In This Photo: Children Frolic Happily on a Larger-Than Life-Size Replica of the Human Digestive Tract!

Few things can fray the nerves of parents of small children more than outdoor jungle gyms and playgrounds, where every element can spell disaster (just who came up with monkey bars, anyway?). But our own tottering seesaws and tainted sandboxes suddenly weren’t looking so bad after we saw Nightmare Playgrounds, featured on the excellent blog Dark Roasted Blend.

Started in 2006 by Avi and Rachel Abrams, the blog seeks to uncover “all things weird and wonderful” on the Web, and it has succeeded with the photo compendium Nightmare Playgrounds. The images show scores of crudely crafted jungle gyms, playground sets and disturbingly “playful” folk-art sculptures found mainly in Russia, China and Eastern Europe: A sculpture of a family features the mother doing something untoward to the father:

Elsewhere, kids are shown playing in a sand pit – deep inside a giant monster’s genitals. Our favorite photo is of an enormous elephant slide – kids enter at the mouth and exit through the pachyderm’s rectum!

And now, please visit Nightmare Playgrounds and other delights on the beguiling Dark Roasted Blend blog! (Note: You may have to scroll down to the bottom of the page)