sand play
The Children’s School of Oak Park: Nature-Play on a Paved Courtyard and a Tiny Budget
The Children’s School of Oak Park, a progressive K-8 school outside Chicago, turned their parking lot into a nature play space on a nonprofit budget—a little over $1,000 all told. How did they do it? A grant from the Deep Roots Project was part of it. The volunteer-led Chicago community…
Restoration of a New Deal-Era Gem in Central Park: A Case Study of Toll Family Playground
In the era of the New Deal, federally sponsored public works projects led to the creation of parkways, beaches, zoos, golf courses, and hundreds of playgrounds in New York City. At the center of this work was Robert Moses, chairmen of the New York Park Association’s Metropolitan Conference on Parks,…
Playgrounds of Culture and Place
Several weeks ago, we caught up with Angelica Rockquemore for a designer profile. Our conversation was illuminating and brought to light an emerging area of interest in the field: how parks and playspaces can serve to deepen cultural and environmental understanding and lay the foundation for the development of broader…
Benefits of Outdoor Activities for Children with ADHD
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know we’ve touched on ADHD before. It’s important, of course, as a matter of public health and wellness. But it’s also a design concern of growing interest. More and more landscape architects, playground designers, and manufacturers are recognizing their role in…
Seven Best Waterfront Playgrounds
For many of us, the allure of a waterfront begins in childhood. We remember gazing out at the waves and brightly colored boats, the piers and jetties that stretch into the water. We carry with us a sense of the infinite, made visible in the vast, unfathomable distances of the…
The 7 Best Playgrounds of 2016
The days of monkey bars suspended over pea gravel are far behind us. But the evolution of playgrounds is happening so fast, and in such varied ways, the change can seem dizzying. Certainly one of the biggest trends of 2016 is the growing popularity of fitness-focused playgrounds designed for older…
Designer Spotlight – H Nyunny Kim of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
“Who needs to escape the city when you can walk down the street or take the F train to Jay Street or the No. 22 to Clark Street or the B63 bus that goes right to Pier 6 at Atlantic Avenue — and see nature in the city.” That’s Anne…
Why Sand and Water Play Are Good for Children
Long before the iPad and Pokémon GO, there was sand and water. The two are foundational to the earth and offer near limitless possibilities for young children’s imaginations. During the summer months, I take my two-year-old son to Chicago’s Montrose Beach on the shore of Lake Michigan. After laying out a…
Beach Series (part 2): Experience and Discover Life Through Nature Playgrounds
This is time where the caregiver can share their knowledge and experience of the natural world with their little ones in a relevant way.
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Beach Series: Need Things to Do With Kids? Try Playing!
It never ceases to amaze me how intensely the adults are playing along side their children: filling up buckets of water to pour into the pits that have been tirelessly dug out, carefully arranging turned over pails of sand to create the walls of a castle, patting sand and making proper use of the dry sand verses wet sand. I can’t help but smile because the adults are really having just as much fun as the children.
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Learning by Playing: Cause & Effect Has Never Been So Fun!
I have seen children play on many different playgrounds. They are always attracted to anything that moves: swings, merry-go-rounds, spinners, see saws and spring riders. There is something about the action and reaction created that is fascinating and exciting for the child. Not only is the movement stimulating, but they get a kick from making…
