Last week I visited a Community Hall in a rural town where our customer wants a variety of Moduplay products installed.

But it was a passing remark that caught my attention… “Of course, balancing on play equipment helps their reading skills”. On further enquiry she explained it is a well known truth that children with reading challenges can be helped by playing in a way that fine tunes their gross motor skills.

Her own daughter (now in her 40’s) was discovered to have dyslexia at 8 years of age, “She could write her name beautifully but it was entirely back to front”. However, with focused attention, including ample amounts of time to play on playground equipment that presented lots of balancing activities, her reading and writing improved beyond what you would believe is possible until by 12 years old she was practically cured.

To me, this is amazing. And it reaffirms to me that we need to keep doing whatever we can to provide real opportunities for children to develop mentally and physically through free play opportunities wherever possible.

The ongoing challenge for every adult with the care of children is how to keep children engaged in healthy physical activity. The need for this is increasing as our children are inundated with reasons not to “Go outside and play”.

Athol Quinsey – Director