What do you do with a swing set?
This may seem like a question with an obvious answer, but there are ways to get more fun out of your swing set than just swinging back and forth.
Writing on the Inspired Treehouse blog, pediatric occupational/physical therapist Lauren Drobnjak lists some ways kids can get the most enjoyment out of their swing sets.
A swing set isn’t just for fun, it’s a way for kids to get some exercise. Kids can work out their grip strength by seeing who can hang from the monkey bars or a trapeze bar the longest. They can climb up the sliding board to work on their lower body, grip and core strength. And they can see who can get across the monkey bars the fastest, an activity that exercises their upper body, grip and core strength.
Swinging itself can be a form of exercise. Challenge your kids to see who can get the highest using the least amount of leg pumps.
Here’s a new twist on a classic game. You play by standing in front of your child when they start swinging. Tell them to close their eyes, count to five and keep swinging. Move to the side, behind them, etc. When they open their eyes, see how fast they can find you. According to Drobnjak, the act of closing your eyes while moving challenges your vestibular system, which regulates our sense of balance and spatial relation. See how quickly your child can refocus to find you as they swing.
Here’s another way your kids can get some exercise on their swing set. Your child should get on their stomach, similar to the Superman game. Hold one end of a jump rope, and have your little one hold onto the other end with both hands. Start to pull the rope to get the swing moving.
Then try holding still and have your child pull the rope to move the swing, or have them pull on the rope hand over hand to reach you.
Start by helping your child build a tower a few feet from the swing using empty shoeboxes or other cardboard boxes. After that, the game should become obvious to your child: they need to swing high enough kick down the tower. When that’s done, they can try again, this time lying on their stomach and trying to knock over the tower with their hands.
We began this by asking “What do you do with a swing set?” We hope you see that they’re much more versatile than they might appear.
This isn’t meant to take away from the simple act of swinging back and forth, one of the purest pleasures childhood has to offer.
But today’s swing sets – like the ones we sell here at Swingset & Toy Warehouse – aren’t the swing sets you might have grown up with. They come with slides and climbing walls, periscopes and pirate flags.
What do you do with a swing set? Pretty much whatever you want.