Jungle gym

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A traditional jungle gym

The jungle gym, also known as monkey bars, is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of thin material, such as metal pipe or, in more current playgrounds, rope, on which children can climb, hang, or sit. The monkey bar designation was for the resemblance that playing children had to the rambunctious, climbing play of monkeys.

A rope jungle gym

The large, metal, cubic-shaped jungle gym was once common on playgrounds, but it led to injuries when children hit their heads on the bars or swung on them improperly, causing bruises, sprains, and fractures. It is more common now to find rope constructions similar in function, or wooden platforms with ladders and railings around the outer edges.

The first jungle gym was invented in 1920 and patented by lawyer Sebastian Hinton in Chicago.^[1] It was sold under the trademarked name Junglegym. The term "monkey bars" was first documented in 1955^[2], though Hinton's initial patent of 1920 appeals to the "monkey instinct" in claiming the benefits of climbing as exercise and play for children.^[3]

Man on monkey bars (in an unsafe position)

One common type of jungle gym, shown at right, is a row of overhead bars, high enough for a child to hang from them but not so high as to cause serious injury in a fall. A child can "walk" hand-over-hand from one end to the other. Note that the image shows an unsafe use of the gym. A fall while hanging head-down could cause a very serious injury.

To reduce the risk of injury from falls, jungle gym areas often have a thick layer of wood chips or other impact-absorbing material covering the ground; the National Safety Council recommends that playgrounds have at least 12 inches of such material^[4].