Playgrounds
Limitless Fun, The Impact of Rick Henke’s Approach to Playground Creation
Playgrounds Were Nothing New, Until Goric’s Founder Helped Change the Game It all comes down to perspective. Children explore a world much different than the ones inhabited by adults. Everything is bigger and harder to reach. As a child, it can often seem that adults spend their time telling you what not to…
Fun Came First: A Brief History of Playground Equipment in America
From Vacant Lots to Modern Marvels, Playgrounds Have Come a Long Ways It is relatively easy to conjure memories of days spent following the lead of our own imagination as we played on the neighborhood playground equipment. We soared into the air, climbed our way to triumph, raced down…
Playground Equipment Beats Obesity
A Focus on Solutions During National Childhood Obesity Month According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one out of every three children are overweight or obese in America today. A full third of our country’s children are at significant risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes,…
The Playground Equipment Designs of Peter Heuken
The German Playground Designer Peter Heuken traces the beginnings of his world-renowned work to the age of five. That’s when he received his first real tool kit. It is not usually recommended to give sharp blades and other adult tools to someone barely past the toddler stage of life. Luckily, Mr. Heuken was…
PLAYGROUNDS FOR ADULTS – THEY SHOULD PLAY TOO!
These Twelve Parks for Grown-Ups Offer the Benefits of Play and a Good Time We are all lucky to live in an age of expansive play. Adult playgrounds and similar facilities are available throughout the U.S. for most anyone’s enjoyment and benefit. Each one serves as evidence that playgrounds,…
Adult Playgrounds: Exercise at Its Funnest
Photo via Yann Caradec We play enthusiasts spend a lot of time discussing the importance of play in the role of early childhood development. It’s a fun and easy way for a child to learn problem solving, cognitive development, as well as strength and dexterity training. It was during one of these conversations that…
Scale, Imagination, and Innovation in Modern Playgrounds
When recalling our early playground memories, we remember how awe-inspiring the equipment was to our child’ eye. Often we look back at “the slide that was higher than a two story building” or “the bottomless sandbox” and think of how we begged our parents to bring us back. Although this…
The First Wallholla in the USA, designed by Carve, manufactured & distributed by Goric in the USA & Canada
The Southwest Corridor playground is a joint project between the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), a state agency, and The Boston Children’s Hospital, who raised the funds for the project. When the project started there was a well-used basketball court, a small greenery beside it and a double…
Honoring Play Enthusiasts: The Fantastic Art Play of Isamu Noguchi
Recently I stumbled upon an article in the LA Landscape blog reviewing the Playa Vista Central Park. I noticed that they commented on the playground area designed by the Office of James Burnett as: “Contemporary play area recalls a Noguchi playground”. I admit that I wasn’t familiar with Noguchi so…
Designing Your Playground to Encourage Movement by JC Boushh
The modern playground provides children with numerous opportunities and developmental benefits. These benefits include social, emotional, physical, and cognitive opportunities that are related to providing children with play components to climb, slide, and various opportunities for varied forms of movement. As safety concerns grow, fear of litigation, and safety zones…
Why do Playgrounds Get Boring?
There was a park and a small playground behind the house that I grew up in. It was a typical playground of the 60’s and 70’s: Swings, see saws, and a free-standing slide. I loved this playground; I spent endless hours swinging on the swings when the swings weren’t twisted…
Not Up to Playground Standards? My Confession as a Playground Aunt
According to ASTM 1487 & the CPSC, we have two age groups for playground standards: 2-5 and 5-12. In addition, they have recently introduced another standard for playground manufacturers for 6-23 month-olds. In short, the playground standards are based on anthropometric data (comparative sizes/measurements of children at age 2, 5 &12),…
