 Photo © Frode Svane. I like the Parkour range Lappsett Play are launching 2011, but this is the sort of cost effective thinking that Greenstone Design UK landscape led play designers will bring to a project. The local authority wants climbing opportunities for 12 years +, the bank needs retaining, or the area needs to be separated from the ballgames space behind and voila a parkour wall! And because it’s not installed as a piece of play equipment it needs no safety surfacing, no EN product testing, but provides real challenge, promotes gentle risk taking, and even provides habitat for reptiles and invertebrates between the cracks. This is an example of sensory play for teens and young adults .
Early Years - teens, children need more than just play equipment. They need beauty and landscaping to encourage healthy development, enhance play and learning to become all they can be. (and yes, teenagers do want and need to play!)
Giving children from 3 -19 years the opportunity to grow and harvest flowers, fruit and vegetables brings the curriculum to life. Remodelling school grounds, renovating playgrounds, revitalising health care centre gardens provides opportunities to design and develop sustainable playgrounds and through them reconnect with nature.
Public space playgrounds are community assets and so must reflect the needs of the whole community, keeping generations healthy, happy and fit for life! Playbuilder funding provides opportunities for communities to design their open space to benefit present and future generations .
Designer's comment:
" Before, the grounds were an open space that felt and looked small. Nothing grew there. The children played ball games and climbed on the plastic play equipment. The stark, open area inspired children to run around madly. There was little creative play for the Nursery aged children.
After the £40,000 upgrade a bike track using recycled rubber mats, utlises the existing ramp and encourages active play in a corner of the play garden, away from other quiet play and creative play zones. Although the space has been divided into zones, fences have been removed and it now looks and feels bigger. There are places to explore, space to run, places to hide with jungle planting, peepholes and planted barriers. Planters up canopy posts will supply edible scents and colours with seasonal change.
The green roof on the play/storage shed, painted, renovated and rebuilt as storage and play space, rainwater harvesting allowing children to water their garden, extensive bio-diverse playable planting and wildlife-attracting planted roof on the sand pit brings further fun and life to the play garden. In time, when budget permits, the plastic play equipment will be replaced with timber.
The variety of textures in the garden promotes gross motor skill development as children clamber over boulders, walk on the cobbles. Fine motor skills are developed through bespoke inclusive sensory stations where children can explore sound, texture, weight, light, warmth. This simple Eco School for Early Years design could be adapted and replicated anywhere."
Designer's Comment:
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Mounds are great and kids love them. If you get the slope right they are good for roly poly. In a recent job we put a drag rope up one end of the mound to allow kids with upper body strength but weak legs the chance to climb up too –we also incorporated a sunken sand pit and crawl tunnel within the mound, and a crow’s nest on top.
Mounds don't need to be more than 1m high to give views out over the surrounding area. Ensure slopes are varied and reasonable for the age range. Wide, low steps allow early walkers access, and provide amphitheatre-style seating for parents and carers. Uneven surfaces promote necessary proprioreceptor development in under 7's. Tunnels through mounds promote another form of movement - crawling on hands and knees.
You will no doubt find wear marks in the grass. Some adults find this a problem. To me it just means the kids love it and are using it! It’s a bit like a well loved teddy bear with no fur on its ears – a sure sign it was the right bear for the child!! Artifical grass does work well on mounds, providing you use a product that does not require sand or rubber chip filling.
If you curve the mound you can create a special area within the curve and a completely different feeling space behind the mound. Planted mounds are fun too – they don’t have to be stark, shadeless areas so consider planting an apple tree at one end."
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