Places for Sitting with Children

Even when outside, infants and toddlers need places to sit and snuggle with the adults who care about them.¹ Think strategically about where adults will sit with children. Some seating should be in shady areas. Other seating can be in quiet and active areas; stationary seating in active areas should be at appropriate distances from equipment such as slides, climbers, and swings. In addition to sitting on the ground, consider seating such as low, wooden benches (12 inches high), sculpted logs, low tree stumps, and smooth boulders. Glider swings and hammocks that are good for swinging are also good places to sit with infants and toddlers.

¹Greenman and Lindstrom, Caring Spaces, Learning Places, 279; Keeler, Natural Playscapes, 90.

Last Updated: December 2, 2019