June 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 63

Natural playscapes offer
an organic alternative play
environment to promote
creativity and encourage the
development of a conservation
consciousness
By Dina Izenstark, M.S., CPRP,
and Aaron Ebata, Ph.D.

n exciting opportunity for park and recreational professionals to connect children and families to nature is through the development and
implementation of a natural playscape. A natural playscape is a highly
creative, interactive playground made of mostly natural materials like streams,
plants, boulders, logs and earth mounds, and it contains as few man-made components as possible. It is designed with the express purpose of encouraging
children's affinity for nature.
Although more municipal recreation agencies and schools have
begun to develop and implement
natural playscapes in their communities, there is little empirical evidence on the direct impact of this
feature and how it has the potential
to benefit children over traditional
playgrounds. Researchers at the University of Illinois in the Department
of Human and Community Development conducted a study to evaluate the Champaign County Forest
Preserve's new Homer Lake Natural
Playscape between August and December 2012 using a mixed-methods research design. This entailed
an onsite questionnaire (n=152) and
one-on-one interviews (n=15) with
parents and grandparents, as well as
participant observations at the Natural Playscape.
Research findings included the following:

Who used the Homer Lake
Natural Playscape?
Of the 152 respondents who completed the individual questionnaire,
62.5 percent reported that it was their
first time visiting the Natural Playscape, and 14.5 percent indicated
that it was their first time ever visiting
Homer Lake Forest Preserve. It was
clear that the Natural Playscape drew
in many new visitors, as 68 percent
of first-time visitors indicated that
visiting the Natural Playscape was
the main reason for their visit.
The Natural Playscape served a wide
variety of populations, as the 557 playscape users that were accounted for in
the questionnaires ranged in age from a
few months old to mid-70s. Among the
children (n=256) who utilized the Natural Playscape, more than 51 percent
were between the ages of 6 and 12, and
27 percent were between 19 months
and 5 years old. Of the adults (n=133)

who visited the Natural Playscape, 46.6
percent were between the ages of 36
and 55, while 30.8 percent were in early adulthood (aged 19 to 35). Men (48
percent) and women (52 percent) were
relatively equally represented. The majority of individual survey respondents
were Caucasian (88 percent). Fifty percent of survey respondents reported
having their graduate degree, 21.7 percent reported an undergraduate degree
and 18.1 percent reported some college.
More than 79 percent of users came
to the Natural Playscape with a group
of three or more people. Visitors came
from 33 different ZIP codes, ranging
from as close as Homer, Illinois, to as
far as Las Vegas, Nevada.
Why did participants use the
Natural Playscape?
Respondents reported that they chose
the Homer Lake Natural Playscape
over other playgrounds because it
provided " access to nature " (61.2 percent), it was " easy to reach " (28.9 percent) and " inexpensive " (28.3 percent).
Because the Natural Playscape is one
feature in a larger forest preserve, more
than 41 percent were there to participate in more than two main activities
(e.g., hike, picnic, fish). On average, 55

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