If you've ever ventured past a playground or park, you've likely seen children climbing. Kids love to climb! Whether it's on top of other kids, over furniture, up a tree, or on equipment, you can almost always find a child, at one time or another, climbing. Is there a distinct benefit to all that climbing and why are they motivated to do it so often?

Reasons for Children Climbing

There is method to their madness, all that scaling of trees, fences, walls, etc. Here are a few reasons why your kids climb:

• Learning – New perspectives are gained and explored when children climb. Benefits such as injury prevention, fitness, health, and skill development are learned.
• Adrenaline – There is a sense of danger experienced when children climb. It helps them to push their “can and cannot do” boundaries. By taking reasonable risks, they experience healthy development.
• Fun – There are no two ways about it… climbing is simply fun! Your children can chase their friends, play make-believe, and generally tap into their imagination.
• Development – A normal development process is followed through climbing behavior. Kids have an instinct to move, touch, explore, see, and seek out objects. Through this, they build physical and mental capabilities.

Climbing Has Many Benefits

Here’s a look at the benefits of climbing. First, let's see how much physical activity a child should participate in every day:

• School age – At least 15 minutes of physical activity at a time equaling at least one hour total.
• Preschoolers – 60 minutes of free play and planned physical activities for 60 minutes as well.
• Toddlers – 60 minutes of free play and planned physical activities for 30 minutes.

The following are benefits of children climbing:

• Mental health – Including several mental health outcomes, beneficial effects are experienced through physical activity. This can include better mood states and improved health-related quality of life. Positively influential to a child's academic performance are the enhanced cognition and brain function experienced by children climbing.
• Problem-solving – Natural problem-solving skills are improved through climbing. They must address, head on, new problems with every assent. Without falling, how can they get from point A to B? To get to the top, what's the most efficient way?
• Life lessons – An amazing teacher, climbing instills determination, balance, and focus. These are skills that will prove valuable throughout the child's life. Self-esteem and confidence are both improved when a child climbs.
• Stress reduction – Yes, children do experience stress. Especially in today's world. The chemical that helps balance the brain's stress response, norepinephrine, experiences increased levels (when climbing) which reduces stress.

Where Children Climb

Given the opportunity, most kids will seek out places to climb no matter where they are. As mentioned earlier, playgrounds and parks frequently offer this kind of opportunity. So that your child can do their climbing in the safety of their own home, under your watchful eye, it's important to have these types of opportunities in your house and yard.

Here's how to create a climbing activity for your child that will be fun and beneficial…

For Equipment That Your Child Can Climb – Shop Fitness Kid

So important is climbing to your child's fitness that practically every piece of the equipment at Fitness Kid contains a ladder. Example: the Pegasus Kids Indoor Home Playground/Gym. Even without the ladder, however, your child will be able to climb ropes, bars, etc. To get answers to any questions regarding our service, shipping, equipment, prices, etc. please do not hesitate to contact Fitness Kid today! We are here to address all your questions and concerns.