Rustics Jungle Gyms supplies outdoor play equipment designed and manufactured for the South African environment |
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Welcome to our latest newsletter. In this month’s newsletter we break down the developmental benefits of the elements of a jungle gym to help you decide which elements to include in your outdoor playground design. Happy Reading! |
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What elements you should include in your Jungle Gym Design and why. |
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Swinging allows a child to develop coordinated movements. Only through lots of practice and the motion of moving back and forth, are they successful in learning how to make a swing move. Swinging is one of the best activities for young children to develop their sensory system. This system is how our brain is organised and interprets information. It allows us to regulate our bodies when the environment is loud, quiet, has a strange smell, etc. It allows us to cope in a variety of different situations. |
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When a child swings, they are developing their ability to adapt to different sensations and be less distracted by changes in their environment.
Other benefits of swinging include:
• It is calming.
• It increases spatial awareness.
• It helps develop gross motor skills—pumping legs, running, jumping.
• It helps develop fine motor skills—grip strength, hand, arm and finger coordination.
• It develops a child’s core muscles and helps with the development of balance.
• Spinning on a swing stimulates different parts of a child’s brain simultaneously. This is important for learning skills such as spatial awareness, rhythm and balance and muscle control. |
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Climbing frames consisting of poles, ladders, bridges, ropes, nets and platforms and climbing walls help a child exercise their body in a natural way. Raising their arms above their shoulders to hold onto the monkey bars, increases cardiovascular flow. |
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At the same time they are stretching, which increases their flexibility. When they are climbing or descending a ladder, climbing wall, cargo net, fireman’s pole or ropes and pulling up or hanging on with their hands and arms, they are building their upper body, grip and arm strength as well as developing their leg strength and coordination. |
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Slides, Balance beams and Bridges |
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Slides, Balance beams and bridges help develop the vestibular system. This system is responsible for our balance and the sense of touch. |
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Slides
Emotional development: To use the slide your child will need to interact with other children hence developing social skills. From learning to wait their turn before climbing up the ladder to waiting at the top and making sure other children are clear from the bottom, learning to work with others is part of the process. This encourages your child to learn how to share, take turns and develop their patience with others. Sliding also develops bravery and a desire to explore. Once your child has overcome fear by successfully climbing up the slide, riding down the slide and walking away unscathed, they will be more willing to explore other new things. |
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Physical Development: The physical benefits of using a slide for children are also far-reaching. The effort of climbing up the ladder helps them develop strength in their arms and legs, needing to wait on the ladder or at the top fosters coordination, balance and spatial orientation. These can all occur simultaneously as they get used to new contexts and navigating them with others around them. Spatial orientation is also developed as children reach the bottom of the slide and decide how to land. |
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Crawling has sensory as well as physical benefits, it practically gets all of our sensory systems buzzing and ready for action. Crawling also builds on the foundation of reflex strength, which is the strength you were born with. The motion of moving your hips and shoulders in coordination will ensure that your gait is correct when you walk. Your central nervous system gets reset and stress is reduced. Playground tunnels enable all children to benefit from crawling even if they didn’t when they were babies. |
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In addition, the play opportunities created by a jungle gym develop the proprioceptive system, which uses information primarily from the skin, muscles and joints to help us understand where our body parts are in relation to each other, what our body parts are doing, and how much effort is required to do different things. Developing this system allows us to coordinate our movements and know the correct amount of force to use for different activities |
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Need some advice? The team at Rustics Jungle Gyms has over 15 years' experience in designing and building outdoor playground equipment - give us a call on +27 83 538 5684 |
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Whatever your playground requirements, we can help At Rustics Jungle Gyms we have been designing, manufacturing and installing wooden and metal jungle gyms since 2006. Our success is based on: - safety - our outdoor play equipment is built to South African National Standard by-laws
- delivering a quality product at a fair price
- building equipment that will last - our quality and built-in resilience to the harsh South African environment give a longer life span
- honesty, integrity and our willingness to go the extra mile to give you what you want
Don't take our word for it.... read our reviews |
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