When the weather is good, children love playing outside. Whether you are a parent or you run a childcare setting, the safety of children when they are playing outdoors is the most important thing. Here we look at some of the best ways to keep children safe when they are playing outside.
According to a survey reported by The Guardian, seventy-five per cent of children spend less time outdoors than people in prison. Part of this is connected to parents’ fear of their children having accidents.
Keeping Children Safe in a Child-Care Setting
In a child-care setting there will be children of different ages, so you may need to make separate areas for different groups of children. It is vital to ensure that there is some shade where children can play and that metal play equipment is always kept out of direct sunlight. Permanent outdoor play equipment should be secured to the ground, although no equipment should be secured with cord or rope. Equipment should be kept away from trees, buildings and fences, and all equipment should be checked regularly to ensure that no parts are missing or broken.
Ideally, there should be soft playground surfacing wherever there is play equipment. This could be material such as wood chips, pea gravel or sand. If you are considering installing specially designed soft flooring for a playground, then you will need to use a specialist company to do it for you. In this kind of setting extra security is necessary which is why contacting someone like a Locksmith in Dublin company to come and check your locks on doors and windows is a wise idea.
Keeping Children Safe When Playing Outdoors at Home
In the home environment it is important to make sure that areas for outdoor play area fenced off and that gates are kept closed using child-proof locks. Children should always use helmets if they are using skateboards, scooters and bikes, although these should be removed when using play equipment like children’s wooden climbing. It is important that children are not left outside unsupervised and that they don’t play near the street. In addition, any outdoor play areas should be checked regularly to ensure they are safe.
Hopefully, this has provided some useful information on staying safe and means that whether you are taking care of your own children or other people’s children, you can make sure that they are safe as well as having fun.
