Before there were the modern playground safety standards that we know today, kids everywhere were out there playing on playground equipment that would genuinely make today’s parents shudder. The metal slides were heated up like crazy from the hot summer sun, and the jungle gyms reached for the skies. This collection of vintage photos captures the era when it seemed like providing a space for adventure dwarfed keeping things safe.
1. An adventure playground in Notting Hill, London, 1960s
The playgrounds of old really knew how to submerse kids in wild and risky adventures.
2. A rather risky looking modernist playground in 1971
How did parents not suffer under the weight of crippling anxiety every time their kids went to playgrounds back in the day?
3. Monkey bars in Central Park playground, 1942
Please, please don’t fall.
4. Yeah, that’s going to be a pass for me.
That’s just the kind of playground that is pretty much asking for terrible avoided accidents to occur.
5. Kids can be all kinds of crazy fearless when it gets down to it
Not with the upside-down technique.
6. A bit of an underdeveloped playground, but I guess it has to do
Maybe hitting the rusty metal slide out on a windswept field was peaceful.
7. Tall slides are generally always going to be quite intimidating.
Yeah, I’ll pass on that whole rickety slide ladder business.
8. While it looks fun, it also looks incredibly unsafe.
She really had to lock in.
9. Those kids are way too calm about things.
All of those kids sitting next to each other like that is just asking for things to fall apart.
10. Those kids are really living their lives on the edge
These were just built to be wildly unsafe.
11. May 21, 1965 – Children climbing on playground equipment at Juniata Park in Philadelphia
Don’t fall, buddy.
12. Playgrounds used to look pretty dangerous. Hiawatha Playfield, Seattle, US, 1912
This particular Seattle playground went harder than the rest of them.
13. One of England’s first Playground swings, 1900s
Those swings couldn’t be bothered to care too much about safety measures.
14. It was nicknamed the Whirly Bird, and involved blisters, crushed fingers and kids flying everywhere, 1973
No kidding though, so many crushed fingers and flying children. Those were tough times.
15. Those kids couldn’t be packed together any tighter
One just hopes that none of those kids had any bouts with social anxiety.
16. Kids on a playground at Divis Flats, Belfast – 1978
Even though this looks quite a bit unsafe, at least they’re having fun in this moment.
17. Children on the playground. Post Creek School, Lake County, Montana, 1911
The mountain range in the background adds a newfound layer of majestic to the whole image.
18. Playground in New York, 1910-1915.
It just seems like these poor kids would end up bopping heads.
19. Back when playgrounds were an adventure in ’66
That kid is swinging the bat way too close to the other kids.
20. New Deal era playground, 1930s
The New Deal Era playgrounds were hard-pressed to spend the extra money on making things safe for kids.
