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Natural and Fixed Play
Examples of our 'natural' and 'fixed' play
Project Overview
Traditional playgrounds have been compared in value to only eating a diet of fast food – that a “playground consisting only of basic equipment…caters for a narrow range of play experiences…. (and a) widely held belief has developed that this is what play areas are supposed to look like”. Design for Play, A guide to creating successful play spaces, Play England, 2008
Destination playgrounds – country and town parks for example where families travel specially to visit – offer permanent play equipment which provides a thrill or basic challenge, and is generally used by individual users rather than a group of friends. Children who know each other and play together, require more diverse opportunities for their preferred ‘role play’ and ‘made up’ spontaneous games. In our experience, landscapes which encourage ‘natural play’ have characteristics which include: diverse natural materials; natural muted colours; can be manipulated and adapted; have grass, trees and other plants which provide places to hide, seek, collaborate, contemplate and spend time in.
Buckminster Fuller, “If you want to do something nice for a child, give them an environment where they can touch things as much as they want.” (7) Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, 1968
Services
Result
“Children’s play typically, is pleasurable, self-motivated, imaginative, non-goal directed, spontaneous, active and free of adult-imposed rules. Quality play involves the whole child: gross motor, fine motor, sense, emotion, intellect, individual growth and social interaction.” Randy White and Vicki Stoeklin, Children’s Outdoor Play and Learning Environments: Returning to Nature, White Hutchinson 2010
Scandinavian play designer Helle Nebelong: “I am convinced that standardised playgrounds are dangerous, just in another way: when the distance between the rungs in a climbing net or ladder is exactly the same, the child has no need to concentrate on where he puts his feet. Standardisation is dangerous because play becomes simplified and the child does not have to worry about his movements.”
