A ball pit is a pit, usually rectangular and padded, filled with small (generally no larger than a baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

) colorful hollow plastic balls. It is typically employed as a recreation and exercise for small children.
Ball pits are often found at nurseries, carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

s, amusement park

Amusement park

thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...

s, fun centers, fast-food restaurants, and large video arcade

Video arcade

An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...

s. Chuck E. Cheese's

Chuck E. Cheese's

Chuck E. Cheese's is a chain of family entertainment centers. Chuck E...

 and (now defunct) Discovery Zone

Discovery Zone

Discovery Zone was a chain of entertainment facilities featuring games and elaborate indoor mazes designed for young children, including slides, climbing play structures and ball pits. The chain was founded by Ronald Matsch, Jim Jorgensen, Mike Geselbracht and Dr. David Schoenstadt in 1989. The...

 formerly had ball pits and they were frequently incorporated into larger play structures, such as maze

Maze

A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...

s, slide

Playground slide

Playground slides are found in parks, schools, playgrounds and backyards. The slide may be flat, or half cylindrical or tubular to prevent falls. Slides are usually constructed of plastic or metal and they have a smooth surface that is either straight or wavy...

s, and jungle gym

Jungle gym

The jungle gym, monkey bars, or climbing frame, is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of material, such as metal pipe or rope, on which children can climb, hang, or sit. The monkey bar designation refers to the rambunctious, climbing play of monkeys.-History:The first jungle 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

Party

A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....

, 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

Adult

An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....

s.

History

The first known ball pit was installed in 1972 at the Children's Village play area at Ontario Place

Ontario Place

Ontario Place is a multiple use entertainment and seasonal waterfront park attraction located in Toronto, Ontario, and owned by the Crown in Right of Ontario. It is administered as an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Located on the shore of Lake Ontario, just south of...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada. It was designed by playground specialist Eric McMillan

Eric McMillan

Eric McMillan, 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 through play. The concepts were composed of a great variety of materials. He has been...

, who is often considered the "father of soft play". McMillan took the idea with him to the United States, operating as Eric McMillan Inc., at SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, and marine mammal park, located in San Diego, California, United States. The park is owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group....

 amusement park's playground area "Captain Kids World".

Urban legends

Beginning in the late 1990s, a number of urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

s arose about children being severely injured or even killed due to ball-pit encounters with things such as venomous snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

s or hypodermic needle

Hypodermic needle

A hypodermic needle is a hollow needle commonly used with a syringe to inject substances into the body or extract fluids from it...

s. However, no such report has been verified.