Adventure Playgrounds
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Adventure Playground
The mall across the street
donated $21,000 to liven up the park.
$10,000 went to build a basketball court.
The rest went toward making
an adventure playground
An old tree that fell down
was cut up into sections
to make table bases.
The park staff donated
some leftover plywood.
For $300, we built a little food cart for the playground, for coffee and cookies (pwyc)
Then in 2009, the planners said the wooden playground should be replaced with a modern plastic-coated structure for $150,000.
But park users told their councillor that they didn't want a new structure or any changes. So the old one was allowed to stay and the swings were put back.
when a tree had
to be cut down...
We learned how to make
a temporary brick oven
to bake pizza
We learned how a park that
has no water but wants food
can rig up a water supply like this:
The cost of setting up the adventure playground was $5660, with another
$5000 for doing programs there:
$11,660
Then we noticed that something new was happening in the playground industry
Also, waterplay can be
made too complicated
But they had
a good idea:
the water runs
off into plant
irrigation channels.
To get in touch with us:
mail@celos.ca
Dufferin Grove Park in 1993:
a 14-acre
downtown Toronto
park with a soccer field,
an outdoor ice rink for winter, quite a few trees, and a simple wood-and-metal playground. The playground didn't get a lot of use from kids
past toddler-age.
For $4000, city staff dug
an old-fashioned sandpit
beside the playground,
20 feet by 40 feet.
Beside the playground there was a lot of empty space.
The first kids to discover the sandpit
built a doorway into the new area.
A park neighbour made a sign:
"Big Back Yard"
different kinds of forts were built
the sandpit worked for all ages
some school classes came to play, and if it rained,
they put up a tarp -- like camping
They were a big hit.
more kids started using the old wooden playground beside the sandpit
the wooden structure is sociable and adaptable
... enough trunk
was left to make a
three-sided bulletin board
park staff built a few more simple benches
we painted a pretend bake oven underneath the climber
then the kids started making rivers and dams together
and
in the
winter,
we made
campfires
and cooked
hot soup
(most materials were scrounged, cost was $34)
water source
SAND
For instance, in Europe, waterplay has been a playground feature for many years, using a pump instead of a tap
Sometimes junk got dumped there, so one day some kids and park neighbours cleaned it up.
They surrounded it with logs.
For $200, some youth came and made some wood-chip paths.
for $1000, an artist was hired to do some crafts with the kids. They started with some colourful decorations for the doorway
for $500, a clown was hired to do a few circus activities with the kids
next, we needed a shed to store materials,
so for $1100, a local carpenter built the standard city plywood shed. The artist painted it in a cheerful pattern
The artist went to a second-hand store and bought cheap old clothes by the pound, for $30. She and some kids ripped them up into strips to do crafts.
So we made
checkers
and chess
game tables
The artist painted a mural on the park fence.
For $60 we bought garden shovels for the kids to dig.
The park staff brought in some leftover tree branches for
tipi poles. Neighbours donated old fabric, for tipi covers.
For $3000, summer helpers were hired. Signs were put up on poles, listing the many drop-in activities
The circus teacher set up a tightrope.
Too much of a challenge for the kids
For $400, the circus teacher made
6 pairs of light aluminum stilts.
For $60 the artist bought real clay and set it up on a picnic table.
The kids said "we must have food at the adventure playground" Camping 101: outdoor campfire cooking: easy to set up .
A chef came and showed the kids a few recipes, even the trouble makers joined in. They were often the hungriest!
city staff built a farm-fence
to keep the dogs from running through
The city's risk management staff took out half the swings
just outside the fence there was an unused tetherball pole, so staff bought some tetherballs
people came and picnicked outside the playground farm-fence
staff scrounged old picnic tables and the old men set up card games beside the kids playing checkers
some people came on wheels
the sandpit continued to be the biggest attraction
for $64 we bought a tap and a hose that attached to an in-ground water outlet
the kids were so busy learning engineering, they never wanted to go home
manufacturers began to offer "natural playgrounds"
this Toronto "natural playground" has a dry-sand play area and many log features
But the cost is high; $400,000
But here's a problem:
somebody gets stuck pumping water.
This leads to arguments instead of fun with engineering
At a $28.5 million modern-design Toronto park
and water treatment plant, water play is cut off
from the rest of the sand play area
At another $1 million Toronto Park the water engineering is already designed in concrete, just for looking
A Quebec company sells a plastic waterplay area with four module game installations. That can't be cheap.
we think it works better to stick with sand, water, logs, and shovels.
It's amazingly safe, too: in 20 years, there have been only cuts and scrapes
in the sand pit
In 20 years, the old wooden playground has led to only
a few broken arms on the monkey bars, nothing worse.
Once a farmer came and brought food to cook together