We're keen to get our toddler to be more active. She likes climbing in the playgrounds and we're considering setting up a bamboo ladder indoors for her to climb and swing and balance on when laid on the ground/stuff.
Has anyone done something like this indoors? Unfortunately we don't have any exposed rafters in the house.
Is a typical indoor decorative bamboo ladder strong enough, including the joints for the bars?
How would you support the ladder (that is, raise it horizontally)?
I wouldn't put my kid on a decorative ladder that had a structural integrity of a toothpick but a toddler is sub 10kg. If you take into account dynamic weight that a toddler can generate… Realistically no more than 20kg. Factor in a toddlers grip strength, I don't think it will be loading the ladder beyond that 20kg for longer than a second.
If you can hang a big bag of rice on that ladder, a toddler can play on it provided it's cable tied for stability.
Welded structures are for lifters dropping 300kg when squatting.
I think its less the weight issue and more the movement of the bar. As the child grips and swings and twists the bar, it would likely pop right out of the bamboo because it hasn’t been secured in place to handle that sort of force.
Exactly, that's why I would cable tied them.
There's no agreed upon standard for "decorative" ladders so it's a sliding scale. One decorative ladders may have screws rated to 50kg and another may have finishing pins holding it together.
I guess if someone does not have, what would have been traditionally common sense, a sound background in physics, that someone should stick with name brand items so there's someone to blame in the event of a mishap.
Yeah don't cheap out here.
If you have a backyard consider a decent swing, slide and monkey bar set. Otherwise find another activity for her - kids love to dance, do rhyme games, etc. I don't have a kid, myself, but I'm sure there are DVDs, tablet apps, etc that have movement games you can do with the kid.
Instead of buying a bamboo ladder for your kid to swing on just spend your next weekend at the emergency room of your local children's hospital.
That's where you're going to end up anyway.
Read this..
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/no-more…
tl;dr - monkey bars are dangerous, bamboo monkey bars are just stupid. Even duct tape can't fix stupid.
Trampolines are similar territory. So many injured kids.
My kids both did competition trampolining and my eldest is still an Advanced Coach. Neither have been injured but they've seen some major ones. It's usually the kids that don't listen to the instructions as there is a quite specific techniques when landing from 3-6m above the mat.
Both of them (17 & 21) now do competition cheerleading… now that has some injuries. The National Titles look like a warzone medical clearing centre.
The problem is most trampolines are stuck in the backyard, not maintained and the kids not supervised. Sending them to a training school sounds like a good idea.
@try2bhelpful: I have to agree with that. They have some bad injuries at Flipout, etc.
Gratuitous plug for those in the Sutheralnd or St.George area. Miranda RSL Youth Club
https://www.mirandarslyc.com.au/
They are big on manners, ethics and good behaviour.
Disclaimer: I don't have kids. I recently read about "adventure parks" in Europe, and found the underlying concepts interesting:
https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/03/wild-play-urban-adventu…
When I was a kid we got an old, very stable, table and used it for the base for our cubby house then built some sides and a top room out of lightweight stuff. You can do this sort of thing, and it was fun, but it usually looks like a slum. Not for the backyard proud :). We also used to climb to the top of our gum tree, higher than the house, and jump into the sandpit. Because there were 5 of us kids the parents invested in a very good quality swings, slides monkey bar set.
The secret is to find the safety balance. We had some great play stuff at Eastern Beach that would horrify authorities nowdays, but kids in casts was a common occurrence. I’m also one of the prevaxxers, where we are immune because we just got everything. I remember kids in callipers from polio. Not sure why some idiots want to play Russian roulette with their kids lives.
Growing fruit trees is a good idea. Combines the nutritional value of fresh fruit with the kid having to climb the tree to get it. If you plant them when the kid is first born they will have reasonable trees when they get older. It is messy so have a compost bin for dropped fruit.
I used to put my mother's costume jewellery rings on the heads of my plastic dinosaurs, and pretend that they were princesses wearing crowns.
Yeah. Lets just wrap them up in cotton wool and sit them in front of TV. :-(
Life is inherently dangerous. It's about mitigating risk and teaching the kids how to be adventurous safely.
If his child is 1.5m from toe to top of fingers then set the play gym at 1.7m and put some soft fall (lounge cushions / blankets / pillows under it.
My wife used to freak out when I let my kids climb the 5m high tree out the front but I taught them to have 3 points of contact and do it safely and not over the part that had the concrete path. Teach them risk management early and they apply it the rest of their lives.
Video it, so you can pay for the hospital bills.
Save your money, it's a fade, keep going to the park or different ones.
Bamboo is super strong. Just double check it and reinforce joints yourself.
https://www.bambooimport.com/en/blog/bamboo-lashing-techniqu…
Bamboo splinters are painful.
Can you recommend a less painful splinter instead?
I'm less concerned about the fall risks - my philosophy is consistent with brad1-8tsi's. We lead an outdoors life and the kids are taught risk management skills and they are much more physically resilient than the average child their age. For example, the toddler's biggest cry on the weekend was when we went to the Botanical Gardens and she couldn't climb a big Moreton Bay fig. Unfortunately it was too wet and I couldn't get a proper foothold and so couldn't help her up.
the kids are taught risk management..
Obviously not by you..
a bamboo ladder will attract wild pandas. be careful
sounds like a good idea to get one.
a bamboo ladder will attract wild pandas
… who eats, shoots & leaves
I think it would be better to just let the kids climb regular trees rather than making artificial play equipment to climb on especially from untested/unrated stuff.
I personally climb coconut and mango trees. Some of the coconut trees I climb go up to 30 meters in the sky and you feel a bit like jack and beanstalk when you climb it :)
Coconut palm trees are pretty safe to climb because they just have a single trunk with no limbs unlike mango trees which can be quite dangerous because you have to go out on a limb so to speak to pick the fruit. I broke my foot and dislocated my knee climbing a mango tree once when the limb I was standing on snapped and plummeted to the ground… I've never had any serious fall from a coconut tree before… So I recommend sticking to the trunk of the tree you're climbing rather than going out on the limbs of the tree.
I would not use anything with the word “decorative” as a structure to hold my child. Try to find something metal and welded - then build something indestructible that could hold it up. Or look for something specifically built for childrens monkeybars. Don’t half-ass this or you’ll be putting your child at risk.