Real world Why play matters
Play helps children grow strong, solve problems, make friends and manage feelings. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes play as a right of every child, and the World Health Organization recommends that children and teenagers get an average of 60 minutes of physical activity a day.
Real world The adventure playground idea
In 1943 the Danish landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen noticed that children preferred playing on building sites to neat playgrounds. A "junk playground" opened at Emdrup, near Copenhagen, where children could build with wood, ropes and tools under the eye of a playworker. The idea spread to Britain and beyond as the adventure playground movement.
Real world Designing safe, exciting play
Good playgrounds offer challenge, such as climbing higher, balancing and swinging, while keeping serious injuries rare. Safety guides recommend shock-absorbing surfaces under equipment, safe heights and gaps, and no sharp edges. Inclusive playgrounds add ramps, wide platforms and equipment that children using wheelchairs can enjoy.
Art In this artwork
This illustration shows a treehouse built into a large tree with ladders, platforms and rope bridges.
Look closer
- Find the ladders and platforms. Which way up is the most challenging?
- Is there a way in for a child who uses a wheelchair?
Think about it
- What is the best playground you have been to, and why?
- Why might a little risk be good for children?
- How could a playground be fun for children of all abilities?
Key words
- Playworker
- An adult trained to support children's free play.
- Inclusive
- Designed so everyone can join in.
- Safety surfacing
- Soft ground that cushions falls.
Sources
The facts on this page are based on these sources:
- United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Articles 28, 29 and 31
- Danish Architecture Centre and the Adventure Play movement, on the Emdrup junk playground (1943)
- US Consumer Product Safety Commission, "Public Playground Safety Handbook"
- World Health Organization, "Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior" (2020)
