Designing Playful Spaces: Where Kids Thrive and Communities Connect

We design inclusive play areas that cater to children of varying abilities, creating opportunities for social integration and empathy building. Additionally, the mental health benefits of outdoor play—reducing stress and enhancing emotional resilience—are at the forefront of our designs.

Our designs incorporate natural materials and green spaces because we know that time spent in nature improves attention spans and helps children build a connection with the environment. Considering planting within play areas is also important for kids exploring nature as many kids do bug hunts or bug hotels with sticks and leaves along the periphery.

Play spaces also serve as intergenerational hubs, where not just children, but adults and older generations can connect and engage, fostering a stronger community. In our designs, we incorporate six key types of play to foster a wide range of skills, helping children grow, connect, and thrive in safe, natural environments.

Play helps children:

– Build physical and mental well-being,

– Encourage healthy brain development,

– Strengthen creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills,

– Develop social skills like sharing, collaboration, and communication,

– Build confidence, resiliency, and decision-making,

– Practice overcoming fears and adult roles,

– Explore the outdoors and their senses, learning about the world.

We  designed the play area to encourage social, imaginative, and creative play for children of various ages. Using wooden structures, edible landscapes, and planting that connects with the wider site, this space fosters exploration, movement, and interaction. It’s a place where children can develop their physical, cognitive, and social skills while staying connected to nature.

Our play area draws on a range of play types—locomotor, creative, exploratory, and mastery play—designed to keep children engaged and discovering new ways to play every time they visit. With seating for parents and secure, natural surroundings, it’s a safe and stimulating environment for the whole community providing connection between the Primary school and the wider community.

The play equipment with wooden structures will form part of a larger area that will incorporate materials and planting found in other parts of the site, allowing for a feeling of connection and familiarity with the wider site. It allows for children within the site to feel more as if they are within nature, as well as staying in keeping with the overall aesthetics of the development.

Further reading: Play friendly design and sustainability