Part 4 of our safety series features seesaw safety.

Using a seesaw teaches cognitive abilities, social skills, and physical coordination. It helps children understand cause and effect, weight distribution, and spatial awareness. To use a seesaw effectively requires cooperation and teamwork, teaching children to work together and communicate effectively.

These are valuable skills but seesaws can be dangerous if not properly managed. Here we present our tips to ensure seesaw safety.

Rules to  ensure seesaw safety

Children should:

• Only have one child at each end of the seesaw – if the weights don’t match for easy seesawing, do NOT add another child to balance the weights, rather find another child to play with

• Sit in the seat facing forwards and not leaning back

• Hold on tightly with both hands while on a seesaw

• Keep feet out to the sides and out from underneath the seesaw.

• Stand back from a seesaw when it's in use

Children should be taught NOT to:

• Jump off the seesaw without warning the other child on the other end of the seesaw

• Touch the ground or push off with their hands

• Stand beneath a raised seesaw, stand and rock in the middle, or try to climb onto it while it's in motion.

Find out more about our Rustics seesaws