Citation

Ridenour MV. Percept. Mot. Skills 1986; 63(1): 271-278.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.2466/pms.1986.63.1.271

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The guidelines for age-labeling of children's toy and playgrounds are summarized. Two different published standards for the design of merry-go-rounds, home and public playground standards, are compared and contrasted. 120 children between the ages of 3 and 6 yr. old participated in the investigation of home merry-go-rounds. It was determined children within this age range had the motor and social interaction skills to operate a two-person home merry-go-round. Although the children are able to rotate the merry-go-round successfully, a potential hazard was identified during the normal use of the merry-go-round. The children's feet and lower legs could contact the stationary base of the merry-go-round after their feet slipped off the footrest during rotation. The home merry-go-round standards permit openings in the rotating platform, and the public merry-go-round standards do not permit openings in the rotating platform. The elimination of such openings prevents contact between the stationary platform and the child's lower limbs. The potential for impact injuries with the stationary base would be eliminated if public playground standards would be applied to home merry-go-rounds.

Language: en