Obstacle courses are one of the most common and new technology
equipment that we have in today’s society. It can also be referred to as the
jungle gym, I believe all schools have this technology equipment in their setting
that display as a huge play system that consist of different types of obstacle
features for children to play on. However, obstacle equipment’s are made up of
steel or wood most commonly steel which is much more stable, fun and challenging
for young children to play on. I believe that back in the day children did not
have any playground or obstacle equipment’s to play on. Therefore, the outdoors
and other natural resources was their material idea of playing on a playground.
This assisted children in the outdoors to develop their social skills,
intellectual and physical development of learning (Greenfield, 2007). Today, most children are lucky enough to have
their own sets of playground at their own homes. There are also playgrounds in
local parks where children can go and play on which is convenient and close
distance to their homes.
There have been concerns for parents in regards of their children’s
safety of playing on the obstacle equipment’s. Their concerns vary that their children’s
safety are to broad so they limit and restrict areas that are not suitable for
children to play in. for an example, some parents are concerned when their
children are playing in the outdoors on the jungle gym weather or not they will
get hurt or climb on high walls or take risky jumps off buildings. However, back
in the days children will go outside and play in the neighbourhood unsupervised
because they felt safe and trusted to leave their children to explore their
environment. Although, it’s amazing how today society is that new generations
are adapting more to technological obstacle equipment and are aware of how they
work. Nevertheless, I believe that it is great that parents are to be concerned
about their children safety but more importantly it is the experiences that
they gain that aids with their learning and awareness of the environment so
they cannot adapt or adjust to it unless they take risk because learning from
mistakes makes them learn from them and practice to become better and confident
learners (Barblett & Maloney, 2010). It also gives children the opportunity
to learn and play alongside others while building relationships (Ministry of
Education, 1996).
In my centre we have a big jungle gym and also play houses where
children can take risk of trying the monkey bars and climbing on the boxes and
jumping down from it. As stated in Greenfield, “The children’s favorite areas all
had common features of risk, speed, excitement, thrills, uncertainty and challenge”
(2007, pg. 26). I believe that this challenges children physically and more
importantly it assists with their health by providing them with regular exercises
that they do daily (Greenfield, 2007). This will help young children with the
muscles in their body as it flexes into shape as they continue to develop the
skills of playing on the jungle gym. Children
can also build relationships in the playground as they initiate turn taking
with other children. Teachers could also assist in this learning by role
modelling to children when needed assistance and guidance such as helping them
get across the monkey bars. The monkey bars assisted children to engage their
body’s in more complex configurations where it allows them to hang from there
and do all sorts of tricks on the equipment (Greenfield, 2007).
As Educators I believe that it is crucial to facilitate children
with a lot of experiences of their play in the outdoors on obstacle equipment’s.
This will assist them in areas where they will become socially competent in socializing
with other children. It will also enhance their physical development by exercising
the muscles in their body and taking risk to try out new daily obstacle
challenges that is fun and exciting (Barblett & Maloney, 2010).
References
Barblett,
L., & Maloney, C. (2010). Complexities of assessing social and emotional
competence and wellbeing in young children. Australasian Journal of Early
Childhood, 35(2), 13-18.
Greenfield,
C. (2007). Review of New Zealand Research on Outdoor Play in Early Childhood
Education. Early Education, (Autumn/Winter
2007), 24-29.
Greenfield,
C. (2007). What is it about the monkey bars? Early Childhood Folio, 11:2007, 31-35.
Ministry
of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he
whaariki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum.Wellington: Learning Media.