Over the years, the design of playgrounds has increasingly resulted in one dimensional play value for children, due to an overriding concern for safety. As a result, play areas have become very generic and unrelated to their surrounding context. New play areas are often places where children become bored because they are similar to what they have seen too many times before.

While safety is an important consideration in the design of playgrounds, there is a growing recognition that children’s play environments have the potential to provide an array of experiences that contribute to the learning and development of children. Many of our projects engage children in an inclusive design process to determine what children want, how they would like to play, and what this park should look like.

Our play environments draw from research completed in the field of children’s play.  Including the 7 c’s and the Reggio Emilio approach to child development which describes the environment as “the third teacher”.