Summer means many things. Vacations. Cookouts. Outdoor sports.

And child injuries. With schools closed and sunny days beckoning, kids across the nation run and play with abandon in parks and on streets and sports fields. They jump, swing, leap, swim and bike.

And, with a much higher frequency than during any other season, they fall, drown, get hit by cars, burned by fireworks and suffer a wide assortment of other injuries.

Ohio kids are certainly representative of their peers in other parts of the country. So much so that a team of Ohio doctors, including Dr. Kathy Nuss, associate medical director of Trauma Services at the Columbus Nationwide Children's Hospital, has compiled a list of the most common summertime dangers confronting children. The hope is that the list will instill awareness in parents and care providers and help to reduce child accidents and injuries.

It is perhaps no surprise that falls are at the top of the list. Kids tumble, and often, from trampolines, beds, playground and other equipment. Thankfully, falls seldom result in deaths for kids.

Drowning does. Approximately 35 Ohio children between the ages of 1 and 19 die from drowning every year, with nearly 80 percent of those deaths occurring during summer months.

Bicycle injuries are also an obvious source of accidents for children. Close to 400,000 kids end up in emergency rooms each year for bicycle-related injuries. Experts preach education about motor vehicles, intersections, hand signals and walking bikes when appropriate. Above all else, they recommend helmet use.

Burns are a top-five source of child injuries, as are accidents caused by motor vehicles. The advice here consistently stresses close adult supervision.

The bottom line is that summer really brings out the kid in kids. Hazards are out there, and education and adult awareness of outdoor surroundings goes far toward ensuring safety and lowered accident statistics.

Related Resource: KansasCity.com "Avoid the hospital: Top five summer injuries" July 19,