The World Needs More Adventure Playgrounds
Let kids make their own play spaces and learn some amazing new skills along the way
The Adventure Playground in Berkeley is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. I still can’t believe it really exits. All the play structures were made by kids. With hammers, nails, saws, rope, paint, wood and whatever other scraps can be found. There are dozens of huge forts up to three stories tall with bridges, zip lines, tire swings, hand made foosball tables, slides, climbing walls… and many other inventions that don’t even have names. All made by kids.
In exchange for finding some discarded nails and wood splinters, my three year old son and five year old daughter were handed a hammer and saw and told to get to work. They can also get paint and brushes and just paint all over the forts.
Of course there is adult supervision and a crew of staff that make sure things are sturdy.
The amount of freedom the kids are given with tools that today may be considered scary and dangerous is extraordinary. And it’s run by the city no less! In a country known for its frivolous lawsuits and overprotectiveness I’m happy to see something like this still exist.
It is true that the site is often rough, structures built by children may be hazardous, tools could be used in a dangerous way—but all available evidence indicates that the children are so absorbed in what they are doing, and so cautious in attempting anything beyond their present capacities, that the accident rate is in fact lower than that on conventional playgrounds with fixed equipment. — Lia Sutton
Since going there last summer, I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve been looking into these types of playgrounds around the world. There are only 2 or 3 in the US. Apparently they started in war torn European cities from the rubble of destruction after World War II.
Living in Chicago, I want so badly for one of these to exist near me. I think Evanston would be a great community to find support for one. Maybe over by the lake somewhere. It looks like there is one in Huntington Beach where the kids actually build rafts and test if they float.
I’m going to start by setting up an area in my own backyard this summer to experiment with building things with my kids. After some learnings I’d love to figure out how to work with the city and make one of these real, available to the public. This would be my first time getting involved with city politics so I’m not sure where to start. Maybe there are other folks in other cities that would want to work together on creating a whole network of these parks.
So…
Who’s with me!?
