I feel silly for asking but...

[dpitt8]

what is a "tot lot"? I think we call them something different over here so a description would be appreciated.

 

[Spookydad]

A tot lot is a kid's playground. It is usually covered in bark chips/sand/or pea gravel for "safety". The tot lots are usually for the smaller kids. They often have a jungle gym type structure as well.

SpookyDad

 

[laserfocusguy]

Around here, they are mostly made of a base of wood chips, with the equipment mounted to the ground in the middle. That stuff has certainly changed since I was a kid. It all now seems to be plastic molded pieces assembled together to make slides, stairs, climbing things, etc. There is also metal to mount/fasten it all together.

I have MD's these spots, and in my limited experience I find it pretty tough finding things in the wood chips....

Dave

 

[hobbes_lives]

I have MD's these spots, and in my limited experience I find it pretty tough finding things in the wood chips....

Targets are tough to spot in the wood chips. They tend to become discolored after they've been in there for a little while, which makes them even harder to see. That's where a pinpointer comes into play. To me, it's invaluable in the wood chips.

 

[steve in so la]

The city here, at least, has been doing away with anything that moves in the tot lots. Law suits I guess. Swings are gone or going, see saws are a thing of the past, etc. Both schools and parks are doing this. steve in so az

 

[Cherry Picker]

I've never had much luck in tot lots myself. A few rings at most. Of course I only dig clad to see if there is something good nearby.

 

[bloodyknees]

I also find very little at our small town tot lots. I usually go there when the ground to too hard to dig in better places and I need satify my addiction to detect. I think of tot lots as my test garden. Easy diggin and I can practice tone ID's on the junk I find there. I have occasionally scattered a few coins and practiced on them.
Al

 

[wescowood]

You can look up other slang terms under metal detecting lingo glossery in the gereral hobby discussion on this site.

HH, Wes.

 

[simonthesearcher]

Here in the UK they are using that rubber stuff now,,looks like tar mack but made of rubber.Its all gone crazy this safety thing.We survived the swings,roundabouts and all the other things.i personaly think we are bringing our kids up to be a bunch of softies

 

[t=md2]

In responce to Steve in AZ comment about the swings being removed.
Is this happenning all over. I remember such peace as a kid swinging away
all the problems a kid may have .What are we becoming when we take these thing from the kids and then wonder why they set in their room playing vid games. Kids used to get hit with a swing or fall off,it was a learning experience not a law suit.
Sorry but this bugs me.
steve

 

[WThesing]

I wonder if they will stop making bicycles because they can be fallen off of. Maybe cars will follow. We have lots of tot lots here. They are starting to use a heavy blue foam sheet material instead of chips at the newest ones. We seem to have so many of them that the traffic to any one is very light. I check them once a year.

 

[z118]

There are still tot lots with "dangerous" moving play equipment around here... swings, see saws, the spinning merry go rounds, etc... Not sure if they are being removed as time goes on.

They did pull down a few playgrounds because they were made out of pressure treated lumber... which to me is utterly asinine. For a while there everyone was in a frenzy thinking that if their kid walked to close to treated lumber they would get cancer... meanwhile these same parents are smoking around their kids and feeding them big macs and coke every other day.

What are you going to do?