- Ball pit
A ball pit (also known as a ball pool or ball pond) is a
pit , usually rectangular and padded, filled with small (generally no larger than abaseball )color ful hollowplastic ball s. It is typically employed as arecreation andexercise for smallchild ren. Some ball pits are fairly shallow, suitable only for "wading," while others are much deeper, and may be used for "swimming."Ball pits are often found at nurseries,
carnival s,amusement park s, fun centers,fast-food restaurants , and largevideo arcade s.Chuck E. Cheese's and (now defunct)Discovery Zone formerly had ball pits and they were frequently incorporated into largerplay structure s, such asmaze s,slide s, andjungle gym s. In the early 2000s, Chuck E. Cheese's removed their ball pits due to safety concerns and because the pits were a drain on resources, since children would frequently steal individual balls until the pits were far below capacity and unusable.Ball pits may be rented for parties, and smaller versions are sold for use in the home. While ball pits are traditionally regarded as a children's plaything, some are large enough to accommodate
adult s. It is now very common to see ball pits being removed because they have been seen as unsanitary. [http://www.sesameworkshop.org/parents/solutions/information/article.php?contentId=56640 Sesame Workshop - Playing It Safe at Indoor Playgrounds ] ] It is difficult to properly wash the balls and dangerous objects sometimes collect at the bottom of the pit.Beginning in the late 1990s, a number of
urban legend s arose about children being severely injured or even killed due to ball-pit encounters with things such as poisonoussnake s [ [http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blsnakes.htm Urban Legends and Folklore: Snakes in the Ball Pit] ] orhypodermic needle s. [ [http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blneedle.htm Urban Legends and Folklore: The Needle in the Ball Pit] ] However, no such report has been verified, and the specific instances described in various chain emails have been debunked.China Miéville 's short story The Ball Room is a horror story centered around a ball-pit at anIkea -like furniture store.References
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