Famous Playgrounds in Popular Culture
Your personal playground might seem like the center of you and your kids’ recreational worlds, but there are a lot of famous playgrounds out there. Playground play is such a ubiquitous and integral concept in terms of childhood, that it’s bound to show up in plays, movies, books and other media alike. And show up it does. Imagine some of your favorite books from childhood. You can bet that they have at least a scene or two at a playground in there. There are a million examples of playground play in modern media, but for our sake, we’ll just stick to a few of our favorites in this blog. However, you should still be able to sense just how big of an impact playgrounds have in children’s literature and world as a whole. You probably already know this fact well enough to monitor what books and movies your kids are consuming, but brains are very malleable and prone to change especially in young ones. Brain development happens very quickly in earlier years. 90 percent of development in the brain happens in the first three years of a child’s life. This is why creating fun, happy, exciting experiences for your child, such as visiting a playground, is so important. Their happy experiences from the playground will translate into future success as an adult. But, some of the same effects can still be garnered by viewing or reading about playgrounds in the media. Without further ado, here are some of our favorite books that feature playgrounds.
One book we love about playgrounds is Chalk by Bill Thomson. In this beautifully animated children’s book, three children find a bag full of magical chalk. And where is this gift bag, you may ask? Well, on a playground, of course. Anyways, if you draw something on the playground’s blacktop with the magical chalk, it becomes real. The book is truly an exciting, youthful fairytale, perfect for you and your children to read together.
Another book we love is My Dad is the Best Playground, by Luciana Navarro Powell. The book features a lovely rhyme scene and beautiful illustrations, all while detailing an important message- dads are the best playground and are super fun to play with! This book is perfect for all you dads looking to bond with your child.
An example of a different forum incorporating ideas about our favorite setting, the playground, is Recess. The popular TV show features six essential characters and their relationships with their families and those in their school setting. A lot of the show takes place during recess, where the children have formed their own society.
Lastly, you may be wondering what’s happening in the featured image. Well, that dog there is McGruff the Crime Dog. McGruff is an animated canine character created by the National Crime Prevention Council and he loves to frequent, you guessed it, playgrounds to teach kids about neighborhood safety. Regarding physical safety, however, you’ll have to contact Pro-Techs Surfacing to find the safest playground flooring on the market.
