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Ep. 52 Natural Playgrounds with Ron King
Do you ever wonder why kids can see a playground full of shiny equipment, yet they are drawn to the sticks, rocks, branches, trees, logs, fallen leaves, and the list goes on, instead? Ron King wondered this too, but it didn’t take long before he saw all the benefits of natural play and started a family business called Natural Playgrounds, who are the leading experts in building natural playgrounds for kids!!
For 26 years, the King family has owned Natural Playgrounds, and they have been the leading experts in designing beautiful, intriguing, cost-effective, safe, and philosophically appropriate Natural Playgrounds for K-12 schools, Montessori schools, Head Start programs, childcare centers, and communities.
Benefits of Natural Play:
- Contributes to overall physical, cognitive, and emotional development of children
- Helps kids score higher on tests for concentration and self-discipline
- Helps kids experience more diverse play
- Kids exhibit less aggressive behaviour
- Advances motor fitness
- Promotes health
- Develops creativity
- It “invites children in”
- Reduces injuries
- Is more inclusive
- Allows for free play
14 billion dollars in the United States alone are spent on accidents from traditional playgrounds. Some reasons being that kids go beyond their skill level, or they get bored, so they try perform activities that are “too risky.” The age suggestion for equipment is very arbitrary. Natural playgrounds are good for all ages, because you can play to your own skill level and everything is built into the ground.
Recommendations:
- Shows: Yellowstone & Foundation
- Book: Boy Swallowed Universe by Trent Dalton & The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer
Follow Natural Playgrounds:
Check out KWE’s #patch4apurpose to support 1, or all 8, charities:
https://kidswhoexplore.com/product/original-explorer-patch4apurpose/
Today’s Host: @laurenrodycheberle from @kidswhoexplore
Production: @kpmediaproductions. Music: @michaelferraro_music