Armed with my camera, measuring tape, and clipboard, I decided to leave my lab coat, white gloves, and magnifying glass in the car. All joking aside, I drove to Linns Valley School in Glennville, CA, which is about 20 minutes from my camp. Linns Valley School is a very rural K-9 school. The school has two incredibly large play structures. One is themed after a giant tree and the other has features that resemble a wooden fort. On both structures is a sticker indicating that these structures are for children ages 5-12 – which is appropriate for a K-9 school. Each of the play elements included on each play structure are also listed in the Public Playground Safety Manual, page 7, as approved for this age. Regarding the public playground safety checklist, I found a few problems. The first was very minor. I discovered that a speaking pipe was placed at 98 inches, as opposed to the 108 inches required for minimum clearances between two separate structures. Second, I observed that the playing field only had 6 inches of wood chips on the hard dirt. Areas below the slides and monkey bars had even fewer due to continued disturbance and compaction. Coincidentally, the two areas with the least chips are also among the highest potential drop areas. Third, and most shockingly, it appeared that both playing fields were not sunk sufficiently into the ground. Each piece of support structure that was sunk into the ground had a sticker telling the builders how deep it should be sunk and where the finished level of wood chips should be. There was about a 12 inch gap on all the posts from the actual level of the tokens! The difference was even noticeable middle of paper......and I need to look into policies for supervising children at play to make sure an adult is keeping a watchful eye on the children when the time is right. play. References: Tinsworth, Deborah, K. and Mc Donald, Joyce, E. (April 2001). Special study: Injuries and deaths associated with children's playground equipment [electronic version]. United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. Public Playground Safety Manual. Bethesda, MD: Author. Wakes, Sarah and Beukes, Amanda. (2012, June). Height, fun and safety in the design of children's play area equipment [Electronic version]. International Journal of Inquiry Control and Safety Promotion, 19(2) 101-108. Walton, Alice, G. (June 2012). New playgrounds are safe – and that’s why no one uses them. The Atlantic. Available at http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/new-playgrounds-are-safe-and-thats-why-nobody-uses-them/252108/