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Playground Safety

Safety Tips

  • Make sure there is a soft surface under play equipment, such as sand, wood chips, or rubber matting.
  • Check equipment for loose joints, open chains, exposed bolts, sharp edges, and rust.
  • Children younger than 5 should be closely supervised and play on equipment separately from older children.
  • Do not allow more than one child on the same swing.
  • Help your child to learn to stay away from swings while others are using them.
  • A teeter-totter (seesaw) should only be used by children age 3 and older.
  • Seesaw partners should be close in age and of similar weight.
  • Make sure children go single-file up steps to use slides and that they do not climb up the slide’s surface.
  • Have your child exit the landing of the slide quickly, so that other children coming down the slide do not fall on your child.
  • Do not let a child younger than age 4 use climbing equipment that is taller than he or she is, unless you will watch the child at all times.

All classes and information are free of charge and are designed to promote awareness of and aversion strategies for day-to-day situations that may pose preventable risks to children.