I just enumerated the playgrounds our exurb and ALL except 1 have at least one of the things you mentioned. Most have both monkey bars and swings.
The exception is a splash pad playground, so not really indicative of any sort of trend (except perhaps that our summers got a lot hotter over the last 20 years).
There are parks that do not have any playground, but those are mostly either dedicated sports fields, "adult-oriented parks" (eg the city commons), or nature-oriented parks (with trails, trees, and water). So not the sort of parks that ever had playgrounds in the first place.
Additionally, we now have some parks with natural climbing walls that you need to bring ropes to use, which is quite a bit less safe than marry-go-rounds and what-not. (I've never seen them used without adult involvement, but TBF a fall from the top would probably actually kill/seriously harm a kid).
Yeah, as a parent of a young child, all those things are still extremely common (at least at all the playgrounds I've see constructed in the past 5 years). Many even have 10ft+ rope structures and 15ft tall slides.
Sure there are more "thought games" and the merry-go-rounds won't pin and drag a child across the ground.
I mostly take my child to metroparks in my area. I wouldn't be surprised if school playgrounds have been made safer due to less individual supervision and liability for the school.
I’ve gone to a recently constructed playground with my child over the last few years, and I was able to observe the risk assessment strategies they took as they developed.
The playground in question has a truss ladder leading up to a playground platform that’s about two storeys off the ground. Dangerous stuff for a toddler just getting the hang of the playground, and they would self-select themselves out of it. However, as they grew, so did their abilities and they climbed higher and higher.
Yes, overly risk-managed playgrounds were a thing late 90s and 2000s, but risky play structures are making a comeback.
Jean Sweeney is very new, and not completed yet either. Has a fun tower to climb (tight for those over 180cm) that wide slide and the zipline is pretty good. When the rest is finished it should be even cooler. Also, if you're around there check out the Pinball Museum on Webster (used to be the record store)
Yeah, all of our new ones around here seem to use some Dutch or German (I can't remember which) company and look almost exactly like that. All their merry-go-round type things are very different from the old ones we were used to, and IMO less good, but they probably also produce fewer injuries than the old design. They tend to come with notices warning that you probably don't want to let your 4-year-old get on some of the equipment, because it's not extremely safe for all ages. Some have climbing structures like the one in the picture that go up to about 2.5 stories.
Middle of the country, and we're usually like a decade behind trends on the coasts. There was a brief "rip out all the fun stuff" trend but it didn't last long and that was more of an '00s thing.
To be honest, that thing is scary even for me as fit adult male. One little mistake and I could seriously hurt myself. Same for the children. I would be very uncomfortable letting my own child climb around on this to be honest. I would probably let it, but feel bad the whole time.
They are significantly easier for kids to climb on than adults. And kids generally have a good sense of their own limitations. Most playgrounds nowadays are deliberately designed with different levels of difficulty, which kids self-select on.
As a parent of two kids and a teacher, they don't make me nervous.
I used to play on that kind of thing in my childhood. A child can (and probably at some point will) fall down, but usually not from the highest point, but rather while climbing. Also, there's sand underneath, so the landing is somewhat softened. That said, it's still easy to seriously hurt oneself on that, but I was aware of that as a child and acted accordingly.
This is anecdotal "in my day" knee-jerk stuff... I've seen new playgrounds go up in my city and they've got monkey bars, swings, and merry-go-rounds with nets that kids can climb on.
AFAIK Kompan is the most popular playground equipment company around, and you can see all sorts of the stuff you list in their catalog: https://www.kompan.us
Certainly not my experience, I can’t think of a single playground I’ve been to recently that didn’t have at least 3 of swing, monkey bar, see saw and slide
The playground my city just opened (new suburb: was a corn field 2 years ago) has several merry-go-round things. They are speed limited unlike the ones of the past, but they exist. I've seen park catalogs with them - the tic-tac-toe game is a cheap option for a playground, the good stuff is expensive. (several companies have their prices online if you google - don't confuse park with home playgrounds though when you search)
I'm watching my kids play with all the other kids. tic-tac-toe is an indoor game and you rarely see kids finish a game before running off to do something else. Once in a while a kid will move something, but I've only once seen a complete game.
Parks need more swings, slides, merry-go-rounds, and lots more interesting obstacles to run over/under/around. (run is key: if you can't navigate it without getting caught in a game of tag it is too slow and won't be used much) The other stuff isn't what kids go to a playground for.
The playground nearest my home is brand new and has a merry go round, swings, and metal monkey bars.
And I live in Canada, which modern political discourse has decried as a communist dictatorship.
If anything, there has been a shift away from the overly-kiddy playgrounds of the late '90s/early-'00s into playgrounds that allow kids to embrace their desire for mayhem. Heights may still be disappointingly low, but otherwise there's plenty of tools for kids to spin themselves sick. One of the larger playgrounds in my city has a gigantic teeter totter that support a dozen kids crammed onto the platforms on each side, which is AFAIK a new invention. It also sports a pump track for adventurous kids on bikes.
If it makes you feel better, the kids usually end up scampering around/on top of the play areas anyway, sometimes a good 20 feet off the ground (the equivalent of jumping from roof to roof on something like https://www.playgroundequipment.com/figgs-landing/ ).
