Why you should never let your kids play in a ball pit

By Maddison Leach|

Children's ball pits may look fun and colourful, but hiding between those colourful balls are hundreds of thousands of bacteria that could be putting your child at risk.

A study of six different ball pits used at children's physical therapy facilities revealed that germs linked to pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis are lurking in these popular kid's play areas.

Why you should never let your kids play in a ball pit
Ball pits are actually full of germs and bacteria. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Researchers from the University of North Georgia discovered that Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus hominis, Streptococcus oralis and Acinetobacter lwofii were present in several of the pits.

These are all bacteria that can cause serious infections, especially in children with weaker immune systems.

The bacteria are associated with cases of septicaemia, urinary tract infections, meningitis, strep throat, pneumonia and skin infections. It's not the kind of stuff you want your kids coming into contact with.

Why you should never let your kids play in a ball pit
The bacteria lurking in ball pits can leave kids seriously ill. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The dirtiest ball pit analysed was found to have an average of 170,818 bacteria per ball - around 100 times more bacteria than are found on a mobile phone, and almost 100,000 more than what's found on a toilet seat.

Researchers also found that cleaning routines varied wildly between the different ball pits, with some cleaned every few days while others were left for weeks without proper cleaning.

While this doesn't mean that all ball pits are teeming with germs, there is definitely a risk when you let your kids dive into those brightly coloured pits, especially when they're not properly cleaned.

Why you should never let your kids play in a ball pit
Some ball pits were found to be cleaner than others. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

"We found considerable variation in the number of microorganisms between the different ball pit samples," said lead author Mary Ellen Oesterle in a statement.


For now, it might be wise to think twice before letting your little ones back in the pit, or at least ask when it was last cleaned before you do.

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