Playgrounds provide a space for children to develop physical and social skills and burn some energy, but there is growing concern these areas are becoming unsafe because of various chemicals found in the materials used to build them.
One concerned parent reached out for advice on the subreddit r/ScienceBasedParenting to ask if their concerns about their children's school playground were justified. The parent explained that the school had recently covered the ground with black rubber mulch and asked the Reddit community, "How safe is that for the kids?"
The parent was right to be concerned. While many companies will market rubber mulch as being safer for children to play on, it is often made from recycled tires, which comes with several risks. The first is that it gets extremely hot in the sun, which can cause an increased risk of burns to children playing on it. The mulch can also contain harmful chemicals that could cause health issues. These chemicals also leach into the soil, which contaminates the earth, and it does little to stop weeds from sprouting up.
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Yes — often 😬 To control weeds, a base layer of landscaping fabric is often put down first before the mulch is added. Landscaping fabric is not only ineffective, but it also causes harm to the soil health and breaks down into polluting microplastics.
There are more natural alternatives without harmful chemicals that can be used in children's playgrounds. For example, combining natural wood chips with areas of native plants using a landscaping technique known as xeriscaping can create an attractive and practical area for children to play. Including plants in a playground encourages children to learn more about nature, and native species would require very little maintenance while also supporting the local ecosystem and its wildlife.
Commenters on this post shared the parent's concern. One who authored a paper on the issue said it was definitely a problem before sharing links to over 20 research papers that had looked at the question.
Another wrote, "I know that my city replaced EVERY single playground in our area that had the rubber ground."
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