Earlier this week, I polled Facebook friends and Twitter followers on a Very Important Matter. Responses were lively and informative but inconclusive, so I thought I’d repeat the question here:
What do the children you know call the wooden, plastic, and/or metal structures that they climb and play on at parks and playgrounds?
My kids use the school’s term: Play Structure
I think even the handbook says something like: Students may not use the play structure if it is wet or snowy.
When I was in elementary school, we played on the jungle jim. It was a squarish construction of metal bars with no connection to the brand-name item (and sharp edges). Now in that same spot is a new metal construction with rounded edges everywhere. And I hear four-year-olds peeping about playing on the “climbing structure.”
My 4-yr old grandson calls them whatever his favorite “thing” is at the moment…it may be an imaginary front loader or a ship for pirates. Often each week it is a new “thing”!
At our school everyone calls it “the monkey bars.”