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A ball pit (originally called a ball crawl, also known as a ball pool or ball pond) is a padded box or pool filled with small colorful hollow plastic balls generally no larger than in diameter. They are typically marketed as recreation and exercise for 
They are often found at nurseries,
A ball pit (originally called a ball crawl, also known as a ball pool or ball pond) is a padded box or pool filled with small colorful hollow plastic balls generally no larger than in diameter. They are typically marketed as recreation and exercise for children
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
.
They are often found at nurseries, carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
s, amusement park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
s, fun center
A family entertainment center, often abbreviated FEC in the entertainment industry also known as an indoor amusement park, family amusement center, family fun center, or simply fun center, is a small amusement park marketed towards families with s ...
s, fast-food restaurants
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typicall ...
, and large video arcade
An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as c ...
s, frequently incorporated into larger play structures such as maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...
s, slide
Slide or Slides may refer to:
Places
* Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998
* ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018
*''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...
s and jungle gym
A jungle gym (called a climbing frame in British English) is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of material, such as metal pipes or ropes, on which participants can climb, hang, sit, and—in some configurations—slide. Monkey ...
s. They may be rented for parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...
, and smaller versions are sold for home use.
History
Eric McMillan
Eric McMillan, (born in Sheffield, England, in 1942) is a Canadian designer who began his career designing exhibitions. By an extraordinary opportunity in 1972, he started designing play areas and elements that encouraged children to learn throu ...
created the first ball pit in 1976 at SeaWorld Captain Kids World in San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, as a result of his experience at Ontario Place
Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...
.
Urban legends
Beginning in the late 1990s, a number ofurban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
s arose about children being severely injured or killed in ball pit encounters with viper
The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...
s or hypodermic needle
A hypodermic needle (from Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)), one of a category of medical tools which enter the skin, called sharps, is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. It is commonly used w ...
s. There is no truth to these stories.
In popular culture
InChina Miéville
China Tom Miéville ( ; born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and literary critic. He often describes his work as ''weird fiction'' and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called '' New Weird''.
Mi ...
's short story "The Ball Room" (''Looking for Jake
''Looking for Jake'' is a collection of science fiction, horror and fantasy stories by British author China Miéville. It was first published by Del Rey Books and Macmillan in 2005.
Stories
The book contains eleven short stories, a novella (" ...
''), the ghost of a child who died in a ball pit haunts a local IKEA-like store.
In the ''Johnny Bravo
''Johnny Bravo'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, which aired from ...
'' episode "Johnny Meets Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host, and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gol ...
", Donny pushes Johnny into a fast-food ball pit, where he comes across a young boy who claims to have been there since the age of five.
In the ''Rugrats
''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently— Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, ...
'' episode "Piggy's Pizza Palace", the Rugrats jump on a costumed pig named Piggy as an act of revenge to get Angelica's tickets back. It causes the ball pit structure to split open and the balls fall out all over the restaurant.
In season 3 episode 14 ("The Einstein Approximation") of the TV series ''The Big Bang Theory
''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...
'', Sheldon seeks inspiration in a ball pit at a mall
Mall commonly refers to a:
* Shopping mall
* Strip mall
* Pedestrian street
* Esplanade
Mall or MALL may also refer to:
Places Shopping complexes
* The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria
* The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India
* M ...
, then hides from Leonard, who spends a good amount of time and effort trying to retrieve Sheldon from the pit.
In 2014, a YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
vlogger under the name Roman Atwood
Roman Bernard Atwood (born May 28, 1983) is an American YouTube personality and prankster. He is best known for his vlogs, where he posts updates about his life. His vlogging channel, "RomanAtwoodVlogs", has a total of 5 billion views and 15 ...
made a video of transforming the living room of his home into a massive ball pit, intended as a prank for his girlfriend who had returned from a trip. He later collaborates with another vlogger, Freddie Wong
Freddie Wong (born September 13, 1985) is an American Internet celebrity, filmmaker, VFX artist, podcaster, and competitive gamer. Wong has participated in at least three YouTube channels; with ''RocketJump'', his production company's main chan ...
, to create a comedy video involving giant ball pit and "ball monster" prank.
In 2016, a pop-up "ball pit bar" opened in San Francisco.
See also
*Inflatable castle
Inflatable castles (also called closed inflatable trampolines (CITs), bouncing castles, bouncy houses, bounce houses, jumping castles, jumpers, bouncy castles, moon bounces, or moonwalks) are temporary inflatable structures and buildings and simi ...
* DashCon, for the "extra hour with the ball pit" meme
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball Pit Play (activity) Entertainment Balls Sensory toys