assumption that free play, neighborhood play is "done" by this age.

When adolescents do try to play on playgrounds, their play can sometimes disrupt the play of younger kids. This is especially true if they are present in large groups. Unfortunately, the first reaction from many municipalities has not been www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

to build play spaces for them, but to ban them. Further, these spaces aren’t really appropriate for them from a size or challenge perspective anyway.

Active Play is important throughout development.

We know already that physical activity augments and sustains brain development, curbs aggressive behavior, and improves test scores. Study after study has shown this. The effects are even specific to types of activity. Repetitive, aerobic activity tends to lay down new architecture toward the frontal lobes of the brain. More dynamic activity increases connections in areas like the cerebellum, responsible for coordination. So, moving in different ways is necessary for developing the whole brain.

We know also that play helps to develop divergent thinking skills, strengthens relationships, and improves emotional regulation. The animal research shows this clearly. Animals that are not allowed to engage fully in play become more aggressive in social situations, and don’t solve problems as well.

Even as adults we need Active Play.

You know those team-building exercises, such as ropes courses, that are so popular in the corporate world. What do you think they are trying to tap into? These kinds of team building exercises are effective because of the presence of Active Play, where physical challenge and social interaction are combined.

“Just DO something!”

We call them lazy and complain that they don’t get enough exercise. It seems sometimes that we yell at adolescents no matter what they do. They try to play on playgrounds, we kick them out. They skate or congregate to dance in an open space, we tell them to disperse or move along.

They play video games, we call them lazy.

When I talk to teens that aren’t in organized activities and ask them what they did on the weekend, the response is pretty typical: “Not much.” This response is given, in my opinion, because they have experienced a history of restriction and regimentation.

Even when I was a teenager, I remember my friends and I being told to “disperse” wherever we gathered in groups.

We didn’t even have to be doing anything and generally were not "doing anything."

The pattern had already begun.

“What is wrong with these teenagers?” we ask, repeatedly and often.

I might ask some questions in return: 1. What happens when we combine the pressure that teenagers feel, the sudden and drastic changes in adolescent nervous and endocrine systems, and very few outlets for stress release?

2. We adults obviously need more Active Play, too. We are dying and losing quality of life from diseases related to stress and sedentary behaviors. Keep your nose to the grindstone. Don’t play too much. Stay in line. Work. Why do we choose this pattern of grooming teenagers to adopt a lifestyle that is killing us?

3. What’s wrong with us that leads us to either ignore or fail to see these patterns before us?

With the lack of opportunity to play in developmentally appropriate ways that include dynamic activity and some physical risk, adolescents often get bored, to the apparent surprise of many. They often begin playing in destructive ways. We see drug use, promiscuous sexual activity, and violent and destructive behavior. This includes a current trend where adolescents are covering themselves in accelerant and setting themselves on fire to put it up on YouTube. There are many more examples just as self-destructive.

With any problem, especially one plaguing our youth, the priority should be to fix it. Otherwise, we are simply yelling “fire” in a burning building. Can we change this?

Are current efforts the best we can do for them?

I say no. For starters, let’s just look at what we do spend our money to build.

We build fancy, super safe playgrounds for young children and big box gyms for adults. We won’t even talk about the fact that most adults don’t even like these big FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 21

gyms we build for them. That is an issue for another time.

Don’t even take my word for it. Drive or walk around your neighborhood.

Where are the indoor and outdoor spaces that adolescents can go to move freely?

Where can they have fun in groups?

Chances are if your neighborhood is a typical North American one, you won’t find much.

Do a Google search for “teenagers” and “playgrounds” and you will find page after page of the trouble adolescents have caused on playgrounds. But you won’t find much on play spaces, indoors or outdoors, that are constructed with them in mind.

Now do that same walk or drive and look for spaces that young children and adults go to move around. Look at the choices they have.

When a large effort is made to provide Active Play for adolescents, it is often either sports themed, or some installation of the stuff most adults don’t even like in brighter colors.

But there are ways to construct and interact that provide interesting and engaging Active Play for teenagers.

Adolescents are attracted to risk and reward, especially reward mediated through social groups and interaction.

We can construct spaces and co-create activities that engage individuals at this stage without patronizing them or trying to turn them into adults. And, of course, we can’t just talk about the spaces we build. We have to talk about expanding our ideas of what can be done in a space.

Here are 4 keys to creating better Active Play spaces and outlets for adolescents: 1. Involve them in planning the spaces and activities. Don’t just involve those that routinely volunteer for things like this and are out in the open. You need to go to them. Go into schools and discuss the lack of spaces and opportunities openly, and talk to them about what they like to do. Recognize also that you might also be dealing with groups of kids that aren’t used to engaging freely and creating their own Active Play.

So, be prepared to bring your own ideas to the table. Please be willing to expand beyond weight lifting equipment and treadmills. There are great climbing structures and games that 22 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

Courtesy of Kwame Brown

build physical skill and social bonds.

There are all kinds of fun toys for adolescents to play with, that they will actually like.

2. They need real space. Sorry, great Active Play opportunities for adolescents to create on their own, especially in large groups are not going to happen in a renovated closet. Teens, just like preschoolers, need space to run, jump, and land. You know how acres and acres of land are committed to golf courses, because that is what they require? Same logic.

3. Collectively, we are going to have to spend some money. How much?

Let’s start by spending as much as we do for young children and adults to have spaces to move and create. Can we decide, together, to route some of the over $600 billion spent yearly in outdoor recreation toward play spaces for teens? It sure sounds fair to me.

4. We should create indoor spaces, too. Find innovative ways to marry technology, freedom of movement, exposure to nature, and human interaction. The tech industry has dictated too much of the play experience. Technology should bend to human experience, not vice versa. We need to draw adolescents away from options to play that are isolating, like electronic play. We need more truly interactive technology that facilitates play with actual objects and with other humans. But don’t expect most adolescents to play like you did when you were a kid on a daily basis right

away. There are those of us who have made our careers getting kids to play without technology. It can be done, but it is difficult and won’t necessarily happen for many spontaneously.

We cannot continue to wave at them from across a lake and not build the bridge for them to cross over.

I hope this article provides some perspective and some hints for those concerned about today’s adolescents. If we don’t want more sedentary, detached, overstressed, and unhealthy adults, we will do what it takes to continue play beyond early childhood. Are you ready?

About the Author

Dr. Kwame M. Brown has spent his career not only working to understand the processes behind movement development, but also to improve infrastructure and programming in the service of development and autonomy for both kids and adolescents. He trained as a developmental neuroscientist (Ph.D., Georgetown University) and worked in spinal cord injury research for 7 years. He left biomedical and clinical research to apply his knowledge of neural development to the creation of innovative methods that promote Active Play, spawning The FUNction Method. (www.drkwamebrown.com) Dr. Brown worked extensively in both management and consulting in the field of recreational programming/operations before coming back to his undergraduate alma mater (Hampton University) as a Psychology Professor. He has traveled throughout North America conducting interactive seminars and consulting with diverse entities.

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“By creating ultra-safe playgrounds – we are creating unsafe children.”

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TO DO NO HARM: We must re-think our playgrounds

by Angela Hanscom, MOT, OTR/L “First, do no harm” is a popular mantra of the medical profession. At least that was the phrase that was drilled into me all through my undergraduate and graduate schooling to become an occupational therapist. However, if we want to do no harm to children, we must re-think our playgrounds…because children are becoming more unsafe than ever before.

This past summer, our family was camping at a spacious campground right along Maine’s beautiful rocky coastline.

My girls had free-range all week long.

They explored the acres of land for hours at a time. One day, they ran to me, asking me to watch their "production" on the playground. I walked down to the playground and took a seat at a nearby bench and did as I was told - watched.

I think they broke every playground rule ever created as they climbed up slides, walked on top of equipment, went down head first, and stood on the swings. My 9-year-old stated, "We created our own way to use the equipment." My 6-year-old whole-heartedly agreed, "Yeah!

It was fun!"

It was a great reminder that most playgrounds these days are not challenging enough, and that is when you start seeing children using the equipment in ways that it wasn't originally intended for. Children are looking for a challenge, and if we don’t 24 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

give it to them, they will seek it on their own and the results may be even more risky than allowing for longer slides and taller structures in the first place.

In order for children to get to the next level of physical development, we need to start offering equipment that provides opportunities for them to take age-appropriate risks. Children will naturally seek the neurological input that their body needs on their own. They will also learn how to independently assess risk and will often climb only as high as they are developmentally capable of.

We need to simply provide the stimulating environment and then step back and let them test it out on their own. They may be looking to spin around in tight circles, try their strength on the monkey bars, or climb to new heights on a towering structure. Let’s give them the opportunity to do so. Their neurological systems need the challenge in order to develop both stronger bodies as well as stronger minds.

However, there lies an even greater problem than playground equipment simply not offering enough challenge to children. We’ve changed the type and quality of the sensory input being offered to youth on a regular basis. Due to increasing liability concerns and new safety standards of the early 1980s, the once thrillprovoking and sensory-stimulating metal

playground equipment of the early to mid 1900s got replaced with brightlycolored plastic playgrounds that are surprisingly close to the ground.

Desperately trying to reduce playground injuries, we started to shorten the length of slides and swings. We got rid of any risky equipment such as teeter-totters, merry-go-rounds, and even monkey bars.

By creating ultra-safe playgrounds, we unintentionally created a more long-term problem: increasing numbers of children with difficulty paying attention in school, kids falling out of their seats on a regular basis, children running into walls and each other, and an increase in difficulties with emotional regulation according to the observations of many teachers who have been teaching for 30 years or more.

It all goes back to science. Think back to your physics classes in high school. By shortening the length of slides and swings, we are essentially decreasing the amount of vestibular (balance) input the children will be receiving with each swing and/or trip down the slide. Therefore, those tall stainless steel slides and super high swings of the past actually offered wonderful vestibular input that helped to develop our sense of spatial awareness and body sense.

Having good spatial awareness is essential in order to manipulate your environment safely without constantly falling and tripping over your own feet.

Also, what most people don’t realize is that most of the “dangerous” playground equipment of the past was actually highly therapeutic. In fact, many of them rep-

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licate therapy swings and exercises we actually do in the clinic setting in order to maximize the sensory system in young children. Here are just three examples of equipment that are therapeutic in design, yet are becoming increasingly rare due to parental fear and liability concerns:

Merry-go-rounds One of the most beneficial pieces of equipment from a therapeutic pointof-view is actually the merry-go-round.

Interestingly enough, merry-go-rounds are starting to disappear from parks around the world because they have been deemed unsafe by the playground industry. However, in this case we need to assess if the risks outweigh the benefits of the equipment – and the benefits of the merry-go-round are bountiful.

The movement of the merry-go-round mimics what pediatric occupational therapists use swings in the clinic to do.

Therapists will purposefully spin children around in a hammock swing, so that they themselves become the central point of axis, and the child is circulating around them in fast circles. This creates a centrifugal force and activates the utricles (part of the vestibular complex found in the inner ear) for calming, self-regulation, and sustained attention to task 1.

Merry-go-rounds provide a similar experience and also create a centrifugal force in children. In other words, the input merry-go-rounds give off actually improves children’s ability to attend and self-regulate. This is exactly the opposite of what many teachers are seeing in the schools! More and more children are being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder each year and teachers report increasing difficulties with aggression on the playground, trouble with emotional regulation, and decreased motivation to learn. If merry-go-rounds of the past provided daily vestibular input to children that actually remediated some of the above-mentioned problems helping to prepare their bodies and brains to learn, then maybe taking away merry-go-rounds wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Teeter-totters It is hard to resist the teeter-totter.

Even when I come across one today, I still hop on with my children. You can’t help but laugh out loud as you suddenly get lifted into the air at each turn. However, www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Su Justen/Shutterstock.com

because teeter-totters pose a little bit of risk, they are also becoming rare to find these days.

Teeter-totters offer a great opportunity to socially connect with a peer, while learning how to take turns in order to operate the apparatus effectively. They help children to develop proper body timing, practice proprioceptive skills (i.e., learn how to modulate enough force to make the teeter-totter operate smoothly), stimulate the core muscles, and give them opportunities to practice sustaining visual attention while moving. Occupational therapists have exercises that try to replicate this type of timing with two children sitting, while bouncing on large therapy balls, looking at one another. However, these therapy activities don’t even come close to supplying the same type and amount of sensory input as the teeter-totter.

Jungle Gyms Gwoeii/Shutterstock.com

improve their balance, strength, and coordination. Most children have mastered the modern-day plastic jungle gyms by the age of 4 or 5 years old. What about elementary children? Shouldn’t we continue to challenge their growing bodies, just as we do their minds, as they age?

To work on balance and motor planning, sometimes occupational therapists have children participate in “upside-down play.” This can be as simple as bowling upside down and through their legs to try and hit a target, or being rocked back and forth on a large therapy ball – anything to get a child in an inverted position. Going from an upright position to an inverted position really works on that child’s spatial awareness. It is good for them! Yet, again we are not naturally allowing children to seek inverted positions on their own.

Merry-go-rounds, tall swings and slides, giant jungle gyms, and teetertotters all have one thing in common: they provide an essential element of challenge, combined with necessary sensory input to nurture a developing brain. Instead of taking these therapeutic tools away from children, or altering them so that they lose much of their therapeutic value, we need to simply teach children how to use them correctly. We need to put safety measures in place that are reasonable, but still supportive of our growing children’s needs.

In order do no harm to our children, we need to allow risks on the playground.

References: 1. Kawar, M. & Frick, S. (2005). Astronaut Training: A Sound Activated Vestibular-Visual Protocol. Madison, WI: Vital Links.

About the Author

The monkey bars is probably the closest thing we have to jungle gyms these days, as well as some miniature jungle gyms that are close to the ground. However, they still pale in comparison to the jungle gyms of the past, multi-layered towering works of art that posed a real challenge.

I remember kids constantly hanging upside down off the jungle gym at recess time. They’d shout over, “Look!

No hands!” These days, getting to the top of a jungle gym doesn’t present much of a challenge for children. Furthermore, at most schools children are no longer allowed to hang upside down off the bars.

Without being able to test their limits, children will never be able to continually

Angela Hanscom is a pediatric occupational therapist and the founder of TimberNook, which focuses on nature-centered developmental programming in New England. Angela holds a master’s degree in occupational therapy and an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology (the study of movement) with a concentration in health fitness. She specializes in vestibular (balance) treatment and sensory integration. She is also the author of the upcoming nonfiction book, Balanced & Barefoot, which discusses the effects of restricted movement and lack of outdoor playtime on overall sensory development in children. www.timbernook.com

FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 25

Get Moving on the Playground: The Importance of Motion Play

by Ian Proud

Have you ever felt the exhilaration of flying through the air? Chances are if you’ve pumped a swing high into the sky or taken a ride on a zip line, then you know what I’m talking about. Simply put, motion playground equipment moves us in ways that static equipment cannot.

Motion equipment plays a critical role in the development of all children.

During my childhood in Britain the playground in my park had three simple pieces of equipment: a merry-go-round, high swings, and a tall metal slide (all installed over blacktop). I loved that playground. The basic motion playground equipment, the merry-go-round, and swings provided endless hours of fun.

The swings felt as if they went into orbit.

My friends and I had ongoing contests that tested our soaring skills – who could swing the highest?

Once the merry-go-round got going, it seemed to take forever to slow down. I also had an injury-inducing run-in with the merry-go-round while retrieving a tennis ball from under it. So word to the wise: if a piece of equipment is moving and you’re not on it, don’t try to grab something underneath it.

That said, children benefit from motion – the rush and exhilaration keep children engaged and coming back for more. Motion equipment tends to challenge us, thus creating an environment for growth and personal development. How many times can I spin around and then try to walk a straight line? Can I keep my balance on equipment that bends and sways as I go? Who has the record for swinging the longest? How many rotations can I endure without feeling woozy?

These are all questions that children ask themselves and their peers when playing on motion playground equipment.

When thinking through the design of a playground, it’s important to remember play equipment that offers a wide 26 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

range of sensory experiences, including motion. Motion brings resort-style fun and beloved amusement park thrills to the playground. Remember screaming on the rollercoaster as it plummeted off its peak? Those screams are now heard on the playground as newer equipment with platforms and drops make their way into installations. If you are a fan of the flying saucers amusement park ride, then you can experience that same feeling on the playground with equipment that moves, spins, and rotates around.

According to EduGuide, a nonprofit group with a mission to boost student achievement, recent child development research suggests that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which helps the brain develop. Rocking, spinning, and other physical movement through space help a child’s brain develop.

These movements also impact the vestibular (inner ear) system, which affects attention spans and is important for development of balance, coordination, eye control, attention, being secure with movement, and some aspects of language development.

So, while we all know that motion play is good for our soul and spirits, now there is proof that it also benefits each of our brains and growth.

Movement and motion play are serious business for children as they are working to achieve specific developmental milestones. For example, motion play engages gross motor skills, involving the larger muscles including the arms and legs. These skills develop in a head-to-toe order. Infants will typically learn head control, trunk stability, and then standing up and walking. Once children are walking and able to utilize the playground, it is best that they engage with playground equipment that includes products that offer any movement within the structure.

For example, the plank is great for jumping. Stepping pods, bridges, and even the

path from the base of a slide back to the stairs encourages use of these motor skills.

Other types of skills learned from movement include locomotor and nonlocomotor. Locomotor skills, moving the body from place to place, help to develop gross motor skills. Physical abilities such as crawling, walking, hopping, jumping, running, leaping, galloping, and skipping are examples of locomotor movement.

Non-locomotor is movement of the body while staying in one place. Pushing, pulling, twisting, turning, sitting, and rising are examples of non-locomotor movement, which aids in the development of balance and coordination. All these types of play lead to learning of some kind. As children play less, this development is reduced or delayed.

Spinning Spinning is a standard playground activity that provides a sense of excitement and motion. Over the years, many advances have been made that let children experience spinning at manageable speeds while meeting and often exceeding playground safety standards. When children spin, multiple parts of the brain are stimulated simultaneously. This builds new and more developed pathways throughout the brain, and these pathways improve learning potential, spatial awareness, and rhythm.

In fact, spinning activities may develop pre-reading skills and concepts. Spinning also helps with improving balance, muscle control, and gross motor skills. Some of the newest spinning equipment encourages two or more children to participate in the fun.

When more children engage in the dizzying spins, the equipment moves faster, so you could say that the increase in speed directly correlates with an increase in laughter and overall fun.

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Sliding Sliding is important in the development of all children. Really? Yes, you read that correctly. It’s true, sliding motion is a key factor in development, and research proves it. The activity stimulates a child’s vestibular and visual sensory systems.

Sliding also allows children to work on practicing balance. The sensory input helps develop a child’s ability to motor plan, the skill children need to think through unfamiliar movements of their body. Sliding also offers the experience of a modified fall through space and the thrill of perceived risk. The traditional slide is still a crowd favorite, and has received some facelifts over the past few decades. Playground manufacturers have moved away from metal slides to incorporate more modern material. Additional widths, twists, textures, and turns have also been added to increase the fun and exhilaration felt when using this classic play equipment.

Rocking The importance of rocking in motion play may surprise you. The back and forth motion helps stimulate the vestibular system. Additionally, it helps regulate anxiety, develops muscle tone, and establishes a sense of timing during movement. While this motion used to only be felt on indoor features such as a rocking chair or rocking horse, now play equipment brings this sensation to the outdoors for children to enjoy together.

Swinging Swinging may be seen as the classic motion play movement. It provides each child’s nervous system with a wealth

of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive information. Since their position changes constantly, their brains register continual updates from their sensory systems. As they swing, children gain an understanding of how their body moves through space.

They quickly understand which speed makes them most comfortable. Swinging works on motor planning skills necessary to resist or increase active movement.

Laying down, a twist on the traditional sitting on a swing, is also beneficial.

Laying on your stomach on an appropriately designed swing puts pressure on the muscles and joints, thus calming the nervous system. This provides calming movement and helps develop postural stability.

Evolution of motion play In the past, movement has been built into the playground in the form of swings and other types of “traditional” equipment. There are now more motion options today than ever before. Many playground manufacturers have a wide variety of new motion equipment available for purchase. Many are freestanding pieces of equipment while others can be incorporated into a larger playground design. Most motion pieces can be used solo or as part of a group, further increasing the level of fun and social interaction.

For example, consider incorporating equipment that uses gravity to propel one rider from one end of the playground to the other on a downward curved track.

Some equipment is designed for multi-user motion that will get kids moving and their hearts pumping while they play. Motion means movement and movement means exercise. With limited time for play, it’s important that children stay physically fit

and motion play can help with that.

Another great thing about motion play is that it can help create a sense of perceived risk for children. Certainly we want children to be safe, but there is something to be said for risk play among young people. It helps them master their environment and develop the skills they will need to thrive. Zip lines at resorts and popular tourist destinations have grown in popularity in recent years. Now that type of resort fun is available on the playground with zip lines manufactured exclusively for use by children.

Children who are allowed to experience risk on the playground – tall heights, speed, chance of falling, or other injury – leverage these challenges to progressively grow more comfortable until they achieve mastery. By allowing children to move and take risks, we are helping them develop into confident and resilient members of society. Now who can argue with that?

We know outdoor play is critical for children – all children, no exceptions.

Motion play takes the outdoor play experience to new heights and speeds. The next time you visit your local playground, check out how many pieces of equipment incorporate motion. Chances are the motion pieces will have long lines of children waiting to take their turn. Sure, swings are still great and will continue to bring high-flying adventure and smiles to children’s faces.

Fortunately, today’s 21st century kids have so much more motion play to explore to get them moving on the playground.

About the Author

Ian Proud is the Market Research and Inclusive Play Manager for Playworld Systems. www.playworldsystems.com

Courtesy of Playworld Systems

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 27

Who’s Talking About Movement?

Find others who are talking about movement in The Play and Playground Encyclopedia. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/encyclopedia

Action Based Learning

Move Theory

Autism Fitness

www.abllab.com

www.drkwamebrown.com

www.autismfitness.com

Neuroscience strongly supports the link of movement to learning.

Movement is the body’s way of balancing itself physically, chemically, electrically, and emotionally.

Exercise brings the brain and body into balance creating a better learning state for the student.

Jean Blaydes Moize is an internationally known educational consultant, speaker, and author on the subject of how brain research supports the link of movement to enhanced learning. A former PE teacher, Jean now travels the country helping schools add more movement into the day. She says exercise doesn’t make you smarter, but it does make it easier to learn.

“The research shows a healthy, active child makes a better learner, that a quality physical education class can actually prime and prepare the mind for learning and they’ll be more ready to learn and more productive,” says Jean. She suggests that the best time to give a test or introduce new material is right after a really good physical education class or recess.

Research also shows exercise can help kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to learn better. "They want to move their large muscles all the time, but what do we do. We tell them to sit still and don't move." If kids with ADHD are allowed to move more in class, that movement stimulates the brain and provides for better learning.

Students engaged in Action Based Learning improve memory retention, reinforce academic concepts, and balance brain chemicals while experiencing whole-brain, whole-body learning. Along with encouraging movement for all ages, Jean and Cindy Hess, another PE teacher, developed the Action Based Learning Lab that links motor development with improved cognition for K-2. The Learning Lab is found in classrooms throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Move Theory is a consulting and training company based on Dr. Kwame M. Brown's idea that exploring movement in a playful manner is the way to create strong, healthy, happy young people.

With a background in molecular biology and neuroscience and a passion for fitness, Dr. Brown has spent two decades researching and teaching about movement, especially concerning the importance of play in children's development.

Believing that childhood obesity is a lack of connection with natural movement, Dr. Brown began developing physical play programs for summer camps and school summer programs for the Fairfax County Park Authority in Virginia. He formed Move Theory in 2008 to develop the infrastructure for children's physical development through movement and play. Part of that infrastructure became FUNction!, a game-based approach to acquiring physical skills with children during activities, capitalizing on “Coachable Moments” for skill or strategy instruction, and interfacing with the community to support active play.

Since 1999, Dr. Brown has played with thousands of kids through his group and individual programs. He has learned so much from them and seeks to share that with other adults, both professionals and non-professionals. Through Move Theory and FUNction, he has been fortunate enough to travel all over North America helping to show other professionals and parents how to facilitate active play. He has also used this opportunity to share the evidence that play can improve cognitive, motor, social, and emotional development.

Dr. Brown consults with school administrators, PE teachers, recreational professionals, coaches, and facility owners to help them form effective programming that not only engages young people, but helps adults learn to co-create with kids and teens in active play.

One of the first challenges we face in life is movement against gravity. This involves becoming aware of our bodies and our surroundings. Individuals on the autism spectrum often have movement deficits that are clearly evident, and many that are less than obvious. Fitness and welldesigned exercise programs are gateways towards some of the most crucial developmental objectives for young individuals including self-esteem, self-efficacy, independence, and socialization. Fitness should ultimately result in developing an enjoyment of movement and a lifetime of healthy activity.

With a fitness background, Eric Chessen was asked to develop and implement fitness programs for teenagers on the autism spectrum, who also exhibited some gross motor challenges. While developing fitness programs for these students, Eric underwent intensive training in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). He integrated the teaching strategies from ABA with his working knowledge of exercise, and steadily began developing his own model and methods for implementing successful fitness programs for children with autism. This resulted in founding Autism Fitness which is dedicated to not only providing fitness services to young individuals on the spectrum, but to educating other fitness trainers, PE and APE coaches, parents, therapists, and other professionals on how to optimize development through exercise. With fitness as a cornerstone, optimal development is enabled.

At Autism Fitness, a comprehensive assessment, the PAC Profile, created by Eric is used to determine the physical, adaptive, and cognitive abilities of each athlete. This assessment is necessary in order to create a program that is appropriate for each individual. From there, appropriate exercises, fitness activities, and strategies for teaching can be implemented. Autism Fitness also offers consultations to professionals and parents who want to begin developing a fitness or PE program for those with ASD.

28 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

STRAPS: Pulling for Athletes With Disabilities

by Bob McCullough, APR

SAN ANTONIO –“Get off the sideline and onto the goal line!”

That’s the simple-yet-powerful message of STRAPS (South Texas Regional Adaptive and Paralympic Sports), now into its third year at San Antonio’s Morgan’s Wonderland, the world’s first theme park designed for those with disabilities and special needs in mind and built to be enjoyed by everyone.

“STRAPS emphasizes movement,” said Wendy Gumbert, STRAPS director. “It encourages athletes with physical disabilities to get moving, competing and enjoying improved fitness. They also become role models and mentors to others with physical disabilities because they promote character through active participation in sports.”

STRAPS began in 2012 with three sports – Paralympic soccer, wheelchair soccer and powerchair soccer – and 50 athletes. Since then, five other sports – goalball that’s similar to soccer (for visually impaired athletes), wheelchair basketball for adults, junior-varsity basketball (for those age 24 and younger), wheelchair football and wheelchair softball – have been added.

STRAPS’ year-round sports opportunities now attract more than 150 participants including Wounded Warriors,

military veterans, young adults, men and women, Gumbert said. They practice and compete at either the Morgan’s Wonderland Event Center or the nextdoor STAR (South Texas Area Regional) Soccer Complex, with 13 first-class playing fields built to FIFA specifications.

“STRAPS athletes train and compete only four miles away from the San Antonio Military Medical Center and the Center for the Intrepid at Fort Sam Houston, a major Army installation,” Gumbert said.

“These entities are heavily involved in the rehabilitation of service members returning from combat. Since we place particular emphasis on offering sports that appeal to Wounded Warriors and veterans, those men and women make up about 40 percent of STRAPS athletes.”

There’s no charge for STRAPS, thanks to the generosity of presenting sponsor Boeing, a world leader in the aerospace industry, and the support of players and coaches from the San Antonio Scorpions professional soccer team. STRAPS also enjoys strong backing from the U. S. Olympic Committee, U. S. Paralympics and the Audie Murphy Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Antonio.

In April 2013, U. S. Paralympics recognized STRAPS as a sanctioned U. S.

Paralympic Sports Club, Gumbert noted, and the program’s long-term vision is to be recognized and respected as a national center of excellence for adaptive and Paralympic sports.

STRAPS, unique Morgan’s Wonderland theme park, STAR Soccer, the Scorpions pro soccer club, the Scorpions’ new, multi-purpose stadium (Toyota Field), and Monarch Academy school for students with special needs – as well as other initiatives to help the special-needs community – were created through the vision and leadership of The Gordon Hartman Family Foundation. For more information, visit www.STRAPSsports.com or www.MorgansWonderland.com.

(210) 637-3418 bmccullough@MorgansWonderland.com

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FALL 2014 Playground Magazine 29

4 GREAT

Movements

Cruise Line

Quad Pods

Cruise Line gives kids the thrill of something exciting and new with perceived risk and speed.

Riders can sit back-to-back, face-to-face, alone, or even lie down. Kids will love flying through the air as they glide back and forth.

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This innovative rotating climber will ensure a new spin on interactive play. Users on the QuadTM Pods spin on the large platform while taking a ride in one of 4 spinning pods or climbing the nets.

Dynamo Playgrounds www.dynamoplaygrounds.com

G2

ZipKrooz

G2 allows a single passenger to spin inside or multiple children can hold onto the outside for fast-paced spinning play. The dual axis mechanism allows children to adjust the speed by leaning forward or backward.

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Better than a zip line! ZipKroozâ&#x201E;˘ brings new adventure to the playground in an exciting, safe way. Children of all abilities can feel the excitement of racing others in this ultra-smooth ride.

30 Playground Magazine FALL 2014

TM

TM

Landscape Structures www.playlsi.com www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Ever imagine you could fly?

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Cruise Line gives kids wings—sets them in motion, carries them in flight. It gives kids that feeling of euphoria, where everything in life feels right.

Cruise Line is an experience they share with friends.

Wouldn’t you like to soar up in the clouds, too?

It’s time to play again.

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