Natural Playgrounds are growing into a national trend.
Here’s a very interesting article we found in USA Today on the growing popularity of natural playgrounds.
View our Natural Play Concepts Here, and read the article below:
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald Special for, USA TODAY
BOSTON — The playground of the future is beginning to take shape — and it looks a lot like the backyard of the past.
Designers of children’s play spaces are increasingly looking beyond slides, jungle gyms and other plastic-coated structures in their quest to create fun, safe, healthy environments. As a result, kids are running outside and discovering play areas dotted with old standbys: sand, water, boulders, hills and logs.
“This is an emerging national trend of some significance,” says Richard Dolesh, chief of public policy for the National Recreation and Parks Association. “Parents and other adults want natural opportunities for kids … The question is: how do you ensure safety with the inherent challenges that nature brings?”
Natural play spaces, as they’re called, are becoming more common as municipalities, schools and child care centers seek sustainable ways to invest in new or aging playgrounds. Seattle is adding at least six natural play spaces to existing city parks. Boston-area institutions have at least four in the works. Similar projects are either underway or recently completed in Phoenix, Chicago, New York and Auburn, Ala.
Visit Active Playground Equipment Natural Play for natural playground concepts.
