The average play area is like a ‘corral’ where children engage in play as prescribed by the play equipment manufacturers. In their brightly coloured play confines, imaginative play is constrained, risk taking is limited and contact with nature is non-existent.
There is a place for everything and there are some fantastic, manufactured play equipment designs out there. There are also some superb natural play areas. When we design a play area, we run the risk of driving out the natural play benefits.
Let me explain but before we go any further, I think it’s important define the two key terms. In this article I want to explore the differences between natural play and artificial play, there is of course overlap between the two. It’s very easy to confuse the widely used term ‘natural play area’ with natural play. There are many ‘natural play areas’ throughout the land, some have nature in them, whilst others are called natural play areas simply because they’re made from wood. It’s a right mess.
Natural Play – The ability for humans to play freely in any environment but often in nature, making connections to the surrounding area. To play imaginatively, take risks, develop and learn in a healthy way.
Artificial Play - Playing in a manufactured play environment made from artificial materials within a confined area. Limited freedom and risk taking and mainly prescribed play experiences with limited connection to the surrounding area.
We all have fond memories of a special place where we played as a child. Sometimes, it was a place where we weren’t supposed to be, maybe a disused building or a quarry, it may have been a secret place that not many people knew about. Often there was a natural backdrop to the secret hideout and whilst we didn’t always know it at the time, we were making lifelong connections with that place and the nature we interacted with. There were always hidden risks in these places with no safety barriers or safety surfaces to break our fall. We got soaking wet, sun burned, cut, bruised, and the odd broken limb. With the injuries came thrills, inspiration, confidence building, exercise, and learning. To play in real life places is to be human, but this natural right has been somewhat hijacked by a huge commercial industry and our collective fear of risk.
When I talk to my friends about their childhood memories of play, they rarely mention a specific play area that they loved as a child, it’s almost always a place that wasn’t designed or intended for play. If there was a fond connection to a play area, they say it was often a part of it that wasn’t for play that held their fascination and love for it. It’s curious, isn’t it? People often talk about memories of trees, we are understandably attracted to them for climbing, shade and for food.
I consider myself to be lucky as I had a very free childhood. My mum and dad were happy for me to disappear for the day on my bike and my friends and I would travel several miles from home. We played near a river ford where all of us would urge cars to go fast through the ford and splash us. In the gaps between car splashes, we caught sticklebacks in nets and put them in glass jars. We played in a disused railway line that served an old lime kiln works, where the regenerating trees had grown over the various manmade structures for decades. It was magical. I know that I am from that generation that bang on about this, but it really was different, and I can see that difference playing out with my own children now. They just don’t do what I did. The reasons are manyfold – safeguarding fears, mobile phones, streaming tv, games consoles can all dominate children’s lives 24 hours a day.
What is play and why do we need to do it?
When I search the internet for answers to this question, I don’t find many experts mentioning play areas; no swings slides and roundabouts, climbing frames don’t get a mention either. You will find a lot about healthy human development, communication skills, risk taking, cognitive development, gross motor development, imagination and emotional well-being. Play takes many forms but having nature as a backdrop is a universally accepted recipe for human health. So, you could ask where play areas fit into this. They’re a relatively new thing and one of the main reasons they began to appear was because of urbanisation and the loss of access to green space for children to play in. Our children have played in nature and the outdoors for millennia but now we are even discouraging children from playing in the street outside their homes, according to the survey by the charity Save the Children. Their data suggests that only 1 in 4 children are now playing outside their homes in the street and it seems that parents may be discouraging this kind of natural play. Here’s the link to the interesting study.
Where play is permitted, the average play area looks like a ‘corral’ where children engage in play as prescribed by the play equipment manufacturers. In their brightly coloured play confines, imaginative play is constrained, risk taking is limited and contact with nature is non-existent. Even some so-called natural play areas are often adorned with vibrant colours, half-baked images of something childish on one of the side panels. The chemically treated wood, resins, metal and plastic all wrapped up in a sterile play environment where the audience are consumers of a product rather than enjoying their right to natural play. Apart from the environmental impacts and manufacturing costs, these manufactured environments lead those young curious minds further and further away from nature and place. They could be anywhere, there is nothing to connect them with the place. Many of these products are chosen from catalogues, so you’ll find a generic theme creeping into play areas everywhere you go.
People choose nature for natural play
To me, natural play doesn’t require a structure. It needs no roundabout, slide or swing. We expect these things and other play structures to be in a play area simply through decades of familiarity. Natural play experiences can happen anywhere, but it works best within a natural setting because we know that nature has all kinds of other beneficial effects on us. I think play can happen in a woodland, a flower meadow or on the edge of a stream. So, why don’t we create those things as part of play areas?
Natural play can also happen in the streets, on the driveway playing in an old unused car. I swear I drove that car all over in the place in my 7 year old imagination. When we consider this kind of play, it makes designated play areas feel artificial. The car was real, the play area is deliberately intended to entertain children. I think there’s a big difference and for me this sums up the difference between artificial play and natural play.
Are our children playing outside at school?
The answer is clearly yes. However, very few children are getting access to nature and natural play experiences in our schools. The schools in the UK are mini development entities that are forced to expand into the outdoor space they have and there are often artificial play areas. Buildings are added as the school must continually expand to accommodate more children from the local community.
From my observations with our school projects, children spend most of their time playing on tarmac playgrounds. Very few schools allow children everyday access to grass playing fields (that’s as close to nature as most schools get unfortunately) due to mud and dirt.
I am concerned that most school children’s feet never leave concrete, tarmac, fake grass, rubber mulch or other manmade surfaces from the moment they leave home in the morning to when they return in the afternoon. They may be playing outside, but with so little exposure to nature, will it really matter if it disappears from their lives altogether? Nature could be as unfamiliar to them as natural play…
