As seen during American Ninja Warrior

If you’re in the Miami and San Diego viewing areas, you may have seen our FitCore™ Extreme equipment during the American Ninja Warrior season finale on Monday, Sept. 10. The equipment appeared in a 30-second commercial during the broadcast.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1N5rsXc0QU]

FitCore Extreme sets the stage to challenge kids ages 5 to 12, teens and even adults both physically and functionally so they reach their personal best. Design an innovative outdoor obstacle course of your own or consider one of our predesigned courses:

  • Course for ages 5 to 12; fitness warriors will build strength while also challenging their physical and mental agility.
  • Course for ages 13+; invite friendly competition among teens and adults in your park, school or neighborhood gathering area.

Go extreme! Contact us today to bring a FitCore Extreme challenge course to your community.

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Imagine the possibilities of your splash pad

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Looking for inspiration for your next spray park or splash pad design? Look no further. Aquatix by Landscape Structures has pulled together a sampling of featured projects that have been designed and installed throughout the country. The water park designs highlight new product innovations as well as classic water play activities that create remarkable aqua play environments. Best of all, they’ve each been designed to meet the unique needs of each site and community.

Visit the Featured Projects pages on aquatix.playlsi.com to find details about each project including system types, flow rates, splash play activities included and download a 3D design file.

Contribute to children’s development with well-designed playgrounds

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Child development experts tell us that what looks like mere child’s play is preparation for a successful adult life–as vital as learning to walk and talk. But few studies have examined patterns of play on specific playground equipment to assess how these play spaces might shape children’s development. To find out, we commissioned an observational study in partnership with the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development.

Children demonstrated key developmental skills in a variety of ways, with behaviors often linked to specific types of equipment. For example, children’s gross motor play—seen on swings, slides, overhead events and climbers—may contribute to physical development. Imaginative play has been linked to language development, social competence and self-regulation. Even waiting in line requires children to take turns and consider others’ needs. To request a complete copy of the research whitepaper, go to playlsi.com/whitepapers.

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Our observations showed that well-designed play spaces contribute to the development of children. By helping them learn and practice key life skills, great playgrounds help children grow into healthy, well-adjusted adults. Watch our video below that brings the WHY of what we do to life.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3878sEXPuVE]

Release your inner ninja

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Introduce the rewards of an exciting fitness challenge to your community park, school or neighborhood gathering area. Our FitCore™ Extreme is an innovative obstacle course that invites friendly competition and personal development as participants race to complete each mission. Create a course for teens and adults, or one sized just right for kids ages 5 to 12.

Design your own challenge course by grouping your favorite challenges or consider one of our predesigned courses:

  • 5 to 12 Deliver the right amount of challenge to build physical and mental agility.
  • 13+ Keep users engaged and coming back to improve their skills.

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Fitness warriors of all levels will test their upper- and lower-body strength, coordination as well as their problem-solving skills. View the FitCore Extreme animation below, and visit playlsi.com to learn more.

 [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCGX0UZJ0c]

The best of 2017

GeoPlex® - new in 2017

You came. You read. And now we’re sharing our five most read blog posts of 2017.

  1. Decline in children’s play time shown in new study
    According to our recent poll, more than half of parents think that children today have fewer opportunities for play than children 20 years ago.
  2. Five considerations for your toddler and preschool playgrounds
    To help you create a dream playground for your daycare or preschool that focuses on toddlers’ developmental needs in mind, we created a fun infographic.
  3. Exciting, new products for your 2017 playground designs
    We introduced exciting new commercial playground products—GeoPlex™, Nook, Loft and more—to help create playground designs that shape kids’ lives.
  4. A fresh look for your playground
    Add a cool aesthetic (and an extra layer of protection) to your playground that will look great in any environment—urban, sculptural, modern, industrial—with the new HDG Series!
  5. Exploring nature on the playground
    There are myriad benefits to kids playing outdoors. That’s why we design nature-inspired playground equipment that helps connect kids to the natural world.

Thank you for tuning in to Together We Play in 2017. We’re looking forward to an exciting year of play; tell us below what you’d like to see more of in 2018 and we’ll do our best to share it here.

Elevate the excitement

On our many trips to the playground, we observed kids shouting “Higher! Higher!” And well, we’ve delivered.

Kids can now climb up, up, up our five new modern and curvy climbers to reach the top of the playstructure. More than delivering thrilling challenge to 5- to 12-year-olds, the 8-foot climbers encourage kids to invent new ways to go across, through, under and over.

Even better, we have an equally thrilling way for kids to get back down to the ground! Three elevated slides continue the breathtaking excitement.

See all of the new climbers and slides here, and get started on a playground design that encourages kids to reach new heights.

A fresh look for your playground

HDG Venti®

Add a cool aesthetic to your playground equipment with the new HDG Series! What is HDG? Hot Dip Galvanized is a process in which steel is completely dipped into a bath of molten zinc to form intermetallic layers making it highly resistant to corrosion. Even more, the HDG process creates a unique look for playground designs in any environment—urban, sculptural, modern, industrial and more.

HDG Global Motion®

And if you happen to live in a coastal area, this durable finish provides an extra layer of protection against the harsh elements. That’s why the City of Corpus Christi in Texas chose to incorporate the HDG Series in one of their seaside parks. Featured at McCaughan Park is all three products of the HDG Series—Venti®, Global Motion® and the Oodle® Swing. Kids ages 5 to 12 explore the modern-looking playground design while being challenged physically and mentally with the nets, slides, belts and climbers of Venti. Freestanding play components like the Oodle Swing and Global Motion encourage cooperative play, and challenge kids’ strategic-thinking and motor-planning skills.

HDG Oodle® Swing

Learn more about the new HDG Series, and see photos of the newly opened McCaughan Park at playlsi.com.

Encouraging whole-child development with toddler playgrounds

Toddlers and preschoolers always find new, but not always safe, ways to play. That’s why we make playground safety a top priority by creating age- and developmentally appropriate products like our Smart Play® playstructures.  The Smart Play designs specifically for toddlers and preschoolers are packed with play activities to help build their senses, and motor and cognitive skills. See below for more details about these designs:

  • Nook: Designed for kids ages 6 to 23 months, its 20 interactive components prompt adult-child conversations and support whole-child learning across key developmental domains.
  • Loft: Handrails lead 2- to 5-year-olds up into a world of imaginary play, with a built-in find-it game, learning activities, lower level clubhouse and so many more interactive elements.
  • Cube: Plenty of activities in this modern, compact playground design means plenty of fun for little explorers ages 2 to 5.
  • Motion: Packing 16 activities into a compact space, the whimsical Motion playstructure keeps kids ages 2 to 5 entertained in a safe, developmentally appropriate way.

Even more, we’ve partnered with Too Small to Fail to create language-rich playgrounds using their Talking is Teaching creative content on panels and signage throughout the playground. These literacy panels will encourage parent-child conversations to help prepare children for success in school and beyond.

Let's Talk About Food

Learn more about how to create a dream playground for toddlers and preschoolers at playlsi.com, and get started on an early childhood playground design by contacting us here.

Principals Build Playground at Pennsylvania Elementary School

Last Saturday, nearly 150 principals representing the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) came together to build a playground at Stonehurst Hills Elementary School in Upper Darby, Penn. The community service day was part of the 2017 National Principals Conference held in Philadelphia.

The playground was designed for students ages 5 to 12, and features the new GeoPlex™ climbing panels as well as various ground-level climbers, overhead ladders, and bridges and balancing activities. In addition to building the school playground, principals landscaped, painted and participated in other beautification projects at the school.

As you can see from the tweets, principals had a blast during the build. This is the ninth year that we’ve partnered with NAESP to build a playground at a deserving elementary school.

Now welcoming preschoolers to join the band

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The joy of making music on the playground can now be enjoyed at any age. We’ve expanded the collection of Rhapsody® Outdoor Musical Instruments with six instruments that are a bit smaller and lower to the ground—sized just right for kids ages 2 to 5.

Rhapsody was originally introduced in January 2016, and has been a hit at playgrounds, community centers, schools, senior centers and more. That’s why we’ve added the junior Rhapsody instruments to the mix. This music playground activity is now ideal for
childcare centers, preschools and other early childhood facilities.

See below to learn more about the new junior-sized chimes, metallophones and drums:

Don’t forget… musical playgrounds welcome all ages and abilities! The original Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments are perfect for kids and adults ages 5 and up. Add all 12 instruments to your play space to encourage multigenerational play.

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