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The Importance of Climbing in Child Development

Children Climbing Playground Structure

It’s impossible to overstate the benefits of play, and while any kind of play is great, climbing has a special role in child development. Climbing is a unique activity that engages multiple parts of the brain and helps kids develop skills like spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination and even working memory.

Climbing also provides a thrilling experience that feels risky to kids. Giving them opportunities to enjoy the excitement of perceived risk can help build their confidence and independence.

Let’s explore how climbing and child development go together and what benefits climbing activities have to offer. Read the full article or skip ahead to a specific section:

Developing Spatial Awareness and Motor Skills

Spending time on a kids’ climber involves adapting to a dynamic environment. Kids need to use both their hands and feet, adjust to different inclines and estimate the distances between platforms. Knowing where to place a hand or move a foot relies on their understanding of their body’s position in space — a sense called proprioception. Developing their proprioceptive system is essential for:

  • Knowing where their limbs are in space.
  • Making smooth movements at appropriate speeds.
  • Maintaining muscle tone.
  • Maintaining balance.

When kids climb, they may not be able to make direct eye contact with where their limbs are going. They need to make some “calculations” in their heads to estimate distances and understand how their movements relate to the position of the climbing structure.

Climbing also helps kids build hand-eye coordination and other fine motor skills as they grasp and grip the equipment. They’ll use these skills for everyday activities like bringing a glass of water to their mouths, opening doors and using a pencil. Climbing is an excellent way to help kids develop these movement-based skills and improve their coordination.

Developing Memory and Problem-Solving Skills

We can look at climbing as a type of puzzle. You need to remember where your limbs are and find the best place for your next move. You might need to think about whether you can reach that far, whether that foothold will throw off your balance or if there’s enough space to get a good grip. Tons of questions go through a kid’s mind as they climb and quickly work through such a dynamic activity.

All that brainpower offers several cognitive benefits, including improved memory and problem-solving skills. When kids climb, they develop their working memory skills and learn to problem-solve, two skills they’ll definitely need in the future.

Since climbing is a form of physical exercise, it can also offer the same benefits as general physical activity, like improving cognition and memory. Studies even suggest that the parts of the brain responsible for thinking and memory are more developed in people who exercise. We know that brain development is critical for kids and we can help them get off to a great start by encouraging physical activity and making it fun.

As kids climb, they exercise their ability to hone in on the task in front of them and be patient while they think it through.

Increasing Focus, Concentration and Patience

On a similar note, children climbing on the playground need to focus and be patient as they navigate the path in front of them. Playing in a sandbox or going down a slide is fun, but kids don’t need to think quite as hard about those activities since there’s less cognitive demand in these situations.

As kids climb, they exercise their ability to hone in on the task in front of them and be patient while they think it through. High-level rock climbers even show enhanced attention capabilities.

Developing Physical Strength

We can’t overlook what climbing does for your physical strength, either. It’s a full-body exercise that gets kids working all their muscle groups, from their core and upper body to grip strength. They’ll be lifting their whole body weight and making movements they don’t usually make in other activities, stretching muscles they might not otherwise use much.

Some of the other physical benefits kids receive when they climb include:

  • Strengthening bones: Building bone strength usually comes from activities that produce tension or force on bones. Since climbing involves lifting your body weight, it’s a great way to strengthen bones.
  • Cardiovascular exercise: Getting the blood pumping can help boost cardiac health to strengthen kids’ hearts and lungs.
  • Reducing risk for health conditions: Like other kinds of exercise, climbing can help reduce the risk for health conditions like heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.

Climbing is a fun way for kids to get their daily dose of exercise and get stronger while they play.

Safer Risk-Taking

Learning to take risks is a necessary part of life. When we take risks, we weigh the benefits against the potential harm and must have the confidence to follow through. Climbing can help kids build these skills and understand how risk-taking works, all in a thrilling and fun activity that tends to be a natural part of play.

A lot of questions and emotions are involved in risk-taking activities. Maybe a kid decides she wants to make it across the monkey bars, just for the thrill of it. She’s tackled monkey bars before, but this set has curves and is much higher up. She’ll need to consider:

  • Is the goal of reaching the other side worth the risk that she might fall?
  • Is she strong enough to make it that far?
  • Is she comfortable with the height?

Climbers for kids can create spaces to ask these questions while minimizing real danger. Playgrounds are designed to offer perceived risk while reducing the actual risk as much as possible. Kids might feel like they’re climbing Mt. Everest, but they’re still in a kid-friendly environment, often with low heights and playground safety surfacing beneath them.

Climbing structures on playgrounds might include the opportunity to climb at odd angles or jump from platform to platform a short distance off the ground. They require lots of concentration and plenty of fun without involving extreme heights. Climbing on a playground can help balance the need for protective spaces with the benefits of risky play, which include positive associations with well-being, involvement and physical activity.

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Build a Climbing Playground With Miracle® Recreation

At Miracle Recreation, the thrill of play is behind every piece of playground equipment we offer. Our climbers for kids can help them develop their skills and build strong muscles through exciting play. From the Cyclo Clone Open Climber to Bongo® Steps, we have a wide range of climbing elements to unleash their inner adventurer.

Generations of kids have been climbing on Miracle equipment. Explore our climber offerings today to see why!