{"id":383,"date":"2015-03-28T01:53:43","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T08:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=383"},"modified":"2015-03-16T22:22:12","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T05:22:12","slug":"the-science-of-playgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/the-science-of-playgrounds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Science of Playgrounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Science<\/a>Susan G. Solomon has written a book titled The Science of Play: How to Build Playgrounds That Enhance Children’s Development<\/a>\"\"<\/em>.\u00a0In her own words:<\/p>\n

“I have been frustrated by recent discussions about play. These have been well-meaning but not very effective in improving venues for kids and their families. I have tried to shift the debate by asking what kids need to thrive. I link data to design. Taking my lead from behavioral sciences, I look for public play solutions that encourage risk taking, succeeding and failing, planning ahead, gaining friends. Many of these built works are inexpensive, sustainable, and easy to accomplish.”<\/p>\n

Her book presents more than fifty hand picked examples to explain what she means. \u00a0One of those examples is shown on the cover of the book. The idea involves the concept of “loose play.”<\/p>\n

Rather than the traditional static playground toys, the loose play concept leads to playgrounds that kids can rearrange to some extent and where they aren’t trapped into certain paths they must follow. \u00a0Where an old-style playground might have kids running in circles\u00a0\u2014 up a ladder over a bridge up a few steps down a slide and repeat, a loose play playground would have kids running all over making up their play as they go.<\/p>\n

None of these ideas are very\u00a0new. “How Not To Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts<\/em>” by Simon Nicholson\u00a0was published in\u00a0Landscape Architecture<\/em>\u00a0in 1971 and is the basis for the ideas espoused by Solomon and other modern playground designers.<\/p>\n

Rather than climbing ladders, the new playgrounds might offer rock arrangements to climb from any angle. \u00a0They also offer moveable materials, whether it is sand, wood chips, styrofoam blocks, wood blocks, water or something else. \u00a0Picture kids raking leaves, making a pile and jumping in it. \u00a0That’s the kind of loose play envisioned by architects of these new playgrounds.<\/p>\n

Vicki L. Stoecklin and Randy White, writing in the\u00a0March\/April 1998 issue of\u00a0Early Childhood News<\/em>\u00a0magazine, suggest the following elements in these playgrounds:<\/p>\n