April 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 50

" It was a beautiful old elm tree that was dying of Dutch
elm disease, " Sudds says. " So we used a big piece of the
stump, turned it upside down, and it became a place for
kids to play under and around. We used other pieces of
the tree for playground furniture. Now the kids can touch
a real tree. "
Some playground designers use manufactured elements to simulate what is found in nature, which bewilders
Sudds.
" Why would you want a prefabricated boulder when a
real one is available? " he asks. " With a real rock, kids can
see the striations. Maybe there's moss or lichens growing
on it: kids can see that. "
For directors of parks, schools and community centers considering a traditional model or venturing into the
brave new world of natural playgrounds, three factors loom
large: cost, maintenance, and safety. Natural playground
designers and, more importantly, their clients find, natural
playgrounds on par with traditional models. Sudds says
a typical traditional playground for a child care center
might initially cost $60,000, while a natural playground's
cost might vary from $55,000 to $65,000-not a significant
difference.
At Bozeman's Learning Circle Montessori School, Stern
says the natural playground cost about $170,000 to install.
" We spent about $170,000. We couldn't have gotten as
much equipment for that amount. "
The playground committee at Thatcher Brook found the
cost of replacing its aging facility would be about $87,000 for
seven pieces of traditional equipment, plus another $9,000 for
landscaping. A committee member stumbled upon the concept of a natural playground on the internet and embraced
the idea. The school ended up spending $127,000. " But the
wood treehouse was an extra, " Schneider says. " Otherwise it
would have been around $100,000-about the same. " He has
hosted curious delegations from other schools. " I tell them
this isn't a vegan playground. You keep soccer fields and
basketball courts, because you need them. "

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Some point out the maintenance costs of traditional playgrounds, but Teri Handy notes
that natural elements-logs, tree
stumps, mud piles, sand pits-
also wear out and need to be
replaced. The amount of maintenance a natural playground
requires depends on a manager's wishes.
" If you want it manicured like
a lawn, there's a lot of maintenance, " says Schneider. " We're
letting ours grow wild. "
Hendy admits such a playground won't " look as pretty, as tidy " as what managers
usually see.
" Things will look ratty, not well-manicured, which
drives park managers crazy, " she says. " Some will say it's
just too difficult to maintain, and turn me down. "
" The long term benefits of a naturalized playground far
outweighs the costs associated with it. If planned strategically,
some of the costs can be minimized by utilizing existing site
assets, like existing shade trees, and selecting child-friendly
plantings that are specific to the sites hardiness zone, " says
Caroline Boland of PlayCore, a playground design firm that
blends manufactured and natural elements in its work.
Safety is always a primary concern with any type of
playground. Though no separate safety inspection criteria
yet exist for natural playgrounds-David Spease, a California-based inspector, says standards are the same for
all types of playgrounds-advocates say the elements in
their designs meet all federal and local safety standards.
Schneider says inspectors have certified Thatcher Brook
School's playground as safe three times.
Hendy taps her extensive knowledge of safety standards,
" If I put in a log, I'll select logs that don't have branches sticking out so a kid could get impaled or lose an eye, " she says.
" If I put in a pile of boulders, I'll make sure they don't wobble
or create a hole that has the potential of crushing a child. I'll
make sure standards apply. "
Don Schneider says his Vermont community has happily accepted Thatcher Brook's new style of playground:
" We've had nothing but positive comments from parents, especially those with young kids. Some of our teachers worried that kids would get muddy, that they'd have
more maintenance to do. But it's turned completely around.
And we've seen the school climate improve, in part due to
the playground. The kids can have so much fun without
manmade things around. "


Boris Weintraub is a freelance writer based in

Washington, D.C.

Vladimir Ceresnak/ shutterstock

In a traditional playground,
a slide is a slide, monkey
bars are monkey bars. But a
boulder can be a boulder, or it
can be something else. Nature
is an ideal playground.

April 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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