It can’t be understated how important play is during the formative years of a child’s life, it’s not just about ‘having fun’ but rather an essential way to learn, grow and explore the world around them.
Playgrounds are particularly interesting places as they help us understand the role of play in a child’s life.
So, when your kid’s favourite playground gets a facelift or council decides that a piece of equipment is too dangerous, what does this mean for how children play?
Children pick up different skills from their play dependent on their age. In the early years, children are usually playing by themselves, then they develop social skills and often play in groups, then coordination-based activities become more prevalent, then children engage in structured games like hide and seek for example.
Contemporary playground designs have adapted to these realisations, their evolving presence in Sydney can be more appropriately defined as modern ‘play spaces’.
Landscape architect Mary Jeavons has worked on the design of many public playgrounds across Australia including advising Ku-ring-gai Council on their strategic planning of play spaces. It set the framework for the construction of the ‘St Ives Showground Playground’, which is the largest playground in the Ku-ring-gai area.
“Play is the way how children learn and develop,” Ms Jeavons stated, “we as planners and designers we need to understand that what we’re doing is actually affecting a whole generation.” Ms Jeavons acknowledged that playgrounds have been improving in some facets such as disability access or more attention to natural elements but in other areas, there are increasing causes for concern.
“I think playgrounds can both stimulate and stifle play. If they’re just entirely covered in rubber for example, they really deprive children of play,” she said.
Some even say that playgrounds are becoming too safety-conscious to the point that they’ve become boring. Local mother of three, Marnie Morrison said that playgrounds were “more fun” when she was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, “I remember the slippery dips made from metal that’d burn you and the seesaws, oh god I hurt myself on them, but they were so much fun!”
Professor David Eager, an engineer with a focus on playground safety commented on Australia’s progress in safety regulations. Eager’s work in lowering injury rates in climbing equipment is largely accredited to the transition from monkey bars to “spatial nets” as he called them. “When they fall from these nets they get caught by a system below, which progressively breaks their fall,” he explained, “whereas monkey bars are a rigid structure so when the children fall off, they really hurt themselves.”
An important part of the learning process during a child’s play is the element of risk evaluation. Dr Eager realised that even though his spatial nets reduced the risk of serious injury or death, they still exposed the children to a feeling of danger. He pointed out that “they’re good because it’s psychologically playing with their minds, they don’t realise that it’s not dangerous.” The child can make the decision on how high they want to climb under the proxy of a life-death situation.
Take note of your local playground next time you’re out because their abundancy and the occupancy of children within them provides telling insights into who the next generation will grow up to be.
