The COVID-19 epidemic made us take a much deeper look into the role of playgrounds in children's lives...

…and we found research that may be vital to the safety of your children!  

We discovered that wooden play and learning elements may be much, much safer for children than the traditional plastic and metal equipment found on most playgrounds. 

“When pathogens, such as COVID-19, land on most hard surfaces [such as steel and plastic playground equipment], they can live for up to four to five days." says Bill Keevil, professor of environmental healthcare at the University of Southampton.

But that's not the case with wood! Studies show that cellulose in wood absorbs pathogens but will not release them! “We've never been able to get bacteria that's down in the wood back up so it contaminates things on the surface,'' said Dean Cliver, PhD. about his research at the University of Wisconsin.

If you've ever climbed trees, rolled down hills, scrambled up rocks, made mud pies, dammed up water, hid in grass, played house in bushes, built snow forts, dug in sand, played in dirt, planted seeds, jumped in leaves, tracked animals, or had fun outside in other, similar ways, you've experienced natural play.

Our unique design process helps our playground designers work with you to combine existing and new landscape elements, movement corridors, sun paths, weather patterns, drainage courses, plant groupings, and other site amenities with carefully chosen natural materials, structures, berms, hills, and other features to create safe, accessible, age-appropriate play, social, and learning opportunities in natural play areas that look and feel like they've been there forever.

Our natural playgrounds look like miniature natural landscapes, and they're full of intriguing play and learning opportunities just waiting to be discovered by children of all ages. Sometimes they're referred to as ecological parks, play parks, or nature parks.

In urban settings, we adhere to the same philosophy, but use several techniques to alter it to accommodate the higher impacts occurring in high use areas.

As vegetation plays a major role in the cooling down and softening of play environments, we use it extensively and capitalize on its three-dimensional characteristics to highlight and envelop the urban playscape. This way, the natural world can be observed, cared for, and appreciated close up.

Depending on the scope of the project, fitness structures, furniture, and site fixtures are incorporated into both urban and rural designs. 

If you'd like our help exploring the possibilities on your site, please call us toll free 888-290-8405 or email us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

During our presentations to prospective clients, we always know there'll be a time when someone will ask "how much do natural playgrounds cost?"

I take a deep breath and say "That's a hard one, but if you give me a minute, I'll give you an answer."

It's hard because there are no direct comparisons. A few of the tangibles might be sort of comparable, but it's almost impossible to compare the intangibles. For instance, a slide is a slide, so the experience of actually going down a slide in a manufactured playground and going down a slide built into a hill in a natural playground will be pretty close. But it's really more complicated than that.

Overall

• They are the same initial investment as a traditional playground
• 10 times more play and learning elements
• Significantly higher play value
• Tailored to your budget
• Last longer
• Lower maintenance costs

Here's an example: a 35' long slide gives a great ride for kids of all ages, 5 years to 65 years. To achieve the proper slope for this long a slide, the ladder has to be 20' high. 20' is way off the ground. If kids try climbing the slide and fall off one side, they'll get hurt. If they fall off the ladder, they'll get hurt. Further, if they're afraid of climbing ladders, or are intimidated by height, they won't have a chance to even try the slide.

On the other hand, if this same slide is built into a hill, there is no ladder (so no one can fall off), there is no way a child can be intimidated by height, and there are no sides to fall off of, which makes the slide very safe. Further, if the access up the hill to the top of the slide is made challenging and fun (rock walls to climb, or interesting paths to follow), then children will find the whole experience more interesting and may therefore be more inclined to repeat it -- thus making them exercise more while they're learning more than just climbing up and sliding down. The actual cost of the slide for the natural playground will be far less, as the slide is simpler (no structure, no ladder, no ladder enclosure, no tube to keep kids from falling off), and there is no need for a fall zone all around the slide (it's just at the end).

You may find the following educational resources helpful.   

• Attracting Butterflies 
• Activities for young children: good listing of over 3400 activities to do with young children, many of which relate to nature and the seasons. 
• Botany:internet directory 
• Bird art for the garden: very graceful birds of PVC :( ...but nice! 
• Butterfly gardens 
• Bench Swing: Free Standing Arbor Swing: Step- by-step, do-it-yourself guide. For other project guides, use the "Search", top left. 
• Children's Play in Natural Environments: A fact Sheet 
• Children's landscapes in Norway 
• Children, Youth, & Environments 
• Children & Nature Network: its goal: establishing a global community of people and organizations committed to working together to reconnect children with nature
• Developmentally Appropriate Gardening for Young Children by Vicki Stoecklin 
• Developing Adventure Playgrounds 
• Early Childhood Care and Education Resources 
• EIC: Using the Environment as an Integrating Context (EIC) for Learning; EIC is an education model that employs natural and community surroundings as the context for learning while taking into account “best practices in education.” 
• enabling landscapes 
• edible landscaping 
• Earth-Friendly clothes for kids 
  • Soul Flower 
  • Babysoy 
• Globe Project: Uses a worldwide community of students, teachers, scientists, and citizens working together to better understand, sustain, and improve Earth's environment at local, regional, and global scales. Friendly website. 
• Environmental art: great UK site showing children creating natural art following Andy Goldsworthy's ideas. Make sure to follow the link at page bottom. 
• Fast Growing Trees: Great site for people who want well-established natural playgrounds in a hurry! 
• Fast plants: fast-growing plants for research and education purposes, vetted by the University of Wisconsin 
• Fencing: Unobtrusive, do-it-yourself fencing that is just the thing for child care centers wanting to avoid unattractive chain link fences. 
• Ground Covers: Great little brochure about ground covers: a plant list and info about where to plant, foot traffic tolerance, speed of growth, and growing conditions 
• Gardening ideas for kids: A comprehensive list of web resources for gardening with children" 
• Garden Community Gardening for people of all ages, abilities and lifestyles 
• Grass (self-replicating!!!), an answer to tough-use areas? 
• Green Pages (same as Yellow Pages, but about "green" companies) 
• Greening Schools - Students excited about their Natural Playground may broaden their interests to other sustainable School projects and check out this website. 
• Green Street: fascinating Canadian Site; well done! 
• Herb Gardens: Starting a garden for kids, growing, ideas, resources. Nice site. 
• Hidden Harvest: This award- winning, non-profit group teaches gardening in low income areas! 
• Incredible Benefits of Gardening!!
• Invasive Plants: National Park Service, Invasipedia New England 
• Interactive sculptural environments 
• Keeping Children Safe when they're playing outside 
• Learning through landscapes 
• Maintenance Guide for Natural Playgrounds  
• Math in nature: Math lessons for natural playgrounds. Make sure to follow links at page bottom. 
• Moss Acres: moss gardens; see also bigdipper 
• Musical Instruments: make your own: Here and Here 
• Nature Kindergarten: a look at Scotland's first nature kindergarten, with recommendations,study guides on using an outdoor classroom 
• Natural gardening/landscaping materials: willow fences, etc., and then look through the outdoor gardening menu on the left 
• Path Stabilization: DirtGlue stabilizes soil to make natural-looking paths. 
• Playground Physics (and other resources) introduction to basic concepts in classical mechanics for upper elementary and middle school grades (4-7) relating the experience children have on the playground to basic physics concepts. Some refit req'd to use items that are all natural. 
• Poisonous plants: 
  Simple list 
  Searchable Data Bases: Colorado State University 
  USFDA 
• Put up posts without digging holes! SeePin foundations! 
• Rainwater Harvesting 
• Play Naturally: A review of Children's Natural Play 
• Rare plants in US 
• Ropes 
• RoSPA British site discussing playground safety in a more generous, common-sense way than here in the US. 
• Sandpits: a fun account of how a large sandpit developed, with helpful hints 
• Shade Planting 
  • Deep Shade Plants: Great list, lots of info, but hard to sort through 
  • Gardening in the Shade 
• Societies: a comprehensive list of plant, garden, & related societies 
• STEM Lesson planning guide for K-12: STEM lessons can help introduce elementary students to "scientific linear thinking, creative problem solving, inventiveness, and instilling the importance of collaboration and teamwork," according to TODAY.com. For high schoolers, who have more freedom to choose specific electives and who are often beginning to think about their future careers, exposure to STEM can offer useful hands-on experience. 
• Sustainable Horticulture: UNH's Growing a Green Generation horticulture curriculum for pre-school to kindergarten age children 
• Training in Natural Play: outdoor play training courses at the University of Gloucestershire may be a bit of a stretch, but at least it's being done! 
• Therapeutic landscapes 
• Trees for kids: all about trees; fun, interactive 
• Tree Houses: fun, one-of-a-kind, universally accessible tree houses are beautiful additions to natural play environments. 
• tree ID 
• Urban forestry General tree info for urban areas 
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: soil surveys & maps, free help from the "Earth Team" to conserve environment; plant ID 
• Water Gardening 
• Willow structures for tips on building. Places to buy willow rods; Bluestem Nursery. Also buy Salix viminalis at local nurseries. 

If you need to remodel old playgrounds, build new ones, develop master plans for play areas around schools or communities, develop outdoor classrooms, create learning trails, or build gardens, shade structures, gateways, or play sculptures...

...and you want to do something creative, different, cost-effective, long-lasting, educational, and beautiful that benefits your children in numerous ways,

Please don't pull out a catalog! 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

...and let our natural playground staff help you assess your situation and work with you to develop a plan that gets you where you want to go - in a natural way - toward a Natural Playground.

We're always uncertain how to respond to these kinds of concerns. It's sort of like trying to discuss safety issues about a walk in the woods, so let me just share some things with you.

For months, we've been looking for safety information with regard to natural play areas and have found nothing. They seem to fall somewhere between playgrounds, parks, and gardens, so I think the insurance industry hasn't quite figured out how to develop safety standards on which they base their risk assessment.

Sometimes we cavalierly suggest that natural play areas are really nothing more than landscaping, and as far as we know, insurance companies don't yet have an opinion about the safety of landscaping, or how to assess the risks inherent in landscaping.

So let's take one thing at a time.

The majority of serious playground accidents result from falls off high play structures. That's why there's so much attention paid to fall/use zone material and depth (see statistics at the end of this article).

Because equipment is so expensive and has such limited play value, we rarely recommend it. Sometimes, however, our clients want it because it offers play experiences not otherwise available (sliding and swinging are examples). In these two examples, our playground designers incorporate slides into existing or created hills (for pictures of in-ground or embankment slides, see examples on this site), and for the vestibular motion achieved by swinging, we use low impact porch/arbor swings.

Our Guidelines: What’s important to keep in mind, is that the natural features of the site should be the framework within which play is experienced. No play component (natural or manufactured) should dictate the design of the site, or force the site to do something that doesn’t befit its general nature.

Whereas a site will naturally dictate the design of natural play and recreation opportunities (an obvious example is a hillside that easily becomes an amphitheater or a place for sledding or rolling down hill), equipment and its typically large safe zone requirement often dominates a site and destroys its natural character.

All too often, equipment companies will remove trees and other vegetation so they can level a site to make way for their equipment, an action which is both environmentally disrespectful and needlessly expensive.

Sales reps ("playground designers") from large equipment companies, whose clients ask for natural playgrounds, tell us they have no equipment options that offer natural play experiences. As a result, all they can offer is landscaping. Clearly, they should be offering Natural Playground options.

We are all curious about the natural world and how it works. There is very little in our lives that is unaffected by nature. Weather dictates our choice of clothes, our buildings battle the elements, food comes from the soil, water comes from ponds or underground reservoirs, and we sleep when the sun goes down.

When thunder rolls, or frost forms on a window pane, or a rivulet of water takes a new course, or a leaf falls, or a bee lands on a flower, or wind blows hair or makes a leaf tornado, kids of all ages want to know why.

Why is the sky blue? Why does the rain make noise? Where does the water go? How do you make bricks? How do you make a lean-to out of sticks? Where do ants go? Why is grass hollow? How come things grow? Why is a caterpillar fuzzy? How do you build an igloo? Why does it feel cozy crawling under a bush? Why is it so exciting to run through the grass? How can a conversation with a friend feel so intimate when we’re sitting on a log right in the middle of things?

Young people should be learning about these things when they’re outside, not just when they’re taking a class, but also when they’re relaxing or playing.

Natural Playgrounds use natural landscapes as their model, and incorporate as many of the following features as possible:

Natural play areas often look like miniature natural landscapes.

Flat land is transformed into rolling hills, vegetation grows where it looks right, weathered brick paths meander around "natural" features, sand play areas are scooped into the ground, fallen trees are perfect for sitting and climbing, natural rock piles make wonderful seats and climbing areas, loose parts for constructing things are all over the place, shrubs are great for finding insects and "hiding," trees provide cool shade, places for birds, great spring summer and fall colors, and fruit if you plant fruit trees...

Take a look at our gallery, and see lots of inspiring photos!

Natural playgrounds are definitely the way to go!

Why do all playgrounds look alike?

We always begin playground workshops the same way. We ask people to think back to a Saturday morning when they were 8-12 years old and to tell us what their favorite outdoor play activity was, either something they did by themselves or with their friends.

Exercise follows:

1. Before you read further, what was your favorite outdoor play experience? (For this exercise, exclude sports, shopping, electronic toys, and motorized vehicles.)
   
   
2. Take a moment and write it down. Was it rolling down a hill? Chasing your friends? Building forts in the woods? Playing in the water? Watching insects in a field? Throwing snowballs? Playing four square or statue? Or just talking with your best friend on a bench under a tree?
   
   
3. So write it down, and then read on.

Whatever it was, playground equipment probably wasn’t part of it. It never is. Very, very few adults in all our meetings and workshops have said "my favorite outdoor play activity was sliding on the playground slide," or "playing on the monkey rings," or "going up and down on the see-saw," or even "going to the playground."

The funny thing is that when we work in schools, we ask children the same question, and even though they have all this safe, expensive, manufactured equipment on their playgrounds, their favorite play activities still have nothing to do with the equipment. 

Manufactured playgrounds challenge children's physical development (mostly gross motor skills) but do very little to challenge their emotional, social, and cognitive creativity.

On the other hand, Natural playgrounds made with natural play elements, mirror natural world experiences that help children - and young adults - constantly discover new things about themselves and the world around them through experimentation, observation, problem-solving, and manipulation. In addition, natural playgrounds are very physically challenging!

Our playground designers give natural playscapes character, the imprint of time, biological complexity, architectural eloquence, and physical challenge.

"Children gravitate naturally toward sand, water, loose parts, and stacking materials. Children need exposure to nature. They need play that helps them develop a sense of beauty,' says Joe Frost, professor of early childhood education, University of Texas.

"Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters." Saint Bernard, 11th Century.

"Designing" generally implies that a process will be followed in developing a plan that shows how something will look and function once it's built.

A plan is usually required when a number of elements need to be placed together in a coherent fashion that optimizes the space you have.

Depending on the project, each element (which the dictionary defines as a part or aspect of something abstract) may consist of a number of components, each of which may be abstract in itself.

So a typical client will have a number of components that need to be categorized into elements that need to be drawn together in a coherent plan.

You need to find a designer to help you do this.

I know it sounds easy. Sort of like landscaping, so anyone with any kind of landscaping background should be able to build these beautiful play areas, right?

That's certainly what I thought when I started the company 25 years ago. I'd design beautiful natural play environments all over the country, and then our customers would hire local landscape contractors to build them.

Well, it didn't work out that way. We found that landscape contractors were adept at building patios, landscaping around commercial and residential buildings, planting trees and shrubs, installing gardens and walkways, but had no idea how to construct 3-dimensional landscapes.

If they tried (and they did), because they didn't understand how to build in three dimensions, they would change our design on the spot, with the result that things no longer fit. Most of the time, they misinterpreted our plans, didn't know how to solve drainage issues, couldn't read plans, didn't understand the ASTM and CPSC safety guidelines so they'd create safety hazards, and they had no idea how to implement the ADA guidelines.

They caused more headaches than it was worth, and, because they didn't know what they were doing (had never before built a Natural Playground), to cover themselves, they charged our customers way too much money, in one case 3 times what we had estimated!

Safe, sustainable, and more challenging Natural Playgrounds cost less than traditional playground equipment and are catching the eye of childcare centers, elementary and Montessori schools, and communities wanting to save money in this tight economy.

The Natural Playgrounds Company^® says it can save communities, schools, and childcare centers lots of money by creating sustainable, Natural Playgrounds that are safer and meet green standards, yet challenge kids emotionally, physically, and mentally.

“For the past 60 years, everyone, including bottom-liners, has relied on playground equipment companies providing answers to questions about play and children,” says Ron King, President of the Concord, NH-based Natural Playgrounds Company.

“When a playground needed refurbishing, or a new playground was needed, decision-makers turned to playground equipment companies to give them the most up-to-date playground equipment that met the newest safety standards,” said King.

“Then every ten years or so, when that equipment became outdated, out-of-code, and out of compliance, it was dumped in the trash and replaced without a thought, sometimes at great sacrifice to other, more pressing program needs, and certainly at great cost to the environment.”