subject: Commercial playground equipment for infant and toddler age children [print this page] Commercial playground equipment for infant and toddler age children
The invention relates to indoor play equipment for infant and toddler age children (8-36 months), and generally in the commercial setting of facilities that accommodate many small children such as daycare centers, preschools, pay-for- play facilities, family entertainment centers, waiting rooms, pediatric hospitals, and the like. Up to this time, the 8-36 month age group has been generally ignored by commercial playground equipment manufacturers. Such manufacturers come from points of view and markets that have caused products to be developed for elementary age children in schoolyard and public park settings, a trend that produced products with proportions, sizes and play events that are not suitable for, and at times have proven quite dangerous to children under 36 months--children who are still acquiring basic skills to maneuver in and manipulate their environs. Further, the substance of commercial playground equipment is typically hard and unforgiving to falls by users, and the assembly of commercial playground equipment typically requires permanent footings and structures of such size as to require significant and costly installation and construction efforts.
The invention is a system of various parts that are assembled to produce modular outdoor playground equipment units of a variety of sizes and configurations, all with impact attenuating play surfaces for infant and toddler age children. The parts consist of vertical support posts removably attached by threaded, cam-operated fasteners to frames that contain either play activity elements or hand grips to facilitate passage of a child between segments of finished equipment constructions. Frame pieces support horizontal deck pieces at various levels above the ground plane, as well as shade canopy elements and flags. Posts, certain frames, and decks are made of structural core elements embedded in an impact attenuating molded foam body and other frames are made of a structural core with a removable impact attenuating foam and fabric assembly such that when all parts of the system are assembled as a play equipment unit, exposed surfaces present soft, bumper-like materials to dissipate the potential effects of falls or impacts of children playing in the equipment. In the finished outdoor playground equipment construction, assembled parts form features for stepping, gripping, climbing, playing, and social interaction intended to encourage the development and advancement of fine motor skills and gross motor skills in children of the intended user age group.
