Childcare Program Playground Injuries Expert Article

In this article, Childcare Operations Expert, Elizabeth Rodano, Ed.D., C.P.S.I., reviews the standard of care for supervising young children on the playground in childcare facilities and early education settings. She examines a proactive approach to reducing serious playground injuries in out-of-home childcare settings and will focus on playground policies and procedures and active supervision strategies in childcare programs.

Evaluating Playground Safety & Supervision in Childcare Programs

Playgrounds provide children unstructured free play time within their out-of-home daily routine and opportunities to foster the development of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills.

Young children are energetic, physically active, and naturally curious. During outdoor play, children will regularly challenge their developing physical abilities by running, climbing, swinging, and moving in every direction. As the physical movement and motor activity of children increases, so does the necessity for increased active adult supervision.

Playground supervision is not a passive task. Rather, a reasonable standard of care requires the teacher/caregiver to proactively provide a safe outdoor play environment, and to actively supervise the children’s play activities in alignment with playground policies and procedures.

Playground Policy and Procedures

Childcare administrators are responsible for developing, communicating, and enforcing their program’s child supervision and playground policies and procedures.

Each state develops and governs its own minimum childcare licensing rules/regulations inclusive of childcare supervision ratios. These rules/regulations and industry best practices assist childcare administrators in establishing age-appropriate playground rules, and active supervision procedures.

Playground supervision policies and procedures support the prevention and reduction of playground injuries and identify playground hazards related to serious injuries and deaths.

Serious and/or fatal playground incident injuries can include broken limbs, head trauma, crushed or amputated digits, injuries resulting from protrusion and entrapment hazards, and strangulation. Reasonable and active playground supervision policies help to limit the occurrence of injury incidents on playground premises.

Childcare playground policies should include an emergency response protocol with clearly stated action steps to be followed in case of a playground emergency or an injury incident.

In addition to supervision, policies and procedures ensure the playground is safe before children enter the play area. Industry best practices for playground supervision include conducting daily safety checks of the program’s playground environment and equipment prior to children entering the playground area.

Teacher/Caregiver Training

Supervision training for childcare staff and teachers is critical in establishing a safe outdoor play environment for young children.

Teachers/caregivers who are aware of the age-appropriate developmental abilities of the children in their care, are better prepared to intervene in play activities that may put a child at risk for injury.

Once at the playground, teacher/caregivers redirect inappropriate play behavior, proactively increase their proximity to children who may need assistance navigating the playground or equipment, intervene when playground equipment is used improperly, and respond quickly and reasonably if an injury or incident occurs.

Active Playground Supervision

During active supervision, teachers/caregivers physically circulate around the play area, and maintain their proximity to children, ensuring that children are within sight and/or sound. 

Supervision is more than being present when children are playing outside. It involves the understanding of the play patterns of young children; knowledge of age appropriate, safe and unsafe play behaviors; the identification and enforcement of playground rules; and anticipation of and proactive stoppage of unsafe activities. 

Teachers who are responsible for children in the outside playground environment apply these same active supervision strategies to prevent inappropriate interactions between children such as rough-housing or bullying.

Reasonable playground policies and procedures assist and support childcare teachers/caregivers as they implement active supervision strategies with children on the playground and proactively reduce the potential for serious playground injuries at their childcare program.

Child Supervision & Playground Safety Experts

Among the supervision experts at Robson Forensic are Certified Playground Inspectors who are teachers, school administrators, and child/adult day care program coordinators. They have hands- on experience working in organized public and private care settings, designing, and implementing safety policies, establishing processes and procedures to screen, hire, and train staff, and reporting/investigating incidents.

For more information, submit an inquiry or call us at 800.813.6736.

Featured Expert

Elizabeth S. Rodano, Ed.D., C.P.S.I.

Child Care Supervision & Facility Safety Expert

Dr. Elizabeth Rodano is an expert in the management and operations of programs and facilities that provide education, supervision, and care to children from early childhood through middle school ages. She applies her expertise to forensic casework involving physical injuries, claims of abuse or neglect, and issues involving licensing and professional liability.