What is quality play?...
Play is what I am going to do with my friends today. We are going to our secret place.
We travel through tall grasses harboring the meadow elves on our way to our underground
hole. Our hole is Alice's hole and we tumble into it. The shrub branches hide our hole
and we listen to the nesting birds to warn us of anyone's approach. I weave grasses
through the branches and decorate our hiding space. Done with our hole, we roam outside
making trails and climbing trees to survey our land. From the top of the tree we can
see places really far away, maybe even into other lands...
My definition of quality play is a dialogue with the young girl I once was. It morphs
from imaginative thoughts, to activities, to times alone and times with friends. It
shifts through years and seasons and I realize childhood is process. Quality play, an
integral part of this developmental process, is reliant on quality environments.
Play is essential for children's healthy social, mental, and physical development.
Children learn about their world through play. For children, every place is a place
for play; therefore, every place is an opportunity for learning. When designers
approach children's spaces with this understanding they realize the potent potential
to provide rich environments for play. Play areas structured around natural landform
and integrated with trees, stones and other natural material, stimulate imaginative
play in a manner that is not replicable by manmade materials. Child researchers
repeatedly document this important influence and yet our play areas for children
have yet to fully realize the potential of the natural world as play space.
I am exploring an alternative approach to designing for quality play. I am looking
at childcentered, process-oriented, exploratory, and developmental play spaces. My
approach to designing for play is informed by research on child development, play,
and education theory. A comprehensive understanding of the child development process,
enables me to integrate design elements that consider not only children's physical
needs, but also their social, cognitive, and creative needs as well. Site is an
important element often not considered. Site expresses the idea of process. As the
natural site changes daily, seasonally, and annually, the experience for the child
also changes. Never will they arrive to meet the same space. A site that is allowed
to evolve with insertions from children.a new fort, a hidden path.as well as
natural changes, an icicle or new buds, will continuously engage and educate the
child.
It is imperative that the importance of play is taken seriously. As wild places
disappear from our landscapes and children's free time decrease, advocates for
children need to speak out on children's behalf. Playgrounds need to allow for
childhood connection: connection to their play experience, to the people around
them, and connection to their environment. As designers, we have an opportunity
to make this vision a reality.
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