7 Science-Based Benefits of Monkey Bars Playtime

1. Monkey bars help develop your kids' muscles and strength

• Sustaining their entire weight by holding onto the bars allows them to develop their hand strength, which will facilitate specific types of motor activities like writing with a pen and using LEGO pieces;

• Thanks to their characteristic swinging activity, monkey bars will also allow your kids to exercise their arm muscles, building both strength and tone;

• Finally, the act of keeping their legs tucked up while swinging from one monkey bar to the next strengthens their abdominal muscles and protects their spine.

1. Monkey bars help develop your kids' muscles and strength

• Sustaining their entire weight by holding onto the bars allows them to develop their hand strength, which will facilitate specific types of motor activities like writing with a pen and using LEGO pieces;

• Thanks to their characteristic swinging activity, monkey bars will also allow your kids to exercise their arm muscles, building both strength and tone;

• Finally, the act of keeping their legs tucked up while swinging from one monkey bar to the next strengthens their abdominal muscles and protects their spine.

2. Swinging on monkey bars influences good posture and balance

• By swinging back and forth with their legs up and improving their body strength, your kids will develop a better, correct posture;

• These movements will also help them develop their balance, eye-hand coordination and aheightened perception of their body's position in space, allowing them to gain full control over it.

3. Frequent and healthy exercise helps against obesity

Unfortunately, nearly one in five kids are overweight or obese in the US. This can obviously lead to several health problems, especially when they grow up.

While a healthy diet is still important, frequent exercise is also key to fighting obesity. Thanks to the fun side of monkey bars, your kids will be encouraged to play on them frequently, burning fat by exercising their muscles and staying active.

4. Playing with monkey bars can relieve stress

What's so great about monkey bars is that they combine playtime and easy exercise in such a natural way.

While kids automatically focus on the first part (with the second happening almost without them knowing), this spontaneouscombined activity relieves both body tension and mental stress.

5. Mastering monkey bars is a positive challenge that builds confidence

• Much like learning to ride a bike, mastering the monkey bars is a significative milestone in your kids' development;

• By overcoming setbacks and accomplishing this new task, they will build self-confidence and be much more likely to develop a positive mental attitude towards other challenges, knowing that they're perfectly capable of finding crafty ways to overcome them;

• Obviously, these positive challenges also favor the development of useful problem-solving skills.

6. Monkey bars are a fantastic opportunity to socialize

• Unless we're talking about domed monkey bars or very long models, these structures really shouldn't be used by more than one kid at a time or else they could hit each other when swinging their legs. However, monkey bars are still an incredible opportunity to play together by taking turns!

• They can also help kids come up with creative scenarios to justify why they can't touch the floor with their feet, like crossing a dangerous lava flow or making it across the river without bumping into hungry crocodiles;

• Whether they're using them at the playground or in your garden when they have friends round, monkey bars will inspire them to create new games and play together for longer without getting bored;

• Kids can also help each other when they're struggling and find new ways to tackle problems and challenges together through cooperation. After all, teamwork makes the dream work!

7. Playing with monkey bars is a beneficial holistic activity

Overall, what makes monkey bar playtime so special and pivotal to your kids' growth and development is the fact that it ticks all the boxes when it comes to their three main needs:

• Emotional well-being
• Physical activity
• Development of their motor skills.

By allowing your kids to fulfill all of them at the same time, monkey bars let them focus on the fun side (emotional well-being) while encouraging them to stay active.

Consequently, thanks to this creative form of exercise, they'll develop their muscles, balance and motor skills without it feeling like a chore or unpleasant activity.

Now that you know all the benefits of monkey bars, there's no reason not to let your kids go ape on them!