KANSAS CITY, Mo. — High temperatures and extreme heat can cause children to become sick quickly — dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat cramps and, in severe cases, heat strokes, according to HealthyChildren.org.
However, playtime is essential to development, so Kansas City-area educators are reimagining what it looks like.
“With early childhood centers, one of the requirements is kids need to go outside, and movement is important for the development of children,” said Deborah Mann, executive director of Emmanuel Family & Child Center.
The National Weather Service reports a heat index at or above 90 degrees poses significant health risks for children.
Not to mention high humidity can also increase the danger for children with asthma.
Because of all this, staff are looking for ways to limit outside time and increase water play.
“We do a lot of water play, where we have the sprinklers up and the kids can run through it or we have water bottles they can spray each other, spray themselves,” Mann said. “Anything that means that they can get themselves wet and cool down and still have fun and move.”
Mary Esselman and her staff at Operation Breakthrough make their decisions on whether to go outside or not based on a cheat sheet for child care centers nationwide.
“It’s nice because it looks at temperature and humidity and then it helps us look at that heat index, so we use that just as a center guideline,” Esselman said.
In addition to the chart, her staff relies on playground canopy, field trips to the splash pad and earlier recess to beat the heat.
“Water, water, water is my message to parents. You know, when kids are getting up, as long as kids stay hydrated, that’s gonna be our biggest defense,” Esselman said. “We’re very active in terms of making sure kids are hydrated, so on all of the playgrounds you are gonna see eater coolers, you’re gonna see teachers take brakes."
Both Esselman and Mann believe building playgrounds with safer materials that do not overheat may be a helpful solution for the future.
“So kids don’t burn themselves, for example,” Esselman said.
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