Bean Bag Chairs in Best Playgrounds

A friend of mine just sent me this great article about the world's best playgrounds, by David Israel.  Man oh Man!  Kids nowadays have it good!  I remember my neighborhood playground when I was growing up and it was pretty much chain swings with cracked rubber seats, a metal slide that was either ice-cold or scorching-hot, and a really beat up old merry go round.  Oh yeah, and the metal frog or alligator on a big rusty spring.  Okay, so perhaps you had something a little better, but probably not to the level of these playgrounds!

The good news, for me and all the little kids in my life, is that I can proudly say that one of the ten best playgrounds on the list is less than a half hour drive away!  Clemyjontri Park in McLean, Virginia is #3 on the list.

Looking at the other parks on the best playgrounds list, I have to say they are pretty cool!  There's a huge park in Japan comprised of tires, and a park in Sweden with playground furniture and equipment made of humongous fruit!  In Germany, there's a playground only for adults!  The furniture and equipment are geared for seniors, to get them outdoors and active - no kids allowed!  In San Francisco, there's an elaborate playground on a rooftop!  There's an ice-skating rink, bowling center, and giant open spaces for free play and a 103 year old hand-carved carousel.

So I'm thinking all of these playgrounds are so unique and kids and adults must go ape over them.  But you must know what every single one of them is missing right?  Yup, bean bag chairs!  Think about it, what's safer and more scrumptious than a bunch of bean bag chairs, say, at the bottom of a big slide or underneath those crazy monkey bars that I always panic over when little kids precariously zoom across hand-over-hand, so many feet above the ground!  We've all seen our kids using bean bags as landing pads, dare I say that they leap from the top of the stairs into them.  So, same idea here.  Or bean bag furniture inside the playhouses.  Bean bags would definitely go over well with kids with disabilities too, giving them soft seating instead of hard traditional benches.

I have to go see these playgrounds...and maybe I'll tote along my own bean bag!  No joke, I'm going to do that and I bet you I'll have a big hit on my hands!  I'll take some pics too so you can all be inspired.  Look for my follow up post this week!

In the meantime, check out the article, there's great pictures and more playgrounds to marvel at.  It's a quick read, and so cool.  Thanks David! 

www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/34277

Yours Truly, Jade