Titiwangsa Park - 26 June 09

I got back my car from the workshop yesterday! Whooo Hooo! So yesterday I asked him where he'd like to go that evening, now that we've got our ride. He wanted Titiwangsa, which I couldn't accomodate due to rush hour traffic. He misses Titiwangsa Park (& so do I) as we used to go there almost on a daily basis, in the mornings. So we went this morning. Thankfully there was sufficient cloud cover - I hate being out in the sun - as we spent one & a half hours there!!!

Lots of photos in today's blog:

1. Spinning Tops

I call it the spinning tops! This is a real tricky obstacle course for him. The poles are not only moveable in a 360 degree manner, but they twist on the axis too. The distance between the poles require him to stretch quite a bit too. It's a real challenge for him, but in the past he was getting pretty good with it. Now that he's not done it for 3 weeks, he's very uncertain. No worries, after 2 rounds of it, he seemed to be getting the hang of it again. Excellent for balancing, co-ordination, stretching.


2. Monkey Bar Slide

It's what I call a monkey bar slide. For the traditional monkey bar, you'd have to swing arm over arm to the next ring & onwards to the end. But for this one, you hang on to a triangle handle & propel yourself to the end. In the photo, you can 4 blue horizontal bars (but acutally there's 5) & you can just about make out several orange triangle shaped handles hanging from the blue bars.

Hanging onto the orange handle, while my hands are just behind him in case he lets go.

This is good for stretching not just the upper limb muscles but also for opening up the chest area. Since a 2-3 months ago, he could hang there unsupported. But I still need to help him get up there, of course & give him the initial push to get him across to the end & help him to get down. It's way to high up for him. I know he's happy playing this as he wants go across all 5 of them!

3. Long Suspension Bridge

He loves running on the wooden suspension bridge and has to climb/step up these platforms to get up there, so that's great exercise. The height to get up to the platform is a bit high for him, so he struggles a bit. Getting down is also a bit of a challenge & I have to direct him on which railing to hold & watch him closely.

Walking/running on a raised up structure is different from just running on ground level. Thankfully he's not afraid of heights. I'm the one fearful that he might trip & fall but there are strong rope guards on the sides.

Caution: lately I noticed more screws coming loose & some missing.

4. Weeble Wobble Animals

Good vestibular equipment & for him to learn how to rock himself forwards/backwards. The last time he played on this, was 3-4 weeks ago & he had just for the first time, ever so slightly, rocked himself. He didnt today. Forgotten perhaps. He also still has difficulty getting on & off it by himself. He can't quite swing his leg over the seat.

But the good news is that he has maintained his beautifully straight posture, which was first noticed 3-4 weeks ago.

5. Rope Bridge

You'll need a good sense of balance, visual acuity, careful placement of feet for this obstacle - he's not ready for it yet. But glad that he's no longer afraid to try it. The past 2 times we were here, he readily wanted to go across it...to compare if the blue looking glass on the other side is the same as the one on this side! If I knew earlier that it'd be an incentive, I'd certainly try it from day one. LOL

6. Blue Looking Glass

He finds it funny how things look so bluish when viewed through this blue looking glass. Next time round, will introduce concept of colour combination. E.g. Something that's yellow viewed in natural light, but viewed through a blue filter = green.

7. Parallel Balance Beam

He walked across all by himself. Doesn't seem that hard cos there are 2 beams. But he would not have been able to do it by himself, say, 8 months ago.

8. Suspended Balance Beam

Now this is balance beam is more of a challenge - single beam, sways sideways and forwards/backwards! Definitely need to hold his hand for this!

9. Ladder

It was only about 3-4 months ago that he could climb up a ladder by himself. He's not done it for several weeks, so was a bit tentative on it today. Also because the gaps between the rungs are quite large for him. There are many ladders in this playground but most have too many rungs (too high) & the rungs are set too wide, for me to safely support him.

10. Short Suspension Bridge

This is short bridge is a lot more shaky (wooden planks are supported by rope beneath) than the long bridge (wooden planks are bolted to iron frame). He can do it by himself & didn't want my help from perhaps 2-3 months ago.


11. Inclined ramp

Anything inclined is good for him. But the degree of inclination here is not enough to really stretch his achilles or gastroc. For that, we climb a small but steep slope during our evening walks at the neighbourhood park. There are several of these gently inclined ramps in the playground & whenever he spots them, he's very happy to run up it.

12. Stairs

He's able to climb up & down these stairs, with both hands on both railings for support. The height of the gaps between the steps & the width of the steps & degree of inclination are more suitable for him. This isn't the case at some other playgrounds.

13. Chasing the birds

But of course! It's one of his favourites! (see one of the earlier blog postings)

14. Follow the red brick road!

We didn't do this today, but in previous visits, I'd get him to walk/run on just the red bricks. A bit tricky for him as it curves. I do this to get him to have a less broad based walk (just like a balance beam, you'd have to walk with one feet directly in front of the other), but is safe enough for him to do it by himself as the bricks are only raised 1 cm or so off the ground (where as for a balance beam, it's raised several cm & he could hurt himself in a fall).

15. Tunnel slide

Today, he wanted to go on quite a few tunnel slides (short & medium length ones, with only a slight curve) despite the slight scare he had yesterday evening on a tunnel slide at the neighbourhood playground. It was high & curved slightly, but due to the height, he gained quite a bit of speed & "launched" out of the end of the tunnel & landed on his bum. Funny seeing it! Not hurt - diapers probably softened the landing & the ground was padded with foamy mat - it's more of a shock to him. In the past, if it shocked him like that, he'd be rather fearful of trying anything like that for quite a while.

16. Name the animal

We didnt do this today but in the past, I use this to get him to use both hands to spin the cylinders & left hand alone to spin. When using both hands, I ask him to place it on extreme left & right to get him to stretch. Also, used it for phonic work as the name of the animal is spelt out.

17. Spider's Web

He didnt climb this today but he could in the past as it's not too high. There are several variations of this at the playground. One goes up to a height that higher than I am. Another is like a junior version rock climbing, with an anchored rope to help you get up & grooves to place your feet. He cant do these by himself yet.

18. Variety!

Love the variety, the space & the equipment are relatively still new. You've got the usual swings (for older kids & babies), slides, twin slides, tunnel slides, steering wheels, tunnels, see saw etc. What he played with today was just a fraction of it. Love that it's very colourful too.

Oh yeah, hardly any mosquitoes at the playground area, but can't say that for the rest of the park.

When you're done with that, there are lakes, fountains, a river, horse riding, radio controlled car race circuit.... and I noticed, zorb! When there's a carnival or festival going on, it gets more interesting.... fire engine, firemen & their rescue dogs, fishing competitions, hot air ballons....