Play Leads to Peace, Swings, Ropes and the Power of Play

Safe landings.

Guaranteed.

Playgrounds should be a place where only happy memories are made.

So trust duraSAFE rubber playground tiles by sofSURFACES to ensure the children who use your space are protected, from the ground up. For more than two decades, we have been pioneers in developing, testing and installing the world’s safest playground tiles. Our proprietary fifth generation duraSAFE design exceeds all industry safety standards. And we offer an industry-leading Limited Lifetime Warranty to ensure safe landings, anytime.

sofSURFACES.com

1.800.263.2363 2 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

©2016 sofSURFACES Inc. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Contents

Play and Playground Magazine | Volume 16 No. 4 | Winter 2016

8

Features 8

12

14

14

18

23

26

30

Play Leads to Peace

By Jay Beckwith

DeKoven on Swings

By Bernard DeKoven

The Nature of Play

By Bobbi J. Geise

Rope Play Takes Inclusive Play to a New Level

By Lukas Steinke

Reconnecting on the Playground

By Michael Laris

Playful People and Where to Find Them

By Suzanna Law

The Power of Play, Adversity and Scaling Barriers

By Victoria Schmitt Babb

32

18

I Don't Want to See My Child Fail!

By Jay Beckwith

DEPARTMENTS 5 6 7 34

PGPedia.com Publisher's Notes Happening Today In Play PGP Directory

Cover Photo: Students test balance and elements at Irving Elementary School's Natural Playspace, a Learning By Nature project and design 2012.

Photo credit: Rab Photography

4 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

From the Play & Playground Encyclopedia Research over 630 listings of play and playground related companies, organizations, events, books, magazines, safety, people and blogs. gs.

Outdoor Play Playing outdoors is one of the things that characterize childhood, giving children the opportunity to explore, discover, practice, wonder, change, create, and learn about the world around them.

Children’s basic needs for freedom, adventure, risk-taking, experimentation, and just being children are enhanced by outdoor environments.1 Children can express themselves with more active movement, louder voices, messier activities, and more rough and tumble play in outdoor settings.2 There are two common misconceptions about outdoor play: 1) that outdoor play is just a time for children to expend excess energy, and 2) that playgrounds are just places for children to develop gross motor skills. There is overwhelming evidence that suggests that the benefits of outdoor play are extensive. Playgrounds are among the most important environments for children outside their own homes.

Newly-designed playgrounds have specific objectives for children’s development. This new playground equipment provides opportunities for children to make decisions, try ideas, and stretch their physical abilities.3 Outdoor free play is the spontaneous play that comes naturally from children’s natural curiosity, love of discovery, and enthusiasm.4 Children learn best when all of their senses are involved and they are engaged in self-initiated, hands-on exploration of the world around them.

Interacting with the natural world gives them an appreciation for the natural order of things in the environment and a respect for nature.5 When children play outdoors, they stay far more active than when indoors.

This allows them to exercise their large muscle groups while engaging in activities, such as running, climbing, swinging, jumping, and riding bicycles.

Cardiovascular endurance, large motor skills, and fine motor skills are developed with active outdoor play. Children are more fit, have better bone health, www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Image courtesy of Tatyana+Vyc/Shutterstock.com

www.pgpedia.com/o/outdoor-play

better body composition, and can maintain a healthier weight if they participate in vigorous activity.6 General health is enhanced with the exposure to fresh air and the outdoors, which are believed to reduce respiratory infections, inhibit the spread of germs, and promote healthy immune systems.7 The development of social skills is promoted by outdoor activities. Children learn to be cooperative while waiting their turn to go down the slide, working with others to build a sand castle, or playing an organized game.

Developing interpersonal relationships and learning conflict resolution skills are valuable lessons acquired.8 Children play differently outdoors than they do indoors with children engaging in more solitary activity indoors.9 The outdoor environment offers greater availability of low-structured, non-realistic, natural materials, and spaciousness that encourages pretend play. Boys engage in more dramatic play and girls are more assertive when playing outdoors.10 In a study done in 2004, 71% of mothers reported that they played outdoors more than indoors when they were young, while only 26% said their own kids do that today.11 There are many factors that have diminished the amount of outdoor play children have today. Excessive TV, computer use, and video games keep children indoors.

Unsafe neighborhoods and busy, over-

worked parents diminish opportunities for outdoor play. Academic standards raised by the No Child Left Behind Act and the reduction of recess and physical education take time away from outdoor activity.12 Footnotes

1. “Outdoor Play.” Community Playthings. < http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/outdoorplay/outdoorplay.html > 01 Sept. 2010.

2. Frost, Joe L., Sue Wortham, and Stuart Reifel.

Play and Child Development. Upper Saddle Valley, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. p. 430.

3. Frost, Joe L., Pei-San Brown, John A. Sutterby, Candra D. Thornton, The Developmental Benefits of Playgrounds Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International, 2004. p. 21.

4. “Free Play” Hasbro.com. < http://www.hasbro. com/playdoh/en_US/freePlay.cfm > 16 Aug 2010.

5. Rossi, Dee. “Importance of Outdoor Play for Children.” eHow. < http://www.ehow.com/ about_6653745_importance-outdoor-playchildren.html > 01 Sept. 2010.

6. Ibid.

7. Op. cit., Frost, Wortham, Reifel. p. 431.

8. Op. cit., Rossi.

9. “Professional Perspectives and Research on Children’s Outdoor Environments.” Natural Playgrounds Company. < http://naturalplaygrounds.com/research.php > 23 Aug. 2010.

10. Op. cit., Frost, Wortham, Reifel. pp. 430-431.

11. “Nature Play Factoids.” Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood. < http://www. greenheartsinc.org/uploads/Nature_Play_Factoids_for_website_final_3.pdf > 23 Aug. 2010.

12. Op. cit., “Outdoor Play.”

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 5

Magazine Publisher Tate Schuldies

Editor Aaron Hamilton

Advertising Director Aaron Hamilton

Design Jake Amen

Publisher's

Notes…

For the final issue of 2016, we have asked many professionals and organizations to write about the various aspects of play and the benefits of play in learning, socialization and how it relates to the playgrounds that are the end result of a play obsession. As we know, play encompasses our daily routine and is a vital role in the development of children, as well as a key factor in a balanced and healthy lifestyle for all ages.

15 Years of Playground Insights

T H I N K I N G T O DAY

A B O U T T O M O R R O W ’S P L AY ™

Magazine Accounting Ron Walker

Webmaster Jake Amen

Contributing Authors Victoria Schmitt Babb Jay Beckwith Bernard DeKoven Bobbi J. Geise Michael Laris Suzanna Law Lukas Steinke

An Education in Playgrounds The team at Play and Playground Magazine is eager to share with its readers a full compilation of issues and articles dating back to the very first issue in 2001. These articles will be available exclusively on playgroundprofessionals. com for the first time since they were published. We realized how rich in content and relevant most of the articles are today. This proved to be a challenging project, as only physical copies of the first 2 years of Today’s Playground existed and software incompatibilities kept many issues out of reach. We invite you to search through this wealth of playground information at playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine as it becomes available.

Spotlight Launch Copyright, 2016 published by Playground Professionals, LLC, 4 issues per year, sub rates, back copies, foreign, reproduction prohibitions, all rights reserved, not responsible for content of ads and submitted materials, mail permits.

CORPORATE OFFICE Playground Professionals LLC P.O. Box 595 Ashton, Idaho 83420

www.playgroundprofessionals.com

Playground Professionals' online directories have been a large draw, providing information on the best manufacturers of play equipment and the source to find contractors and CPSI certified technicians. We now have added an important feature to the Directory, called the Playground Professionals Spotlight, a fresh approach to a comprehensive directory that offers an easy search of companies by location and category.

As we put the finishing touches on this development, watch playgroundprofessionals.com/spotlight for launch information.

6 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

Image courtesy of Kai Schwoerer/Shutterstock.com

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Happening Today

CPSI Course Calendar

in play

January

Training Courses - Annual Events - Conferences - More Jan, Feb

29-3

NRPA’s Park and Recreation Maintenance Management School A comprehensive two-year professional development program designed to teach park and recreation professionals how to develop and manage a wide variety of maintenance programs.

More Information: https://goo.gl/HE2XbH

February

6-9

28-3

301-352-7203

February 22-24

Columbia, TN

615-790-0041

28-2

Sacramento. CA

916-665-2777

March

Our goal is to offer you the best educational and networking experience available at the most reasonable cost to you and your organization.

6-8

Overland Park, KS

785-235-6533

14-16

Phoenix, AZ

602-335-1962

14-16

Bismarck, ND

701-355-4458

28-30

St. Charles, MO

573-636-3828

28-30

Auburn, WA

888-456-0009

29-31

Newport News, VA

804-730-9447

Tradewinds Island Resort St Pete Beach, FL

Playwork Campference We will be gathering together in Val Verde CA, USA to celebrate playwork in the surroundings of the hatchling site, Eureka Villa Adventure Playground.

More Information: https://goo.gl/wAaLQ5

Feb-Mar

Landover, MD

Association Of Aquatic Professionals 6th Annual Conference and Exposition

More Information: https://goo.gl/Oq8tqb

February 16-19

Oglebay Resort and Conference Center Wheeling, West Virginia

4-6

Santa Clarita Valley Adventure Play/ Pop-Up Adventure Play Val Verde, CA

CPRS Conference and Expo Your next opportunity to learn, network and grow in Sacramento.

More Information: http://www.cprs.org/p/cm/ld/fid=153

Tradewinds Island Resort St Pete Beach, FL

PLAYGGROUNND MAIINTTENAANCCE TECCHNNICIAAN TRAAININGG The two-day Playground Maintenance Technician Training focuses on prac cal playground maintenance ac vi es, inspec on principles and best prac ces in making repairs. This program does not focus on play theory or memorizing standards.

Upcominng Playygrround Maaintenannce Techniccian Prrogramss • • •

January 24-25, 2017 - Ascension Insurance, Loca on: Port St Lucie, Florida February 28 - March 1, 2017 - Great Lakes Park Training Ins tute, Loca on: Angola, Indiana March 28-29, 2017 - Maryland Na onal-Capital Park and Planning Commission, Loca on: College Park, Maryland

Want to host a PMT program in your area?

Contact the Program Coordinator at the Eppley Ins tute pmt@eppley.org

Find out more at ww ww.pla ayg grou undm mainten nance.o o rg

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 7

Play y p peace leads to

by Jay Beckwith

The claim that play leads to peace may seem to be an outrageous assertion but I am confident that by the end of this essay you will not only agree but also come to believe that it may be the best means of creating a more peaceful planet.

FIRST, LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BE CLEAR, I will be talking about world peace, a reduction in war and the subjugation of people. We tend to think that ending wars comes from either victory on the field of battle or through negotiation by ambassadors.

Both victory and truce only terminate conflict, they do not prevent it.

Our contention is that true peace comes with the first breath of each newborn child as they are uncorrupted by hate, fear and tribal 8 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND ND M MAGA MAGAZINE AZINE NE WINTER WINTE N ER 2 2016 201

allegiance.

We will therefore start with the child and show how play in childhood creates the essential seed of a peaceful world.

The Peaceful Child It is obvious that children lack prejudice toward others and it is taught to them as they become increasing integrated into the life of their community. It would be great if we could avoid doing that but it is just not realistic to think that parents, neighbors, teachers and peers will avoid indoctrinating

children with their values. Since social integration is both inevitable and necessary, children must have the capacity to rise above the negative aspects of their acculturation.

Being able to rise above fear and hate requires an inner strength, and free, child-directed play is the best way to build this strength of character. There are five ways that play has this power.

At the most fundamental level, to become independent thinkers children must have secure parental bonds. Over the past several decades attachment theory has been well studied and verified. We know that children who are not confident that they are loved and valued become either withdrawn or fearful. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highly mobile

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine www. ww w.playgroundprofessionals.com/m dprofe profession onals.co om/m magazine m

world the traditional support for parents is often disrupted and the traditional knowledge of parenting can be lost. Ensuring that parents are supported with sufficient leave from work, well-designed and delivered parenting information, and opportunities to form supportive peer groups are the first steps in creating a more peaceful world.

Parental bonds are not only formed through feeding and holding but also through small separations and reunifications. Games like peek-a-boo are the intuitive ways that parents and children interact to strengthen their bonds so ultimately the child can become independent. Interacting in a spontaneous and free manner allows the child to be an equal partner in this process.

Children come into this world small, weak and fragile. In a few short years they must adapt to an ever-changing body and this adaptation can often be interrupted or disturbed in many ways.

Ensuring that children are confident in their bodies and in their physical interaction with the world greatly increases the chance that they will reach their maximum potential in all areas of www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

their development. To do this children must be allowed to address all manner of physical challenges, preferably those found in nature. They need to climb, to eat dirt, to dare and so doing become secure that they have the basis for action moment by moment. Taking on challenges is how children learn to take risks and to handle both success and failure.

In play, especially rough and tumble play, children learn how to interact with their peers. It is now understood that children learn more from their peers than from adults. Being able to negotiate, to listen, to accommodate, and to bond with peers forms the foundation of their social lives going forward. Adults all too often feel that they have to protect children from the challenges of peer play not realizing that this undermines an essential skill that cannot be learned without some pain. Free play without a referee is essential to build confident movers and shakers.

As children go through their needed challenges there will inevitably be much emotion: loss, shame, anger, love, and the whole gamut of emotions must be experienced. But more than just expe-

riencing their emotions, children must learn to express them, and by expressing them move beyond them. All too often parents just want the crying to stop and are reluctant to allow their children to fully experience their feelings and come to a resolution. Being allowed to play intensely and fully helps children become flexible emotionally.

Finally, children need to come to know the physical world. We often are much too eager to have the children learn their numbers, solve puzzles, and other cognitive interactions in the physical and mental world. The push for learning ignores that each boy or girl has their own way of learning and their own pace at which they integrate what they have experienced. By allowing free play, especially in the first six years, much of the core cognitive knowledge will be gained ensuring the best possible developmental outcome.

Free play is the best way to for children to be able to know that they are loved and trusted, to be able to move with confidence, to be comfortable and effective with their peers, to be able to have a rich emotional life, and to deeply

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 9

know the world around them. Such children will grow up with the confidence and the strength to be independent thinkers, to be able to not be swept up in the frenzy of the crowd, and to have the flexibility and generosity of spirit to accept people and ideas that are new and previously unknown. Such children, the children raised with free play, are the bulwark of peace in their communities and the world.

Peaceful Families Raising free play children is a real challenge. Whether it’s allowing your child to take risks on the playground or letting them to walk school on their own, much of the world has turned childhood into an uber safe cocoon.

There are enormous pressures to make kids “safe:” legal interventions, shaming by family or even strangers and being ostracized by your peers. This is why programs such as Gymboree Play and Music, Reggio Emilia, AnjiPlay and nature-based early childhood programs are so critical to support families as they allow their children to enjoy free play.

Such programs build a community of families who are able to have a somewhat different lifestyle than the mainstream culture.

Here is the critical difference. Free play families understand that the path to optimizing their child’s potential is to allow self-determination; it is the child who largely decides what is interesting to them and how they want to explore those interests. This commitment is in stark contrast to the paternalistic approach that adults decide what children need to know and how to best educate them.

Self-determination is diametrically opposite authoritarianism and this is why free play families are also peaceful families. They tend to value diversity, consensus, and respect for differences.

Conflict arises often when a community creates a “them and us” division, when those around us become the “other.” In free play there is no “other,” and while

there may be mutual testing, playmates are just that, playmates.

Peaceful Communities It is easy to spot a peaceful community; their roads have safe routes for walking and bikes, their parks have real challenges and natural areas, shopping areas are dominated by locally-owned businesses, and there are lots of community events, large and small.

There are a couple recent examples of how a playground in a peaceful community is different from traditional playgrounds.

The playhouse at Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, CA (Courtesy of Olenka Villarreal)

In Palo Alto, California a new playspace called Magical Bridge has created a new paradigm. Instead of just being “accessible,” Magical Bridge is “kind,” that is, it welcomes play by everyone regardless of age, size or ability. This open embrace of differences both architecturally and programmatically has resulted in a playspace that is packed with people playing all day every day. Rather than just sticking a ramp on a commonplace play structure and calling it good, Magical Bridge is truly a space where the whole environment is playable. So successful is this new approach that very shortly after opening several communities in the surrounding area have asked for similar projects.

Coming from a very different place, Pogo Park, in Richmond, California has addressed the highly stressed and economically depressed conditions typical of many inner-urban communities in America by using community

10 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

organizing with a focus on play as the mechanism for transforming blight into a peaceful community.

One of the most effective tools employed by the Pogo Park team is “keeping the money local.” They accomplish this by, to the greatest extent possible, employing members of the community in creating and operating the playspaces they create. Over time this approach has resulted in many neighbors gaining much-needed professional skills and expanding the capacity of the Pogo team to take on increasingly more challenging projects. A Pogo playspace is truly of the people, by the people and for the people.

There are two qualities common to Pogo and Magical Bridge. Knowledgeable community members who know how to manage their respective spaces staff both programs. The primary goal for this staffing is creating a “safe” environment. Here, safe is not the imposition of rules, vandal proof construction, or policing. Rather the environment is safe because the staff, whether volunteer or paid, makes a concerted effort to build relationships. At Magical Bridge the team is called “kindness ambassadors” and are tasked with occasionally facilitating interactions between players of differing abilities. At a Pogo Park the team makes sure that visitors are welcome and that all the children are protected as needed.

Give Peaceful a Chance Humans have two sides, the strict father and the nurturing mother.

Individuals and cultures tend to swing between these extremes and throughout history most conflicts can be seen as the clash between them.

Today modern psychology has come to understand this dichotomy in a very deep way and tells us that the majority of our thoughts and actions spring not from our conscious ideation but from our unconscious. Similarly advances in cognitive science tells us that there truly are differences in the brains of people that cause them to be more inclined www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

toward the strict father or nurturing mother personas. These insights help explain such disparate phenomena as why facts are not relevant to the strict father and that reasoning is actually counter-productive or why dog training with hardened inmates is more effective at normalizing their behavior than harsher punishment.

Mediation, play and music are examples of effective ways of creating a more balanced life in both individuals and societies. Allowing free play for all children, supporting families as they allow their children to engage in self-directed discovery, and by supporting communities that foster diversity and inclusion will create a more peaceful world.

It is in these small steps, started with the first breath of life, that create a fertile ground for self-directed play, that foster true democracy and ultimately world peace.

Make a with Bison Pumps

• A fun, natural, water play feature.

• Handcrafted in Maine of 304 Stainless Steel.

• Playground pump kit connects to pressurized municipal nniicipal nic water supplies.

• Easy to install and fully customizable.

Bison Hand Water Pumps connect to any water supply!

800-339-2601 • www.bisonpumps.com

Bison Bi ison Playground Pump Kit

Resources:

Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate – September 23, 2014

by George Lakoff Differences in negativity bias underlie variations in political ideology. John R. Hibbing (a1), Kevin B. Smith (a2) and John R. Alford (a3)

JAY BECKWITH • Began designing play environments in 1970.

• Has written several books on designing and building play equipment.

• Is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector.

• Has written publications and developed programs for playground safety.

• Has consulted with playground manufacturers in their design process.

• Writes a blog at playgroundguru.org.

• Completed a comprehensive upgrade of the Gymboree Play and Music apparatus.

• Currently developing location based mobile games with the goal of using smartphones in outdoor play.

Read more from Jay Beckwith at

playgroundprofessionals.com www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

T H I N K I N G T O DAY

A B O U T T O M O R R O W ’S P L AY ™

Magazine

Get Social With PGP

Get the latest updates about today's play and playground news and views.

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 11

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU: 1) found a set of swings that invited two people to play cooperatively?

Not any fancy, computerenhanced anything.

Just a set of swings.

2) found a set of swings that was fun enough to invite almost anyone of any age to play together? Invite, not force. Gave them the alternative. The opportunity? 3) found a set of swings, or almost any playground apparatus you can think of, not on a playground or in someone’s backyard, but on a median strip between two streets in the city? Come to think of it, where have you seen a median strip that was covered in brick, flanked by picnic benches?

Frankly, it was almost too much for me to take in. There we were, in Holland, being given a tour by a friend I’d only met online: Gerard Mulder, who by the end of the tour became a best friend.

We were on our way to a museum he thought we’d enjoy, and just happened to find these swings, and, because we are both people of a playful persuasion, found ourselves swinging, together.

The swings are connected to the same frame, and to each other via another cable, making what you might call a “double swing.” I’ll show you those in a

DeKoven on Swings

by Bernard De Koven

12 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

few paragraphs.

We didn’t really have to sit facing each other, but something about the design invited just that. And so we did.

And, facing each other, we got to see the expressions on each other’s faces. And a lot of the time, because it was all so new and so much fun, we saw each other laughing, which made us each laugh harder. Though, come to think of it, I’m sure if we had been there long enough, we would have tried every possible way of sitting on them – because they were just fun enough, just strange enough to invite that kind of exploration: the kind of exploration that makes something shared, something new, something unforgettable. The kind of shared exploration that makes friends.

While we were doing all this swinging, we were laughing. And when we weren’t laughing too hard, we were talking about how the Double Swing worked, wondering together about how we could get the swings to swing us higher together; wondering what would happen if we tried to change the rhythm, timing, balance between swinging towards and away. In other words, we were fully, delightfully engaged, not only in the exploration of the swings, but in the discovery of each other’s playfulness. Engaged in body, mind, and in the growing relationship between us.

If I were trying to describe the characteristics of what I thought might be the kind of playground device that could serve as an archetype for all playground devices, this would be exactly what I’d want, what I’d recommend, probably passionately. Because it invites cooperation, exploration, discovery, physical and interpersonal engagement.

I used the word invites because that really is the key to what makes it so relevant to play and playful interaction.

Seesaws, for example, are cooperative, and they, like the Double Swing, allow us to see the various emotions of play flit across each other’s faces, but they don’t offer any viable alternative. To make a seesaw work, you basically have to cooperate. You can be mean, if you really need to, and jump off the seesaw just at the wrong time, wrong enough to really hurt the person at the other end.

But that’s too clearly a violation. It’s not another way to play. It’s a way to break the game, and the body of the person www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

either side of you – but you have to look.

Otherwise, you find yourself engaging in what most observers of children’s play aptly call “parallel play.” Which is good.

Because sometimes you need to play by yourself, among others.

Other than that, it’s not your typical swing thing at all. It’s actually an art installation called “21 Balançoires” [http:// www.dailytouslesjours.com/project/21balancoires/], and it’s musical.

Photo credit : Olivier Blouin

you’re supposedly playing with.

I’m not trying just to make a case for more intelligent, creative, playful, enlightened uses of those liminal spaces that divide our homes and streets and neighborhoods and lives. What I’m also hoping to do here is invite you to think a bit differently about the place and function of playgrounds in our lives.

Here, finally, is the picture I promised you all those paragraphs ago. It gives you a slightly better perspective on the mechanism that makes the swings so

fun. The cables that connect the swings are near the top, so the tug of one swing against the other can have just enough leverage to make each swing in the Double Swing swing significantly further, given the right timing. Given what you might think is the “wrong” timing, it transforms the obviously fascinating act of trying to help each other swing together into a more complex act of creating something like a jiggly, laughing dance together.

Such a simple idea, inviting genuinely shared exploration, resulting in deep and lasting fun and providing a platform for a deeper and more lasting friendship.

Before we leave the cooperative, explorative, inventive swing thing, there’s one more example that I need to show you. This one, unlike the Double Swing, but like most of the swings you find in public playgrounds, requires you to sit side-by-side. You can still see each other – at least you can see the people on www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

This musical swing set uses electronics. The electronics are used to make each swing produce a musical tone every time you swing, back or forth.

For added artiness, the bottom of each swing is lit.

As you swing, you can’t help noticing that, when other people are swinging along, their swings also make sounds.

And if you and the people next to you and the people next to them time their swinging just right, they can, as they sometimes say, make something closely approximating beautiful music together.

You really need to see this in action. Fortunately, there’s a video you can watch, and listen to. Maybe you might want to take a break from reading, and get closer to the sheer delight of the whole thing: [https://vimeo. com/40980676].

Like the Double Swing, 21 Balançoires is an invitation to cooperate, to explore, to play together. The music and light involve the other senses, and do so even more deeply as you continue to engage and share in the play experience.

The Double Swing and 21 Balançoires both work as well as they do because they’re easy to understand and yet rich enough in their properties to make you want to investigate them more fully.

They don’t just invite cooperation, they invite cooperative exploration of their properties, they invite the invention of new ways to play.

High-tech or no-tech, the opportunity to explore and discover new ways to play is almost as central to what these

swings offers as their cooperative aspect.

As players find other ways to play on the swings, their experience together becomes unique, something new, that belongs solely to them. Because it’s theirs, and they’ve discovered its newness together, it becomes something that brings them closer together still; something special, bonding, unforgettable.

If I were trying to explain why I’ve devoted more than 45 years to exploring, teaching, writing about new ways to invite deeper, more social play, these swings could very well symbolize the one thing I most wanted to share with the world and you.

BERNARD DEKOVEN In 1971, Bernard DeKoven completed work on a collection of over 1000 children’s games, organized according to different forms and complexities of social interaction.

Called the Interplay Games Curriculum, and published by the School District of Philadelphia, it led to his founding of The Games Preserve, a retreat center for the exploration of games and play for adults in Eastern Pennsylvania. The Games Preserve served many organizations and individuals, and functioned as the East Coast branch of The New Games Foundation. In 1978, DeKoven published The Well-Played Game, which was re-released by MIT Press in 2013.

His most recent book, A Playful Path, was published by Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press the following year. During his long career, he has designed games of all kinds: board and table games, computer games, social games for small and large groups, city-wide game celebrations, theater games, games for couples, families, children and elders.

DeKoven continues to explore the theory of fun and playfulness and how it can affect every aspect of personal and interpersonal, community and institutional health. He makes his work publicly available through workshops and his two websites: http://aplayfulpath.com and http://deepfun.com

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 13

The Nature of

Sand and other natural features enhance a play space, inviting unstructured play that entertains children’s creative side for hours on end.

by Bobbi J. Geise MOST NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILIES had a dinner bell. Each child knew the specific tone for their bell and would begrudgingly stop playing and head for home.

We had a horn we had acquired at a

baseball game. When the horn blew, we too would finish the last touches on the day’s fort, add a few more patches to our sled luge or pick a few more berries to fill our mouths and head home.

This self-directed style of play

14 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

and learning, now coined “Free Play,” helped build a repertoire of shared stories, new skills and an acute appreciation for the power of nature.

These activities also provided opportunity for me to establish a personal connection with the outdoors, www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Play

continue to call upon in my personal and professional life today.

I cannot recall a specific playground as a child, but I can tell you all about the wild spaces we explored, discovered and constructed. Think back to how you felt while exploring the wilds of your neighborhood or nearby park as a child. What did you discover? What skills did you acquire?

Who did you play with? How did you play? What was your biggest risk?

Did your experiences influence your connection with nature today? Will our children and their children have similar memories and connections?

We are all familiar with today’s sad Nature Deficit Disorder song and metrics. For this reason alone, connecting children to nature should be an ongoing priority for us as “play professionals;” not a one and done effort.

With minimal effort and investment, outdoor playspaces can easily engage children with nature and each other, in addition to the manufactured play equipment at hand. Such complementary natural playspaces and natural play features engage children’s multiple senses, curiosity, cognitive abilities and motor skills. These spaces can also serve as outdoor classrooms for unstructured learning and classroom lessons alike.

What follows are suggestions for affordable strategies you can employ to design nature back into children’s play spaces.

Changing our mental models

with myself and with others. I gained self-confidence as I learned how to assess risk, take personal responsibility, collaborate and develop creative thinking skills. Upon deeper reflection, I now realize that where and how I played taught me many life lessons I www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

It is true, woody and herbaceous natural play features in general have a shorter lifespan than manufactured play equipment. We should not however let this be our determining factor when considering a purchase of a cement cast log versus a real log or plastic stepping platforms over stumps or rocks. Natural play features like logs, rocks, hills and plantings can be used to complement an existing park area, playground or yard that needs some added value and playtime.

Natural material changes with the seasons, intriguing and engaging children in year round exploration. The result is happy, healthy children (as well as parents and teachers).

Dollar for dollar, natural play features are a great return on the

investment. Materials and labor cost far less than a traditional piece of equipment, even if it requires a bit more maintenance over time. Natural materials can be easily and affordably replaced or adapted when need be. For example, replacing a worn or rotted log also produces opportunity to make changes to the existing installation.

And if you’re the child client, this means more exciting new ways to play.

We adults need to adjust our mental models of tidy parks as we create and designate nature play areas.

They can seem out of the ordinary. As compared to most out of the box playgrounds they are a bit wild looking, and that’s truly the core of what makes them so much fun.

Untidy and wild invites intrigue It is also true that natural play areas, like most well-loved playgrounds, can show wear. Things like bare ground and worn trails may be unsightly to our adult eyes, but children do not have that same jaded filter.

Fun is fun, no matter if it’s covered in sod or soil. As a designer, I often view these worn areas as evidence of a popular space or route. As long as the wear doesn’t present a safety hazard or cause erosion, why fight it? Try to live with it. If or when it becomes too unbearable or presents a hazard, replace the surfacing or structure with something more durable or reconstruct the problem area to reduce the issue.

Children are drawn to wild-looking intriguing spaces. Tall grasses, decomposing logs, willow tunnels, loose parts, and mud puddles are invitations for further discovery. If it continues to bother you or others, create and install a fun sign explaining nature is at play and invite children to get dirty.

Messy means fun too. Rather than be in despair that a spot gets worn and muddy, invite it in. Add water, shovels and sticks and let the kids go to work.

If you have a troublesome low spot, accentuate it. Add a fun “Messy Zone” sign so parents know it’s an intentional “ill-kept” area.

Give the weed trimmer a break.

Invite perimeter areas to grow tall and wispy; it’s more fun to run around and hide in! In fact, give the mower a break too. Identify an area to let the

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 15

grass grow tall and use the mower to cut paths or a maze. If there’s concern about public pushback, invite them to contribute to the maze design process.

Collect different-sized sticks and twigs and leave a pile next to a log or small lean-to style frame. See what transpires over time as children build and rebuild their treasured stick structures.

Bring back sand. Sand play entertains children’s creative side for hours on end. There will always be someone concerned about animals using the sand area as a litter box. Installing the sand play site in a larger open area will

discourage most domestic cats from venturing in. The majority appreciate life’s simple pleasures at hand and watching their child engrossed in healthy play.

Use native plants to invite the wild in. Choose plants that can withstand lots of loving and well-intended inquiry. Trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials of different color, height, texture and seed types are visually intriguing and invite learning. When possible, start with larger-sized plants and plantings that better withstand children’s curiosity.

16 PLAY 16 P AY PL AY AND ND D PLA P PL PLAYGROUND LAYG AYG GROU R RO ND MA ND MAG MAGAZINE AGAZI AZ NE E WIN WINTER INTER INTER R 20 2016 2016 6

Play it safe.

Non-dimensional natural materials such as logs and rocks can and should be installed with CPSC standards in mind, such as spacing, height, surfacing, use zones, and anchors. As some of the woodsy material and plantings may wear sooner than their metal and plastic alternatives, establishing a modest annual maintenance fund is prudent planning.

In the end, we do the very best we can do. Play and playgrounds are risky business. To some adults, natural playgrounds feel more risky than the latest equipment. In general, when children

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine www ww.pl .pl plla p ayg yg y rou roundp ro ndp dp d prof ofes esssionals e ess ion io onals als.co .co com/m co m aga m/m gazin zi e zin

Children are drawn to wild-looking intriguing spaces like this willow tunnel.

Maintaining your parks and playgrounds just got a lot easier.

deem something to be risky or unfamiliar, they use more prudent behavior as they develop the skills needed to master the new landscape.

877.984.0418 info@playgroundguardian.com

Use the experts Children are naturally play experts.

Involving them in the creation, installation and maintenance of a playspace helps develop ownership, personal responsibility, a sense of community and reduces misuse and vandalism.

Invite nature in, in all its glory.

Simple changes and additions in how we plan, maintain and construct play spaces can make giant strides to reconnect children with the nature of play. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Play & Playground BOBBI GEISE Bobbi Geise has been playing and exploring outdoors with children and families for over 25 years. She is the founder of Learning By Nature, which designs and creates learning landscapes, play spaces and educational workshops. Resources for how to integrate the outdoors into your childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academics and play can be found at www.LearningByNature.org

Events

at your fingertips

training Courses - Annual Events conferences - more playgroundprofessionals.com/events WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 17

Rope Play Takes Inclusive Play to a New Level

by Lukas Steinke

So, What is Inclusive Play?

GOOGLE “INCLUSIVE PLAY” or “inclusive playgrounds” and you will find pages of entries – what it is, where you can find such playgrounds, who offers “inclusive playground equipment” and more.

Delve into this more and you will also find that many traditional inclusive playgrounds primarily focus on children with physical disabilities, failing to include those without physical disabilities or those without disabilities at all.

This raises the question: what kind of inclusion experience is it if it is neglecting over 90% of children who don’t have any disabilities at all to play?

There are many kinds of playground equipment that provide an “inclusive” experience; however, rope play equipment, net climbers, offer something for everyone, providing a more unique and ever-challenging experience for all abilities.

In general, inclusive play bridges the gap between mainstream and children with special needs. Inclusive play enables children to better relate to one another, whether they have a special need or not, opening their eyes to the world around them.

Inclusive play enables better social integration. Learning about each other’s differences at a younger age can help children feel comfortable around those who are different.

Many children happily play together without noticing any differences.

Encouraging children of all abilities to play together teaches them to treat each other the same.

Accessible or Inclusive Playground – What’s the Difference?

A 100% accessible playground goes beyond ADA Compliance, enabling

18 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

everyone to get to and move all around the playground. Children in wheelchairs could, for instance, reach the highest point of a structure through ramps.

On the other hand, an inclusive playground accounts for human diversity in the community. That means, it offers barrier-free attractions while at the same time providing challenging and fun experiences for a wide variety of children – those without any disabilities along with those with ADHD, Down’s syndrome, sensory processing, visual or hearing impairments and other physical and developmental issues.

An inclusive playground offers a balance of play experiences for all abilities, achieving parallel play as much as possible. It enables children to embrace and experience their commonalities and differences as autonomously as possible and in close proximity to one another.

It is not about “leveling down” the www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Being ADA Compliant Means…

All new and renovated parks must have an accessible path leading to the playground with nothing blocking it. A paved path and railing facilitates access for children with disabilities and helps meet ADA regulations. Integrating a very tightly stretched rope, for example, into the playground may make the use of a cane for a visually impaired child unnecessary, freeing the child’s hands for climbing. experience nor is it necessary to remove every sandbox so that a child with little mobility does not notice that he or she cannot run.

Inclusive play and accessible play are often lumped together when accessibility is only a small part of what makes a playground inclusive. The ramps alone are merely an accessibility device and do not by themselves lead to engagement with other children. On the other hand, rope play equipment does.

The Tannenbaum is a rotatable climber allowing several children at one time to enjoy the rotation movement with others.

an accessible or inclusive playground.

The unique free play and net climbing configurations challenge a child’s motor How Rope Play Adds to the skills, increase their self-confidence, Inclusive Experience stimulate imaginative play and improve Net structures, or rope play equipmuscle development and balancing ment, only serve to enhance the play skills. experience for children, whether at One strength of rope play equipment lies in the motor challenge that they pose to children along with the endless play options. When climbing, a child’s progress requires control and focus, each step and each grip is a new decision, keeping it challenging and fun every time.

For every action, there is a reaction. As one child is climbing the rope structure, it causes a Earl M. Lawson Elementary in Leavenworth, KS, provides plenty of play reaction to the

3-Dimensional vs.

2-Dimensional Rope Equipment Two-dimensional rope structures offer paths for a child to climb vertically, horizontally or possibly across on a bridge or link.

Three-dimensional rope structures come in all shapes and sizes and are commonly referred to as space nets and net climbers. Structures can be quite tall or closer to the ground and full of low course challenges or a mix of both, enhancing the play experience with: • No prescribed entry points • No specific paths to be followed • Open environment encouraging social interaction

space for kids of all abilities. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 19

Equivalent Facilitation is the concept of utilizing innovative solutions and new technology, design, or materials in order to satisfy the guidelines.

These alternative solutions provide equal access and take advantage of new developments, but may differ technically from specific guidelines.

[Source: Accessible Play Areas: A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Play Areas by the US Access Board.]

other side of the structure. For children who have limited mobility or do not have the strength or desire to climb the structure, he or she can hold the rope

and feel its movement, swaying back and forth, and be included in the play with others.

Rope play equipment combines different difficulty levels in a single play element. For instance, older children or young adults who like to climb can romp in sections with larger distances between the ropes while younger children can test their motor skills in sections with narrower distances between the ropes. Children of all ages (and sizes) are part of the play experience.

A 3-dimensional net structure has no prescribed entry or exit point; it is up to the child to decide where to go in or come out. This, too, leads to endless play options.

It is important to note that playgrounds must meet all standards and rules of the ADA. That means that all play equipment of a certain size must have some type of transfer module, such as a transfer station or ramp, installed enabling a child to move (or trans-

20 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

fer) from his or her wheelchair on to the play structure. The use of transfer modules enables a child in a wheelchair to reach play equipment such as a slide, providing him or her with an easy climbing challenge.

Transfer stations and ramps are not the only viable tools to ensure accessibility. The standard leaves room for alternate solutions if they result in equivalent or better usage. Access nets or other close to the ground nets meet that criteria.

On most rope structures the entire base perimeter serves as a transfer point to the climber. There is no need for an additional transfer module/deck. Rope play equipment encourages children to leave the wheelchair whenever possible.

Rope playground equipment with built-in seats, such as nest swings, are very accessible to children in wheelchairs. The spacious lying area often enables children with or without disabilities to swing together, encouraging www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

social interaction.

The challenging nature of a low-level rope course offers visually impaired children the opportunity to climb safely as well as allowing children with hearing impairments to use sign language without hindrance.

The ropes make communicating among the children and their caregivers much easier. Some children may not speak or hear well. Play can be a wonderful tool for them to use to communicate. The transparency of the net structure enables children to use sign language when playing and eliminates barriers to visual supervision even on very busy playgrounds.

Rope equipment can incorporate elements that allow auditory, visual and tactile sensory experiences, which can capture a child’s interest, especially in children with a form of autism spectrum disorder or sensory processing disorder.

Net climbers provide a play space that brings together children with difwww.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

ferent abilities – those that may have a visual or hearing impairment, physical or mental disability or other developmental challenge – enabling them to experience their possibilities and their limits in common play, encouraging understanding and acceptance of one another.

Kansas School Playground Addresses All Abilities with Rope Play In Leavenworth, KS, the Earl M. Lawson Elementary is a neighborhood school with about 300 students. It is also the home for the district’s Functional Life Skills program, which includes children with some of the most severe physical and intellectual disabilities. The playground needed to accommodate students without disabilities as well as students in wheelchairs and those with autism, sensory and motor needs.

The school chose to install rope play equipment, including an 18-foot struc-

ture that provided play space upwards, enabling the children to climb and that connected to a slide via a rope ladder.

This playground has been in place for more than two years and the rope play equipment has added more fun and more inclusivity for all the kids.

• The children in wheelchairs go under the net structure, look up and talk to the kids above them, increasing the interaction between the kids, enabling those in wheelchairs to be closer to other children, weave in and out, chase and be part of the action.

• The kids create their own imaginative play, creating their own rules and games. Children with physical or other disabilities become part of the games by grabbing hold of the ropes or overseeing the music or a certain part of the structure. The rope structure brings children of all abilities together and they seem to love the change in play.

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 21

The school and staff chose rope play equipment for: • Balance and coordination • Opportunity for muscle development • Upper body coordination and strength • Problem-solving • Imaginative play • Increased self-confidence According to the principal, even though there is a small park near the school, the kids prefer to go to what they call the “coolest” playground, Lawson Elementary, the school with the web.

• The true three-dimensional net climber provides plenty of footing and handholds for the children to safely climb up, down and side-toside, increasing their confidence as

they climb higher and higher.

• The children are visually stimulated when the sun is out and shadows are created from the “spider web” net structure, creating lots of patterns on the ground. The kids have fun looking from different angles to find squares, triangles and many other shapes created from the rope patterns.

• The ropes have been more handicap accessible, enabling children of all abilities to interact with each other.

• The openness of the rope structure allows for easier supervision.

One student with Cerebral Palsy had never been on a slide before. The teachers helped her up the ropes to the slide entrance and assisted her on the way down. Her attitude about recess changed dramatically after that.

across the US and is a member of the International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) as well as the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM International). In addition, Berliner is a working member with the playground ASTM committee.

About Berliner Seilfabrik

In 2009, Lukas moved to Greenville, SC to establish Berliner’s North American headquarters. As the subsidiary’s CEO, he is in charge of all aspects of the company’s operations in the U.S. and brings 13 years of experience in ropebased playground equipment to the company.

Berliner Seilfabrik was one of the first company to produce “rope” play structures beginning in 1971. The rope is galvanized steel cable wrapped in a polyester yarn. The first US installation of a Berliner Seilfabrik play structure was completed in 1994. Berliner has thousands of successful installations

22 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

LUKAS STEINKE, CEO BERLINER SEILFABRIK PLAY EQUIPMENT CORPORATION

www.berliner-playequipment.com www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Reconnecting on the Playground

by Michael Laris UNSTRUCTURED, OUTDOOR PLAY is a form of exercise that doesn’t take much effort for kids. Play is second-nature and often children’s favorite activity. Playing outside allows children to explore their environment, learn about nature, foster fine and gross motor skills, and develop strength and coordination. Not only does it promote their well-being, but it also aides in children’s overall physical and social development.

However, as the world becomes increasingly more “connected” digitally and screens sit perfectly in even the smallest of hands, getting children outside and engaged in physical, outdoor free play has become an uphill battle for many parents, teachers and caregivers.

Although today’s children still love to play, they spend more time indoors, passing the time with the help of technology, and less time outdoors playing and interacting with their peers.

Playing games together online does not unite children in the same, meaningwww.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

ful ways. Social media and role-playing games often encourage kids to create false personas, and they eliminate the critical thinking and problem-solving opportunities that happen naturally in the real world. Outdoor, interactive play, however, can help children develop social, cognitive, motor and behavioral skills that will last them a lifetime. And playground equipment plays an important role in evoking those valuable learning experiences.

The Power of Playground Equipment While playing on a playground, a child can experience everything from social and kinetic play to imaginative play. Thoughtfully-designed play equipment allows kids to socialize with others, engage in active, physical play and tap into their imaginations. Playgrounds, which are often thought of as a foundation of play, serve as a starting point for a variety of beneficial activities.

Play spaces encourage socialization,

physical activity and risk management exploration, alongside many others.

They provide children with the opportunity to work together, interact with one another and explore boundaries. Kids might communicate how to take turns when going down the slide, helping to develop their problem-solving skills.

They might also pretend the playground is a rocket ship, house or car, sparking their imaginative minds. Playgrounds and the type of playground equipment used can provide children with endless opportunities for exploration and development.

Social Play Social play is one of the most important forms of play learned on the playground, as it allows children to practice communication skills of sharing, collaborating and interacting with others. Social play is an activity in which everyone is playing together, but not necessarily relying on one another.

During social play, children are often

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 23

children deserve. Playground equipment designers must continue rethinking play design to make it challenging and encourage kids to get outdoors and play.

Over the past two decades, many children, and especially older children, have become disinterested in playgrounds. While in part this is due to a technological revolution, it’s also a result of outdated, unchallenging, linear playground equipment. But if we take the time to rethink playspaces and choose new equipment that meets the needs and interests of this generation, we can get kids outdoors again to reconnect with unstructured play and each other.

learning from their peers as they play.

Kids also learn how to communicate with others in effective and meaningful ways.

A web climber is a wonderful example of a piece of playground equipment that encourages social play. Since many different children are climbing at once, children have the opportunity to interact with one another and look to each other for guidance. Younger children can watch older children to learn how to get higher on the web. Additionally, the dynamic nature of the rope — the way it moves in reaction to kids playing—creates an awareness for others, fostering collaboration and camaraderie.

Unstructured Play Playing on your own terms is powerful, as is allowing yourself to be influenced by wonder. We know outdoor play has tremendous positive impact on child development. We also know that children have more self-esteem and more ability to solve problems when they control the direction, the duration and the number of players involved in their play. It’s important for outdoor playspaces to leave some room for chil-

dren’s imagination and wonder. Playgrounds should serve as a blank canvas for children to paint with their playful imaginations.

Unlike traditional slide and swing playgrounds, innovative play equipment can allow children to engage in imaginative, free play. With less rigid paths and structured activities, kids are free to explore and create their own play experiences. They are curious and eager to explore these new and unusual structures, presenting children with a perfect platform for self-directed, social play.

How Playground Equipment Can Change the Way We Play To entice children away from the myriad of technological activities available today, outdoor playspaces need to be new and exciting. Playground equipment must continually evolve to stay relevant and fresh for today’s children.

Modern, innovative equipment can capture kids’ attention and bring them back to the playground.

Play is a uniting factor and creating spaces where individuals can gather, play, discover and enjoy being together on their own terms is something all

24 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

PLAYWORLD’S NEWEST PRODUCT aims to do just that. Unity® Connect is a modular play system that invites older kids to put down technology, get out of the house and engage in face-to-face interactions and physical activity. This towering 14-foot high structure captures young minds with its sheer size and features modern new materials like rope, steel and flex treads that prompt kids to invent new ways to play.

Created for ages 5 to 12, Connect focuses on bringing children together by providing areas for them to meet, move and define their own paths of play. Various play components of this system feature networks of rope, providing children with dynamic movement, unpredictable challenge and open-ended play opportunities.

Hoops and baskets give kids a place to just hang out and be together—away from the grownups.

With both traditional and brand new play events, Connect offers kids a wealth of physical, sensory and social benefits.

Connect is a hub of the larger Unity® Collection, which includes classic freestanding products that have been reimagined to promote even more interaction and cooperation. Swings for more than one person, slides you can climb and spinners for kids of all abilities are just some of the new and innovative equipment invented to coax kids back to the playground. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

UC-1720

UC-1730

Playworld.com/UnityConnect

UnityÂŽ Connect is a towering, modular play system designed to encourage todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kids to engage in real face-to-face interactions and physical activity. Baskets and hoops provide areas for gathering and socializing, while networks of rope create a new dynamic challenge every time they play.

UC-1745

Playful People and Where to Find Them

by Suzanna Law

We believe that play is the sign of a healthy community. When childdren spend time outside, climbing trees or on theirr bikes, we know several things: adults feeel comfortable letting their children roam, chiildren know their neighbors, and everyone feels able to makke use of public space for thheirr own pleasure.

26 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

What's more, we believe that playing outside is a catalyst for healthy communities. Children are our most vulnerable citizens, and when their rights to participate and enjoy public space are assured, everyone benefits. These beliefs are behind all of the work we do.

Our background is in UK-based playwork, a professional approach to supporting children's play, with its roots in the post-WWII adventure playground movement and an absolute focus on valuing play for its own sake.

Play is an instinct we all share, and a drive we must pursue. For people of all ages, there are so many barriers to play — fear of public space, fear of strangers, tight schedules and hard responsibilities, even the simple fear of looking ridiculous. The best way we have found to overcome these barriers is to set aside time, space and materials, and to give explicit permission to play. Here, we say, is an opportunity to imagine and explore. Here, we promise, is a chance to take creative risks without judgment.

We provide recycled materials that cost nothing, making it easy for us to give this permission and mean it.

The pop-up adventure playground

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

model that we developed can help ourselves and our neighbors overcome barriers to play, together.

The idea is simple, bringing together people and materials for play in a public space and applying the very basics of playwork practice. Anyone can register for free through our website [https:// popupadventureplaygrounds.wordpress. com/welcome/pop-up-adventureplaygrounds/grassroots-organizers], and get support in organizing their own. It began as a little idea, in response to the combination of barriers we saw most often in the US. We wanted to spark new conversations around risk, freedom and connection, and to celebrate play.

NYC - Morgan Leichter-Saxby We held the first pop-up adventure playground in 2007, in New York City's Central Park. It was part of a much larger festival and thousands of people came to visit the areas run by Disney, LEGO, Sesame Street and others. To one side, tucked beneath the trees, we filled a space with all sorts of scrap — cardboard boxes, a sofa cover, several broken plastic blinds, a mountain of acorns and a wok. We had also brought friends to

welcome parents and help out any children who asked. We had brought duct tape and several garbage bags for later.

In that little area, hundreds of people played. They built houses and cut windows to peer through at their neighbors, and when they grew bored with that, they connected the houses together in one long tunnel. Children positioned themselves at different points: one handed out tickets which another took, and an older child poked his head in through a window in the middle "to make sure they’re all doing ok." Towers rose and fell, tipped over slowly by children giggling hysterically. They cut fabric into superhero capes and saved the bystanders. They dribbled pebbles through long cardboard tubes and discovered that acorns rolled into a wok make a sound like miniature thunder.

Over that afternoon, dozens of adults came to shake our hands. Some said it felt familiar, to see children playing in this way. Others said it was like nothing they’d ever seen and did we know when the next event would be? It seemed we were onto something, so we put some information online.

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 27

needs of their immediate community.

It was only a matter of days before the first messages began to come through in response to our photos: “How can I do this in my community?”

Since that moment, we have been connecting people all over the world to the field of playwork and to each other.

Just as a playworker makes themselves available for play, our organization has opened its arms out to everyone, welcoming them to come and hang out. Six years on, we have a growing following on four different social media platforms with a weekly reach of 50,000 people.

Feedback has been fantastic too: "You guys give me the boost I need every morning to take my kids out playing.”

It is no secret that we love play, but we know firsthand how isolating it can be. The limitless possibilities of the internet mean that we are never truly alone in our quest for play so just come and say hello — we are always here.

Costa Rica - Andy Hinchcliffe

Perhaps, we thought, other people are facing these barriers of time, fear, space and money. Maybe they’d like this idea. Now it is seven years later, and there are independent organizers of pop-up adventure playgrounds in seventeen countries around the world, in cities such as Bogota, Los Angeles, Cairo, San José and Hong Kong.

We are still doing community organizing around play, but now our "neighborhood" is the internet.

Online communities - Suzanna Law Each little ping that comes through our social media tells a similar story.

It starts with the epiphany that play is important. Next is sadness, because play is not widely valued and the person feels

alone in their new belief. Third comes a fervent search for more information about play, and their reaching out to us and saying “I’m so glad I found you.”

This is also my story. As a teenager I knew that play was much more important than people were willing to admit but was dismissed as being childish and immature. After years of searching for like-minded people, I finally discovered playwork and my life has never been the same.

Perhaps we were in the right place at the right time, but as our tiny organization logged into our first social media account, it seemed like we were starting a brand new adventure. Most play projects of the time were still focused locally, concentrating on meeting the

28 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

It started with an email from across the globe. A simple request, a shared vision and a common goal — Playful Communities. Playwork is often stumbled upon "by accident," although people are generally guided there by a combination of thoughts, feelings, and discussions with like-minded people.

Bellelli Education, based in San José, Costa Rica reached out to Pop-Up Adventure Play in 2008. They sought some reassurance in their quest and hoped to connect their child-centered philosophy to that of playwork from across the Atlantic. From that initial exchange, something sparked, connected, grew and flourished.

Today, driven by that same group of people, both Bellelli and Pop-Up alike, have come a long way in their quest to support children, families, organizations and interested parties in the promotion and development of dedicated time and space that is child-led, goalless and fun.

Bellelli, with both long distance and in-person support from our team, has hosted almost 30 pop-up adventure playgrounds (which they call PopAps) within their local communities. Over the years these events have grown in both size and understanding. Pop-up adventure playgrounds create a point of reference, a purpose, a trigger that brings people together in a positive way. www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

They open up lines of communication and provide various levels of opportunity for people to contribute whenever or however they can. Some people organize, some bring resources, some stories and others food, but sometimes people just bring themselves, and that, for some communities is a huge deal.

In addition to the almost 30 play events, our team has supported both Bellelli and their local community partnerships with a tailored professional development workshop as part of the 2015 World Tour while also supporting over ten students through the online Playworker Development Course.

Play isn’t just "What children do:" it isn’t just "messing about." It is an energy that is within us all, waiting for a space, an opportunity and the permission to spark the circuit and begin to flow.

What Next We understand the barriers to play because we have felt them too. We can see firsthand the consequences of our busy lives, our packed schedules, and the constant valuing of work and productivity above all else. Pop-Up Adventure Play and the pop-up adventure playground model have opened up

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

an opportunity for us to talk about all of this, and to help people start making changes in their local neighborhoods, professional settings, and in their own lives. Over seven years, we have found that this process creates its own unanticipated community, introducing new friends and bringing us around the world to visit them. Each time we share a meal and a story, or steal a moment of awe-inspiring discussion between playful engagements, we see how the shared and human instinct to play connects us across enormous distances and differences.

No matter who we are, where we live, what we have done before and what may happen in the future, play is something that can keep us together.

To enter most fields of work, you need specialist knowledge, specific jargon and sometimes even fancy equipment.

To discuss play, we can simply ask for you to think back to when you were a child, or help you get started playing now. Play reminds us that it’s never too late to experience the fun of creativity, to glue or smash or cut or tape. We all have the ability to send and receive cues for play, to become once again fluent in a language where communication can

be as simple as throwing a ball, pulling up a chair to the table, or just sending a little email. We’re ready when you are — come and play.

• Facebook www.facebook.com/popupplay • Twitter @popupplay • Website www.popupadventureplay.org • Email morgan@popupadventureplay.org andy@popupadventureplay.org suzanna@popupadventureplay.org

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 29

The Power of Play, Adversity and Scaling Barriers

by Victoria Schmitt Babb

"Once you make it to your point of making it, you'll appreciate the struggle." ~Nas

AS PARENTS, educators, and community members we tend to eliminate hardship and struggle from our children’s lives.

Not because we wish them any disservice but because we genuinely want the best for them; our nature wants to protect them and make their world the best place for them to live, grow and thrive. But what if we ARE harming them by making things too easy? What if the lack of difficulties and not given the opportunity to cope with adverse situations makes them less prepared for the real world?

What if every time I cut my daughter’s tags from her clothing because they agitate her skin I am setting her up to be an intolerant, easily-agitated employee who complains about the screeching of the copy machine? Will she be able to work through things she cannot control? Do I make her get used to tags rubbing the back of her neck and waistband for the sake of her future and all those who are forced to work alongside her?

I remind myself of my visit to the Butterfly house and the lesson that was given about NOT helping a newly evolved butterfly out of the chrysalis.

The story goes that if you see a

butterfly struggle which can often last longer than a few hours, do not touch it. Even as it wriggles to get free from the sack the “struggle” phase is very critical to the physiological movement of fluid throughout its wings from the center to the tips.

The fluid being spread enables the butterfly to eventually break free and fly.

That made me think about what ways I am allowing my daughter to “struggle” to shift fluid throughout her metaphoric wings so one day she can fly. “Fly” representing the day when she is independent and has reasonable coping skills to the never-ending stimuli and events that the world will offer her, sometimes mercilessly.

I pondered this notion as I brought her to the playground. I watched as she looked at the two sets of monkey bars and easily navigated the shorter ones. Then she climbed the deck and tried for the taller ones. She slipped and dropped to the ground which was

30 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

thankfully covered by the pour-inplace surfacing. She didn’t try it again.

She moved on to climbing the net and then the swings. I asked her on the ride home, “Why did you not try again on the monkey bars?” She replied matter of factly, “I can’t do it.” My heart sank.

Just like that, the white flag went up in retreat. The battle was over. The gumption reserve was dried up or perhaps had not been filled up. Filled up by me, a mother who had tried so hard to be attuned to my child that it has quite possibly, how else can I say it without seeming melodramatic, has broken her wings. My mind quickly jumped to real-life situations that may pose a barrier, a hardship, some discomfort. I needed to instill that hunger to persevere; a survivor instinct. Why is it that children appear to be “weaker” these days and not push themselves?

I answered my own question quickly.

Because many of them don’t have to push themselves. Many have not been forced to ignite the survival instinct that was so evident years ago during the pioneer westward movement or during the Ireland famine that pushed so many families to send children to America across the Atlantic on ships alone. In most of our communities (not all), children’s survival includes adhering to a structured schedule, attending school, maybe doing some chores if asked, and often sitting in front of screens which is today’s new version of “playing.”

The truth is struggle in all its glory provides more than an endearing plot for a Hollywood movie. It is as essential as reading, writing, social skills, and discipline. It is the cornerstone to what builds character, perseverance, and endurance. My plan as a parent was to now infuse struggle into my daughter’s life, not to the extreme of making her go hunt and gather her own food or www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

abandon her in the woods to see if she could survive. My answer was to take her to more playgrounds and to conquer the obstacles. We came up with a fun adventure that we would “summit” all the elements on the playgrounds across our area. In the spirit of healthy competition, we challenged each other to conquer equipment ranging from zip lines to monkey bars to dismounting a swing in midair. I became very mindful to model the behavior of taking risks and communicating that even though things are hard and pose discomfort that they are often worth it. I now give my daughter an option, “Do you want to deal with the tags or shall we remove them?” Together we seek out experiences that will make us “stronger” and celebrate it when we reach the other side. I encourage her to play in the woods, to get dirty and to climb trees.

No doubt, I also balance my push to take risks with a healthy dose of risk assessment. Push yourself, endure but know your limits. Keep working at things that may be out of your reach now. Philosophizing with an 8-year-old has its limits, even I know that.

Understandably some children may not have a safe place to play, scale barriers and foster self-determination which means that communities need to work on creating such spaces. Often children age out of playgrounds around 12 years old so it is important for Parks and Recreation specialists and school districts to seek out other playspaces that will challenge young people. Skate parks, challenge courses (inspired by the hit show Ninja Warrior) and bike parks are all answers to the solution of giving youth the opportunities to play, have fun and scale barriers.

As a community, we can provide those defining moments where a child or youth can feel that burning sense of accomplishment and pride saying to himself “I did it.” We can instill the gumption to not give up when things get difficult but to steadfastly persevere in one way or another. This lesson will serve them well in the future, it will serve all of us. Infuse struggle so all can develop wings to fly.

Replacement Parts for: Playgrounds • Parks • Field Sports Fast Patch Repair Kits Maxx Clear Surface Conditioner Call Us: 888.760.2499 discountplaygroundsupply.com

With Twist you’re always on the right side. info@berliner-playequipment.com Toll free: +1.877.837.3676

About the Author:

Victoria Schmitt Babb is the director at Play 4 ALL Campaign and Community Resource Manager at Cunningham Recreation.

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 31

Image courtesy of Irina Bg/Shutterstock.com

I Don't Want to See My Child Fail!

by Jay Beckwith Imagine an infant lying on their back on the floor. In your mind’s eye watch as she works to roll over onto her stomach.

Over the course of a month or so she will eventually accomplish her goal. In so doing she will have made countless attempts.

Now imagine a child of a similar age also lying on the floor but in this case he makes few if any attempts to roll over.

If this behavior persists over several months, the parent should rightly be concerned that there may be an organic reason for this lack of trying.

The gist of this example is that it is not the many times the girl has been unsuccessful that is the “failure,” rather it is the lack of trying that is the true concern.

From the moment children are born each developmental step requires count-

less attempts before success is achieved.

Babies are, if you will, failure machines.

Babies expect to fail and have reflexes that help prevent injury, i.e. the sit-onyour-bottom-before-you-fall-down, or the protective arm reflexes.

Generally when babies fail they laugh, they are having fun! Unless they are really injured, when they cry, when they fail, it is often not because they are hurt but they have been TAUGHT that failure is bad. They cry because they have not met your expectation that they should be successful. They don’t want to disappoint you.

Not reacting so as to prevent possible injury, or other “failure,” is one of the most difficult aspects of parenting. Not only do we have to stop our instinctive physical reaction but we also have to monitor our emotional fear response.

Our impulsive grab to support their actions with accompanying quick inhala-

32 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

tion is a powerful way to convey fear to children and communicate strongly that they are in DANGER! As with any skill it takes practice to avoid teaching your child that, when they are testing their limits and learning a new skill, you are afraid that they will be hurt. If you are lucky enough to start when your child is very young, you can learn to laugh along with them when they, for example, plop down on their bottoms as they try to stand.

It is never too late, however, to help your child gain confidence and become an adventurous learner. Instead of watching out to prevent failures, we should be looking for their “tries” and recognize that each try is a step toward mastery.

We don’t have to overreact and praise every effort; it is enough simply to watch with a smile. Children also don’t need praise, in fact that can be counter-prowww.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

be expected to react with anger and perhaps litigation. The playground industry with the best of intentions has regulated itself, and playground operators, into a no-win situation.

It is possible to design our way out of this problem.

Consider skateparks as an example of a playspace designed for trial-anderror learning. Kids and parents come to skateparks with the full understanding that skaters will be testing themselves constantly and that injuries are both common and inevitable. The very same injury on a “safe” playground might lead to a lawsuit where such a reaction is very rare on skateparks.

could be retired and replaced by “tries.”

Such a change would mean that instead of failing, which conveys that the chance of success has passed, the try would be just one of many chances to succeed. It would also allow us to move away from a fear of failure to celebrate taking on challenges.

Learning to use a skateboard or scooter takes lots and lots of practice, practice that begins with many small failures. Skaters learn gradually how to fail at incrementally greater challenges.

Typical playgrounds look safe so kids tend to feel they don’t need to be cautious. Indeed, parents often feel the same way and will routinely hoist their very young children onto apparatus designed and designated for older children.

This foreseeable misuse is exacerbated by the requirements of the ADA, which mandates access by those individuals who have mobility impairments.

This means that parents of young children must be hyper-vigilant to prevent their child from going to places that are high and have unprotected openings.

The solution to this is to design playspaces that provide challenges that are both clearly visible but also fully accessible by anyone of any ability.

Image courtesy of LightCapturedByDamian/Shutterstock.com

ductive. They do however seek acknowledgement. “You really worked hard on that” is much better than “Good job.”

Being pro-active in supporting your child’s trial-and-error learning is important for a whole other reason. These days even total strangers are perfectly comfortable judging your parenting style. If they see you “ignoring” your child while they are doing things that, in their mind, are risky, they may judge you as a bad parent, or worse, feel they have to intervene. The best way to manage such peer pressure is to be a “safety sheriff ” parent remaining always mindful and alert while your child is testing their limits.

In an ideal world the word “failure”

Failure-proof playgrounds?

Contemporary playgrounds are required by ASTM Standards to remove every “known or should have known” conditions where a child could possibly fail. Parents bring their children to playgrounds with the full expectation that they are designed and maintained to be failure-proof. Since we know that children are biologically driven to seek trial-and-error learning, we can logically expect that they will, in their infinitely creative ways, find a challenge. If such behavior leads to an injury, parents can www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

The way to accomplishing this new design paradigm is to design play elements in such a way that the challenge is clearly, and unmistakably visible. Decoupling height from the experience is the first step. For too long play apparatus designers have added height as a way to increase challenge, the taller the better.

However, increasing elevation does nothing to add more challenge it only adds the fear of falling and the chance of injury.

Removing height does not necessarily mean dumbing down the playspace. For example, a slack line can be only inches off the ground and remain extremely challenging. The same can be said for a hillside slide. Using landforms are one of the best ways to ensure maximum excitement and access. They also don’t visibly communicate special accommodation to a particular subgroup and set up an unconscious them-and-us mentality.

Most play events are single function; a slide is just a slide. There are, however, examples of multi-functional designs such as the spinning rope climber or a tire swing. By combining functions we add to the challenge without increasing risk.

Playspaces that include natural elements, like real trees as climbers, tend to be able to provide more challenge than manufactured components of the same function. Playspaces that have highly visual and creative themed elements add excitement without risk.

The most interesting things on any playspace are other players. Nothing is sadder than a lone child on a playground. For too long playgrounds designers and operators have been able to drop in a simple off the shelf play structure and call it good. Such “plugand-play’ gestures are just wasted space and money. If you are going to create a playground, half measures are worse than no playground at all since these useless investments suggest that children have been provided for when in fact they have been marginalized.

A Vision for the Future There are a few examples of designs that employ this vision. All playspaces can and should meet this standard. Do the playspaces on your drawing board for your community?

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 33

Playground Professionals'

Manufacturer and Local Directory

Manufacturers, Sales Reps, Contractors, Consultants/Inspectors, and Landscape Architects

The Playground Professionals Manufacturer and Local Directory lists hundreds of play and playground companies.

The following playground professionals are, or have been, a premium listing since the launch of the directory.

ADVANCED RECREATIONAL CONCEPTS, LLC

CHURCHICH RECREATION

FLEXGROUND

arcflorida.com

churchichrecreation.net

flexground.com

AMERICAN SWING PRODUCTS

COMMUNITY PLAYGROUNDS

GAMETIME

americanswing.com

communityplaygrounds.com

gametime.com

BANKSHOT SPORTS

COVERWORX - RECREATION ARCHITECTURE

HEISLER LANDSCAPE GENERAL ENGINEERING, INC.

bankshot.com

coverworx.com

BC6 BUILDERS

CRE8PLAY

BC6builders.com

cre8play.com

BCI BURKE COMPANY

CUNNINGHAM RECREATION

bciburke.com

cunninghamrec.com

BEARS PLAYGROUNDS

DISCOUNT PLAYGROUND SUPPLY

bearsplaygrounds.com

discountplaygroundsupply.com

BEN SHAFFER RECREATION, INC.

DOG-ON-IT PARKS

208-589-4498

benshaffer.com

dog-on-it-parks.com

KIDSTUFF PLAYSYSTEMS

BISON PUMPS

DYNAMO PLAYGROUNDS

kidstuffplaysystems.com

BisonPumps.com

dynamoplaygrounds.com

LANDSCAPE STRUCTURES

CEDAR CREEK RUN CONSTRUCTION, LLC

ECOPLAY PLAYGROUNDS

playlsi.com

ccrconstructionllc.com

spease.com

LUCKYDOG RECREATION

CEMROCK

ENVIRONMENTAL MOLDING CONCEPTS

cemrock.com

emcmolding.com

866-957-2356

800-433-2573

800-933-0140

303-530-4414

800-559-8787

800-657-6138

702-303-8701

256-845-5610

714-633-4405

ICON SHELTER SYSTEMS INC 701-590-0024

612-670-8195

800-748-0985

iconshelters.com

IDSCULPTURE 800-356-2070

800-438-2780

970-641-1747 idsculpture.com

INTERNATIONAL PLAYGROUND SAFETY INSTITUTE 877-807-7529

888-760-2499

541-977-4555 ipsi.com

JACKSON LAND DESIGN 800-953-2021

877-348-3647 800-255-0153

800-339-2601

800-790-0034

888-4FUNLSI 540-364-9811

800-260-7218

800-388-2196 520-571-1999

luckydogrecreation.com

888-836-2665

CENTRAL COAST PLAYGROUNDS 805-934-1814

centralcoastplaygrounds.com

CHILD'S PLAY INC.

972-484-0600

Massive Directory Upgrade In Development In 2017 the Manufacturer and Local Directory will merge and become the Playground Professionals' Spotlight, offering a high-value, low-cost way to list your company or organization.

See playgroundprofessionals.com/spotlight to list or update your company's spotlight.

34 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2016

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

MARYLAND MATERIALS

PLAY IT SAFE PLAYGROUNDS & PARK EQUIPMENT

SAFELANDINGS SYSTEMS

mdmaterials.com

playitsafeplaygrounds.com

safelandings.com

MONTANA SCHOOL EQUIPMENT

PLAY SPACE SERVICES, INC.

SAFETY PLAY INC.

mtschoolequipment.com

playspaceservices.com

safetyplay.net

NATIONAL PLAYGROUND

PLAYGROUND MEDIC

SITELINES PARK & PLAYGROUND PRODUCTS

playgroundcompliance.com

playgroundmedic.com

sitelines.com

NATURAL PLAYGROUNDS CO

PLAYGROUND SAFETY SERVICES INC.

SLIDES N STUFF

naturalplaygrounds.com

playgroundsafetyservices.com

slidesandstuff.com

NICROS INC. ROCK CLIMBING WALLS

PLAYSAFE LLC

SOFSURFACES INC

nicros.com

play-safe.com

sofsurfaces.com

NORTHWEST PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

PLAYSITES PLUS SURFACES

SYNLAWN

nwplayground.com

playsitesplus.com

SYNLawn.com

PACIFIC FIBRE AND ROPE COMPANY

PLAYWORLD

THE PLAYGROUND SHADE AND SURFACING DEPOT

pacificfibre.com

playworld.com

playgroundshadeandsurfacing.com

PERCUSSION PLAY

RAINBOW TURF PRODUCTS

TRIAX2015 PLAYGROUND SURFACE IMPACT TEST SYSTEM

percussionplay.com

rainbowturfproducts.com

PICTURE PERFECT PLAYGROUNDS

RIVER VALLEY RECREATION

pictureperfectplaygrounds.com

rivervalleyrecreation.com

PLANET RECESS

RJ THOMAS MFG. COMPANY INC.

planetrecess.com

pilotrock.com

877-840-0707

406-454-0420

866-345-6774

603-228-0476

651-778-1975

800-726-0031

800-825-7673

866-882-9170

480-347-8486

888-653-7529

866-332-3133

800-373-4508

505-899-9532

631-392-0960

570-522-9800

888-653-7529

800-509-8888

888-878-0244

800-541-0869

208-342-8787

800-263-2362

866-SYNLawn

817-585-INFO

416-410-7506 triax2015.com

208-652-3284

800-455-8666

UPC PARKS

530-605-2664 upcparks.com

225-778-4700

800-762-5002

ZEAGER BROTHERS INC 800-346-8524 zeager.com

Play and Playground Magazine Winter 2016 Contributors BERLINER SEILFABRIK

LEARNING BY NATURE

PLAYGROUND GURU/JAY BECKWITH

berliner-seilfabrik.com

learningbynature.org

playgroundguru.org

DEEP FUN BY BERNIE DEKOVEN

MAGICAL BRIDGE FOUNDATION

PLAYWORLD

deepfun.com

magicalbridge.org

playworld.com

EPPLEY INSTITUTE

PLAY4ALL

POP-UP ADVENTURE PLAY

eppley.org

play4allcampaign.com

popupadventureplaygrounds.wordpress.com

www.playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

WINTER 2016 PLAY AND PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 35

T H I N K I N G T O DAY

A B O U T TO M O R R OW ’S P L AY ™

Magazine M Ma aggaazzin innee

Discover

Connect

Learn Play & Playground Magazine Archives

Professionals’ Spotlight

Weekly Email Newsletter

• Sales Representatives • Organizations • Playground Contractors • Inspectors • Consultants • Landscape Architects No matter what type of play professional you’re looking for, you will find them on PGP.

Today’s news and views and yesterday’s lessons learned, delivered to your inbox weekly.

The email contains reliable and consistent news, events and announcements.

Today’s Playground Magazine began in March of 2001 as the authority on play structures, amenities, and industry trends.

We are adding that wealth of knowledge to the web for the first time since originally published.

Are You a Playground Professional?

Subscribe Today

Read Magazine Archives

playgroundprofessionals.com/subscribe

playgroundprofessionals.com/magazine

Create your spotlight FREE playgroundprofessionals.com/spotlight

100’s of Play and Playground Magazine Articles

playgroundprofessionls.com Playground Professionals’ Spotlight Today’s News and Views Play and Playground Magazine

Search

Locations

Topics

Professionals

Playgrounds | Surfaces | Parks and Recreation | Athletic Equipment | Aquatics | Play