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This is a September 12, 2024 article posted to the KBPS.org website. It has an audio link and embeds a YouTube video that includes interviews with local educators and shows students at play.

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This is a September 12, 2024 article posted to the KBPS.org website. It has an audio link and embeds a YouTube video that includes interviews with local educators and shows students at play.

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A new state law was supposed to protect students’ right to recess. Extreme heat is making that complicated

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One San Diego principal weighs in on how climate change and extreme weather events are shaping decisions in schools.

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This is a May 20, 2024 article posted to CNN.com. It includes photos of the family whose son passed away on a playground.

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This is a May 20, 2024 article posted to CNN.com. It includes photos of the family whose son passed away on a playground.

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After a child’s death, California weighs rules for phys ed during extreme weather | CNN

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Yahushua Robinson was an energetic boy who jumped and danced his way through life. Then, a physical education teacher instructed the 12-year-old to run outside on a day when the temperature climbed to 107 degrees.

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This is a press release from a California Senator who introduced a bill to address the issue of extreme weather exposure.

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This is a press release from a California Senator who introduced a bill to address the issue of extreme weather exposure.

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BAKERSFIELD, CA - Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) recently introduced legislation to protect students from extreme weather exposure by requiring the California Department of Education to develop guidelines for school districts to implement during weather patterns harmful to student health. The bill, Senate Bill 1248 or Yahushua's Law, responds to an extreme heat related fatality during the 2023 summer when a Lake Elsinore student participating in physical education suffered extreme heat related illness that ultimately cost him his life, despite weather warnings and health studies data indicating children's health sensitivity to extreme weather.

"No student should ever lose their life on campus to extreme weather when we can take steps to protect them by preparing statewide plans to minimize exposure to the most harmful elements of exposure," said Senator Melissa Hurtado. "I commend the family of Yahushua Robinson, the twelve year student who lost his life due to heat related illness during on-campus physical education, for lending their emotional strength and compassion for others in order to help ensure that no other student loses their life this way."

"I am proud to co-author SB 1248 and want to thank Senator Hurtado for introducing this important legislation, protecting children at school from extreme weather conditions," said Assembly Dr. Akilah Weber, M.D. "The story of Yahushua Robinson last year was heartbreaking. We have protections for farm workers and other industries in the case of extreme weather, now climate change is forcing us to also extend similar protections to students at school."

"Yahushua's Law is reflective of the memory of Yahushua Robinson, a 12-year-old known for his inspiring phrase "I AM HIM" and his ability to unite people," said Christina Laster, a Robinson Family Representative and Advocate. "The law reflects his spirit by requiring schools to implement preventive systems and stop outdoor activities during environmental hazards. This law symbolizes a commitment to child safety and the embodiment of Yahushua's values in recognizing our shared humanity within every student. It is an actionable promise to prioritize student well-being, honor the life of Yahushua, and prevent future tragedies."

Studies by the National Institute of Health and by the World Health Organization consistently show that climate change affects human health, specifically children's health, leading to increased respiratory problems and the risk of various diseases. However, the lack of uniform guidelines and protocols across schools and school districts in California exacerbates this issue, creating an urgent need for safeguards to ensure student safety during extreme weather conditions.

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Senator Hurtado introduces Yahushua's Law to protect students from extreme weather exposure

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Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) recently introduced legislation to protect students from extreme weather exposure by requiring the California Department of Education to develop guidelines.

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This is an article from the American Society of Landscape Architects published March 19, 2020. It explains the history of playground design, using 23 citations and 5 photos. 

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This is an article from the American Society of Landscape Architects published March 19, 2020. It explains the history of playground design, using 23 citations and 5 photos. 

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by Naomi Heller

We are very pleased to share the second part of this highly informative article about the history of play, written by Naomi Heller.
- Amy Wagenfeld, PhD, OTR/L, SCEM, FAOTA, Affil. ASLA, Children's Outdoor Environments Professional Practice Network

The first part of this brief history of playground design concluded with the shift from more standardized "model playgrounds" to the more open-ended, imagination-focused play of "novel playgrounds." Beginning in the 1960s, in response to the Cold War, these novelty playgrounds took on space ship-themed structures. Described in a 1963 issue of Life Magazine, these satellite, rocket, and submarine playgrounds could be seen popping up around the world (here's just one example: Scott Carpenter Park in Boulder, CO).

During this period, the manufacturing process for playground equipment also advanced. Originally constructed by hand or assembled from kits, novelty playgrounds shifted to more elaborate and standardized pieces. In addition, large firms specializing in designing, building, and maintaining playground equipment began to emerge (Verni, 2015).

In 1978, a one-year-old boy was climbing a 12-foot tall "tornado slide" in Chicago's Hamlin Park when he slipped between the railings and the steps and fell on his head on the asphalt below. On January 14, 1985 a judge awarded him a minimum of $9.5 million for severe head injuries (Mount, 1985). Similar lawsuits created a need for playground safety regulation. Thus began the era of the "standardized playground," with the codification of safety regulations and a re-design of manufactured playground equipment.

In 1981, the Consumer Product Safety Commission published the Handbook for Public Playground Safety, which has since been adopted across the US. The new regulations led to the shrinking size and height of new equipment, fewer climbing opportunities, and more guardrails installed on playgrounds. The regulations also addressed safety materials and specified hard plastic or splinter-free wood equipment, vinyl coating, rounded edges, and rubber safety surfaces.

In addition to the regulations, the increased use of plastic in standardized playgrounds was due to the newly-developed rotationally molded plastic, which allowed very large equipment pieces to be fabricated at relatively low prices. As a result of the standardization, most playgrounds built or renovated from the late 1980s through the 1990s consisted of post-and-platform systems loosely based on the interconnected features found in adventure-style playgrounds. These modular systems typically include a series of decks linked by slides, bridges, and stairs, often brightly colored and sometimes designed with a theme (HPS, 2006).

Although the codification of safety regulations was important, the proliferation of identical-looking playgrounds incited public criticism as well as a decline in the use of public playgrounds. As a result, major efforts were made in the 1990s to fund play research to redefine the goals of the modern playground (Barker, 1996). Demand emerged for playgrounds to extend beyond standardized equipment and to include spaces for people of all ages and abilities, with both natural and built environments.

This trend towards more inclusive play led to a shift towards designing 'playscapes' rather than playgrounds. The term was originally coined by the sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi, whose playscapes blurred the line between fine art, landscape design, and childhood play. Noguchi's play sculptures were born from his desire to bring fine art into the context of everyday living. He believed that environments should challenge and inspire their users and created playgrounds to foster imagination through their beautiful designs (Larrivee, 2011).

The modern version of a playscape, known as a nature playground, focuses less on the sculptural and artistic qualities of the pieces and more on using natural materials to design site-specific equipment that is built into the landscape. The landscape itself often becomes a play piece.

The number of natural playgrounds built increased sharply after Richard Louv introduced the term "nature-deficit disorder" in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. The book describes the negative effects of the modern child's total disconnect from nature, such as a diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, higher risk of obesity, and higher rates of emotional and physical illnesses (Louv, 2008). The idea that nature should be an integral part of a child's play space was further popularized by Robin C. Moore, Hon. ASLA, the Director of the Natural Learning Initiative and a Professor of Landscape Architecture at North Carolina State University. Moore has lectured widely, written books, and worked with communities to bring more natural play opportunities to children all over the world. In his National Guidelines for Nature Play & Learning Places, Moore wrote:

"Decoding the human genome was impressive. The internet has been transformative. Big data are amazing. But a child playing in the woods? That simple, time-honored image is at once magical, and powerful, and inspiring." (Moore, 2014)

The modern playground is not only concerned with access to natural elements, but also strives to create customizable, modular, and flexible equipment, giving children the freedom to imagine their own play space. Playground designers have started to question the fixed plastic equipment of traditional playgrounds, asking what if these could be replaced with movable pieces with undefined functions? Cas Holman, the founder of the toy company Heroes Will Rise, is a contemporary toy and playground designer best known for her role in the design of the Imagination Playground. This playground equipment system, first launched in New York City, uses different sized foam blocks which can be configured and reconfigured in endless ways.

Holman's work is rooted in the belief that imagination is an essential part of childhood. Her toys and playgrounds encourage an exploratory, unstructured play. On the other side of the world, similar ideas have been applied to a system of early childhood education across an entire province in China. Anji Play, developed by educator Cheng Xueqin, is a curriculum of self-initiated, self-determined play, reflection, and self-expression. Children build bridges with ladders and planks, run across oil drums, and construct their own play environments with bricks, lumber, and rope. Children are given the freedom to construct the truest modern playground based on their own creative explorations.

Looking back at the history of playgrounds, it is evident how greatly their design has been impacted by political events, technological advancements, and the influences of developmental psychology. Some concepts and design considerations can be seen reappearing at various times throughout playground history, while others disappear from the world of playground design forever as new ideas take hold. In many ways, it seems like we have come full circle from Fredrick Froebel's Kindergarten, characterized by natural play materials and flexibility of function, to today's modern playgrounds, including Robin Moore's nature playgrounds and Cas Holman's modular play systems. What was apparent to Froebel in the beginning of the nineteenth century has become evident again today-children are dynamic, imaginative, and naturally curious. Play is not, and should not be, something prescribed by adults, but in its true nature is a world invented by children.
References & Resources

Barker, Stephen. "Brain science benefits from budget plan." Nature 382.6587 (1996): 105.

Chilton, Tony. "Adventure Playgrounds." Aspects of Playwork: Play and Culture Studies 14 (2018): 157.

Curtis, Henry Stoddard. The Play Movement and Its Significance. New York: Macmillan, 1917.

Danks, Sharon Gamson. Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation. New Village Press, 2010.

Frost, Joe L. A History of Children's Play and Play Environments: Toward a Contemporary Child-Saving Movement. Routledge, 2009.

Frost, Joe L. "The changing culture of play." International Journal of Play 1.2 (2012): 117-130.

Fuchs R. "Foreword," in Aldo van Eyck: The Playgrounds and the City. Lefaivre L., de Roode I., editors. (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers): 7. 2002.

Johnson, Lauri Macmillan, Kim Duffek, and James Richards. Creating Outdoor Classrooms: Schoolyard Habitats and Gardens for the Southwest. University of Texas Press, 2008.

Kutska, Kenneth S. Playground Safety is No Accident. National Playground Safety Institute, 2011.

Larrivee, Shaina D. "Playscapes: Isamu Noguchi's Designs for Play." Public Art Dialogue 1.01 (2011): 53-80.

Levine, David, and Paula S. Fass. The Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. 2003.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books, 2008.

Makovsky, Paul. " Modernists At Play." Metropolis, 1 Nov. 2012.

Martinko, Katherine. " A Short History of Playgrounds." TreeHugger, 25 Jan. 2017.

Moore, Robin, and Allen Cooper. " Nature Play & Learning Places: Creating and managing places where children engage with nature " (2014).

Mount, Charles. " Boy Injured on Slide Gets $9.5 Million." Chicago Tribune, 15 Jan. 1985.

Ogata, Amy F. "Creative playthings: educational toys and postwar American culture." Winterthur Portfolio 39.2/3 (2004): 129-156.

O'Shea, Kaitlin. " How We Came to Play: The History of Playgrounds." SavingPlaces.org, the website of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 15 Aug. 2015.

Pound, Linda. Influencing Early Childhood Education: Key Figures, Philosophies, and Ideas. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), 2011.

Public Playground Safety Handbook. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2015.

Rivkin, Mary S. The Great Outdoors: Restoring Children's Right to Play Outside. National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC, 1995.

van Lingen, Anna, and Denisa Kollarová. Aldo Van Eyck: Seventeen Playgrounds. Lecturis, 2016.

Verni, Martin. " Fun Came First: A Brief History of Playground Equipment." Goric, 15 Sept. 2015.

Zacks, Richard. Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York. Anchor, 2012.
Naomi Heller is a playground designer focused on creating spaces and objects that provide children the freedom to think, act, and play in creative ways. She is employed at StudioMLA in Brookline, MA.

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A Brief History of Playground Design, Part 2

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by Naomi Heller We are very pleased to share the second part of this highly informative article about the history of play, written by Naomi Heller. - Amy Wagenfeld, PhD, OTR/L, SCEM, FAOTA, Affil. ASLA, Children's Outdoor Environments Professional Practice Network The first part of this brief history of playground design concluded with the shift...

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This is a brief article from April 23, 2001 that describes the dangers of wooden play structures.

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This is a brief article from April 23, 2001 that describes the dangers of wooden play structures.

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Daily News Archive From April 23, 2001 Poison Playgrounds…

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This is a July 2, 2015 news report from KSL.com. It includes a video of a clip from the TV broadcast.

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This is a July 2, 2015 news report from KSL.com. It includes a video of a clip from the TV broadcast.

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Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS - Dionne Whitehead couldn't bear the screams from her 3-year-old daughter Presley as the child sat at the top of a slide at Mountview Park in Cottonwood Heights.

Whitehead took her children to the popular park on a sunny June day with temperatures hitting the mid-90s. The children played at the splash pad before taking off for the nearby slides with mom right behind them.

"I never thought it would get that hot to where it literally melted her skin: 10 seconds tops she was at that slide," Whitehead told KSL Investigator Debbie Dujanovic.

As her little girl tried to scoot down the tall, blue plastic slide Whitehead knew something was terribly wrong. She ran up the serpentine slide to her daughter.

"I couldn't even touch the slides to get up to her," Whitehead said.

The slide was so hot Whitehead had to balance herself without touching the sides and hand her daughter off to another parent standing below. The child's pediatrician diagnosed Presley with a second-degree burn on the back side of her leg.

On clear days, both playgrounds at Mountview Park bake in direct sunlight.

Using a surface thermometer purchased at a home improvement store, KSL Investigators took many temperature readings of the blue slides.

The results ranged from about 155 degrees to almost 200 degrees. Several results showed slide temperatures in the 180-degree range.

Whitehead watched as KSL Investigators measured the temperature on the slide that burned Presley.

On a triple-digit day, the slide measured 199.5 degrees: "That's heartbreaking," Whitehead said.

The theory among parents is the dark blue slide color, and the sun make for a dangerous combination.

"Pretty early in science you learn black absorbs that heat," said Elizabeth Visser. "Even if just changing the slide color, I wonder if that would help."

KSL Investigators tested the temperature of a yellow slide at Mountview Park multiple times. The playground sits in direct sunlight. Temperature readings on the slide ranged from 136 degrees to 145 degrees.

Whitehead placed her hand on the yellow slide and noted that it was so much cooler than the blue slide, and she could keep her hand on it without burning it.

KSL-TV

Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore told KSL Investigators the city is considering building a shade structure over the play area.

The city's test results put the blue slides at about 160 degrees and the yellow slide about 20 degrees cooler.

"We build parks for kids to have fun, not to put them at risk," Cullimore said.

Cullimore said the city received two formal complaints in the three years Mountview has been open.

After the first complaint, the city installed three warning signs; one at the large playground and two at the small playground.

"Caution, playground equipment can get hot. Adult supervision is recommended for use," the signs state.

But Whitehead says she's not the only parent who's missed the signs. The day Whitehead met KSL Investigators at the park, she said she watched four children get burned while using the slides. She feels the city's warning doesn't go far enough: "It never says play equipment burns," Whitehead said.

The mayor believes the problem happens when young children, still in swimsuits and legs exposed, run from the splash pad and try to go down the hot slides but can't get off.

When asked if the city had to do it again would it have selected a different slide color, Cullimore said the city might.

"Knowing what we know now, maybe make it a different color and make the slides a lighter color."

But he said shading the playground is the only option.

"Really, the slides are the problem at the top or at the bottom," Cullimore said.

Initial estimates suggest a shade structure could cost the city more than $20,000.

To find out how hot other slides can get in the summer heat, KSL Investigators visited several parks from Salt Lake City to St. George.

At a public playground in Salt Lake City a beige slide was 162 degrees, a red one 153. At Liberty Park, a dark green slide was 186 degrees.

KSL Investigators hit a park in Riverton, and under scattered clouds, a green slide measured 153 degrees. A more vibrant-colored green slide just down the road measured 169 degrees.

With outside temperatures of about 105 degrees, KSL Investigators tested slides in the St. George area as well.

A green slide, exposed to the mid-afternoon sun, resulted in a temperature reading of 155 degrees on the part of the slide where children would place their hands.

However, from a shaded yellow slide in Washington County, came our lowest reading yet. The slide registered 104 degrees.

Janet Brooks, community outreach manager at Primary Children's Hospital, said on hot summer days parents should touch the slides first to make sure they're tolerable while keeping in mind a child's skin is more sensitive to heat.

"The dark colors are more obviously going to get hotter," Brooks said.

When installing slides, Brooks recommends choosing a lighter color and pointing it in a north direction so it gets less direct sunlight.

"We really want to avoid slides that face south and west," Brooks added.

But the coolest solution is a slide that sits under shade. At a park in South Salt Lake hang large, colorful shade canopies over dark green slides. Test results averaged 112 degrees when the temperature outside was 101 degrees.

Contributing: Torin Koos

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Blue slides' surfaces may reach 200 degrees, investigators say

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When KSL Investigators learned a child had received a second-degree burn from a blue plastic slide at a popular city park, they began taking temperature readings. The city where it happened is considering a shade structure to keep children safe.

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This is a journal article published  August 14, 2019 in JAMA Dermatology, affiliated with the American Medical Association.

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This is a journal article published  August 14, 2019 in JAMA Dermatology, affiliated with the American Medical Association.

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Playground Shade Availability and Socioeconomic Position of Elementary School Students

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This study quantifies shade availability on public elementary school playgrounds in a US city and determines whether shade is associated with the socioeconomic position of students’ families.

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This is an article on the effects of climate change on outdoor structures from August 2021 in Climatic Change.

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This is an article on the effects of climate change on outdoor structures from August 2021 in Climatic Change.