Design for Children's Playgrounds

An aesthetic and content-related challenge

We would like to take a closer look at the question of how children's playgrounds should ideally be designed in order to do justice to the joy of children's play and the high play value of the equipment, while still creating an urban space that is exciting and appealing for adults too. We are therefore dedicating the third issue of our magazine to the topic of "Design for children's playgrounds - an aesthetic and content-related challenge".


Space to Play
Towards a children's mind for a playground design
One of the challenges we have as adults, is that our mind has a habit of being habitual and we are not aware of our unconscious choices. The unconscious bias theory says, we don’t see things as they are – we see them as we are. That said, according to neuroscience, we have a way to work around that and exercise our minds not to fall into our habitual minds trap. We call it having a "beginners mind", which is like having an open and curious mind, like children do.
Towards a children's mind for a playground design

In conversation with a Playmaker
Three questions to Günter Beltzig
What exactly is "playing"? What is a "playground"?

GB: To play means to deal with oneself, with one's possibilities, needs and environment, to recognise one's limits and to make the best of everything. Play is the original form of learning. Learning not only with the mind, but also with the feeling, with the body, learning as a whole. And for this learning the child needs time, freedom and space, maybe a playground.
 

Children between nature and technology
Design Considerations for a Digital Age
In our digital era, children are bombarded with screen time activities. Their love for technology is apparent, and admittedly, what’s not to love? Technology has granted even the youngest of children access to the universe in the palm of their hand, and allows all users a sense of immediate satisfaction. With technology so readily available, it is easy to understand how some children find themselves fixated with being interactive on social media, and less so in person (traditionally, how generations of children before interacted with their friends). Imagine a younger version of yourself—always a helpful design technique, especially when creating playspaces—wasn’t “fitting in with the crowd” of the utmost importance, even if that now means you don’t actually have to see your friends to do so?
Design Considerations for a Digital Age