The importance of outdoor play in a child’s development

Over the years, Gardiner Architects has designed many playgrounds for schools, childcare centres and community groups. We’ve often teamed up with Jeavons Landscape Architects who are industry leaders in inclusive and accessible play design. We see that a child's experience, whether indoor or outdoor, requires components that foster cognitive learning, as well as dramatic, imaginative and social play. There is an intrinsic desire in all of us to have a connection to nature and something that we see all parents identify as a healthy part of a child’s life. While the optimal play experience may be at the beach or in the garden, climbing trees and getting dirty, elements of this experience can be encompassed in a play space in strategic ways even in the most limited facility.

How density and urban growth has affected childcare and playground facilities

A child's development needs to be treated in a holistic way and if they're outside, it’s important to provide exciting active play facilities relative to their age group. Urban growth has created the need for hybridised elevated outdoor play areas and it’s our task to find ways to enhance the experience within these spaces. To foster imagination, these spaces should incorporate flexibility and creativity. While a centre may just provide a carpeted outdoor space with low level moveable play equipment, we see this as inadequate and unacceptable. There may be commercial reasoning but the integrity of a child’s experience has not been considered. An environment like this can also put undue pressure on staff members to facilitate enjoyable play as there isn’t enough provided within the environment for a child’s imagination to be stimulated.

Incorporating risk and challenge into playground design

We strive to avoid a risk-averse aesthetic, even though the facility is safe and compliant. For example, at the Bundoora Childcare Centre where some of the play spaces are elevated, we spent a lot of time researching and developing how we could have a tension wire wall replace the typical glass balustrade. From a child's point of view, when close to the edge, up against the flexible wire, the whole space feels exciting. Children always want to take risks and we like to explore how we can allow them to do that.

Another project we’ve recently completed is the Eltham North Adventure Playground, a community project that involved the reinstatement of a facility that played a unique role in local children’s lives for more than two decades. Our relationship to this playground and the Eltham community stretches back 25 years to when we designed and helped construct the original, which was burnt down in late 2017. A public playground has to cater for a whole range of ages and abilities so the design had the challenge of being exciting for each age group while being safe for all. There are some challenging high spaces closer to the roof with big slides. Younger children can’t easily get up to this level, so they can enjoy the lower activities and wait until they’re big enough for the higher challenges. You can read more about this project here.

Everybody needs some relationship to the natural environment, whether it's a view out a window, climbing trees or just having plants nearby. A biophillic approach drives all of our architecture. Whether it’s in a home or a childcare centre, how you provide that connection becomes increasingly important in higher density areas.

There’s a great article from Sanctuary Magazine that the Eltham North Adventure Playground featured in that also explores the importance of play. Have a read here.