Embracing Play & Progress: Monkey Bars and Occupational Therapy for Children
Earlier this year, Funky Monkey Bars collaborated with iThrive Health - a leading occupational therapy centre dedicated to empowering children with motor skills challenges.
Our Commercial Team came together with iThrive’s passionate practitioners to create a dynamic and engaging space that promotes physical development, fosters confidence, and facilitates therapeutic progress.
This partnership represents our shared commitment to using play as a powerful tool for children's growth and well-being.
The Power of Monkey Bars in Occupational Therapy
Monkey bars have long been recognised as a valuable tool in occupational therapy, and for a good reason. They offer a wide range of benefits that contribute to children's motor skills development, sensory integration, and overall physical well-being. With the installation of our vibrant and versatile monkey bar therapy gym at iThrive Health, these benefits are now readily accessible to children undergoing occupational therapy.
“We first set out to simply add monkey bars to our gym and we explored multiple options before finding Funky Monkey Bars,” says Matt Huxtable, co-founder of iThrive Health. “We loved the versatility of the activities that their frames had to offer. They covered so many bases.
The different sections of our frame cover a range of motor groups and targets children’s fundamental movement skills. It's also very adaptable to suit all age groups. We also loved the variations of units so we could select the one that best fit our space. We chose The Troop frame due to the dimensions of our gym being quite long and narrow.
The Troop also includes the 6m Floating Flying Fox which was a huge bonus for our clients and is definitely a fan favourite. We also felt comfortable knowing this equipment was secured to the floor, eliminating the need to locate adequate beams in the roof space to fix the swings and flying fox to.”
Occupational Therapy Centres have different standards to other commercial settings such as schools and parks as they are specialised equipment for therapy, and not just a playground. Therefore, iThrive's new monkey bar therapy gym was based on The Troop residential frame, with a few commercial modifications. This frame also included: Climbing Door Knobs, Commercial Cargo Net, Soccer/Cricket Net, 3m Jungle Rope and a Height Extender (Top) to hang their own therapy equipment.
Since installing the Funky Monkey Bars frame inside the OT centre, Matt reported that their cancellation rate has dropped significantly. "Our clients were so excited when they could see the gym down the corridor from the waiting area. Having this new equipment has had a noticeable impact on child engagement, and motivation to attend regular therapy. Therapy now feels like play, not therapy!
The versatility of the frame allows for us to find and create new and fun ways of using the frame to keep therapy fresh which helps with therapy progression.
Part of our job is tackling the challenges that a child may be facing in their life and/or at school, so having these activities that target gross motor strength and coordination is one thing, but being able to use the Funky Monkey Bars as a reward for their hard work and achievements brings an element to therapy that’s otherwise not easy to achieve without such equipment.
We really wanted to create an amazing, fun space for our clients, and we can now say we have. We even have a toddler swing to keep the younger siblings content.
We have a growing number of clients coming through this clinic each week and the quality of these bars is second to none. You can really tell the quality of the design, through to the materials used and the installation process will see this equipment last for a long time to come."
When asked about his experience with Funky Monkey Bars, Matt Huxtable said:
"Our experience with Funky Monkey Bars was amazing from start to finish. We really couldn’t have asked for more. From visiting the showroom to view and test out the frames and accessories, to customising our design to suit our needs, the fast turnaround to delivery, professional installation, and the amazing aftercare, we really couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Having explored other options before finding Funky Monkey Bars, we were often met with hesitation from suppliers to install equipment for our type of business. The confidence that Funky Monkey Bars have in their frames gave us reassurance that they were the right supplier for our clinic, but most importantly for the safety of our clients. It was also comforting for us that the Funky Monkey Bars team share our passion for their product being used in clinics like ours."
Click here to watch the Funky Monkey Bars frame in action!
If you're an OT, school or community looking to install a monkey bar gym or playground, get in touch today with our Commercial team. 🙌