When planning what equipment to include in a playground, one of the things you don’t want to miss are unique apparatus, like play tunnels, which create a sense of adventure.
We want play spaces to be inspirational places that capture children’s minds and motivate them to explore, try and imagine.
Sometimes play equipment can be too predictable but play tunnels can help to switch things up.
Here at Fun & Active Playgrounds, we believe play should be open-ended and child-led, so all of our play equipment gives children the freedom to use them in any way they choose.
Why Play Tunnels Are So Worthwhile
Play tunnels are a brilliant piece of apparatus for open-ended play.
According to Michigan State University, open-ended play provides children with rich opportunities to build crucial brain development skills.
From creative thinking to decision-making, confidence, and focus, these are some of the most powerful skills children will use for life-long success.
Promotes Imaginative Play
The simple structure of a hollow cylinder is the perfect place for children’s imaginations to run free. This freedom of thinking doesn’t have to be about going off into imaginary worlds, just travelling from one part of a play tunnel to another opens a range of options for children.
And this is what we want play equipment to do.
Play should ask questions of children; it should challenge children to think creatively and push boundaries.
When children choose to play with a play tunnel, they’re immediately faced with a myriad of questions. Should they travel through it or over it? Should they slide along it, crawl through it or sit inside? Is it a tube today or a rabbit run or a spaceship or a portal?
By giving children a curious yet simple tube design, their imaginations can be limitless.
At Fun & Active Playgrounds, we have a brilliant collection of outdoor play tunnels. Each design is weather-resistant, robust, and constructed to ignite children’s curiosity.
From the Secret Woods Crawl Through Tunnel to the Dinosaur Tunnel and the Skylight Crawl Through Tunnel, we have a wide range of designs which build on children’s interests and current national curriculum topics.
And that’s not all play tunnels do for children’s development. Let’s take a look at the other top reasons why play tunnels are beneficial for children’s development.
Top Benefits of Play Tunnels For Children
1. Motor Skills
A play tunnel’s low, long, and narrow tube provides children with a unique place to build both gross and fine motor skills in a way they won’t do on any other play equipment.
To travel through a play tunnel, children have to either crawl, scoot or slide along its base. To do so they’ll use: upper body strength, their fingers, ankles, and toes to pull and push their body through the tube.
According to The Functional Neurology Center, crawling helps the:
- brain’s two hemispheres learn how to work together to co-ordinate movement and achieve balance,
- hip sockets to develop the right shape to hold the body upright and walk effectively,
- body learn how to use its midline to co-ordinate functions from either side, such as: sight, hearing, and hand-eye co-ordination,
- lower back to build the strength necessary to maintain an upright position for sitting and moving.
These are all critical motor skills children need for movement, academic attainment, and daily tasks.
The unique structure of a play tunnel means there’s always a bright light at the end which gives children the motivation needed to keep pushing and pulling the body through.
You can even place interesting objects inside the tube to keep children motivated.
The Skylight Crawl Through Tunnel builds on this idea. It has coloured, transparent cut-outs along it’s top which mean the tunnel will be transformed with colourful shards of light and interesting shadows.
Children will be mesmerised by the sight of the sky from inside the tunnel and how different each panel makes the world look.
2. Versatile
The tubular structure of a play tunnel doesn’t take up much room in a play space. Whatever the size of a playground, park or play area, there’s nearly always space to add a play tunnel.
The presence of this unusual piece of apparatus immediately makes a playground look more exciting and interesting.
You want your playground to have a unique piece of equipment like a play tube because it gives children a reason to visit.
Play tunnels can be set up in any way you choose. They can be positioned on their own or alongside other equipment so there’s plenty of flexibility as to how the tunnel fits into your playground set up.
3. Fun
From physical development to imaginative play and cognitive thinking, we’ve highlighted so many benefits play tunnels bring.
Of all these, most of all play tunnels are fun!
We’ve talked a lot about what children can do inside play tunnels but there’s lots they can do outside them too.
And they appeal to children of all ages. For older children, it’s quite common for outdoor play tunnels to be incorporated into mounds or have a structure over them to add an additional layer of exploration.
The options for how you use play tunnels with children really are endless and our bespoke design service means you can create a custom tunnel if you wish.
Browse the Play Tunnel collection to find the perfect outdoor play tunnel for your space now.