Design the Perfect Playground

Ask any adult about the outdoor playground equipment of their youth, and they'll likely tell bucolic tales of jungle gyms and four-square courts. They are less likely to remember the galvanized metal pipe used to construct playground equipment and the rock hard asphalt paving—unless they remembered the pain of scrapes and falls.

Today's playgrounds are built with safety in mind, but they still leave plenty of room for growing imaginations. Government safety regulations now define allowed materials and clearances, and new attention is being paid to the specific needs of different ages and physical abilities. At the same time, though, landscape architects and contractors are working harder to incorporate the lessons nature teaches into their designs.

Learning and Playing
"I think there's a greater emphasis on nature and using the outdoor environment for education," says Jack Carman, ASLA, president of Medford, N.J.-based Design for Generations landscape architecture firm. "There is a wide range of opportunities—it comes down to programming."

For Carman, this has meant incorporating weather stations and vegetable gardens into playground designs, as well as using plants that attract local birds and butterflies. In addition, he says, plants can serve a more structural purpose, helping define areas for various age groups. For example, in his area he might use arbor vitae as a visual buffer, because its form creates good, narrow screening.

Landscape architect and certified playground safety inspector Russ Clark, ASLA, AICP, president of R. Clark Associates in Traverse City, Mich., often opts for viburnum to create a similar screening effect for playgrounds in his area. He'll also call on some varieties of spirea, dogwood as well as daylilies to help define spaces within these outdoor playrooms.

"The primary purpose is to get the intimacy of a large activity area versus a small activity area," Clark says. "The palette of the plant material becomes somewhat personal, based on the comfort level of the designer."

Hardiness a Must
Basic selection criteria for playground plants noted by both Carman and Clark include obvious considerations like avoiding plants that are toxic or produce poisonous flowers, fruit or berries. Hardiness and stress tolerance also are crucial characteristics because municipal facilities often suffer from limited maintenance budgets.

"Material needs to be extremely hardy, not requiring a lot of irrigation to maintain its health," Clark says, adding that ground cover—and especially grass—needs to be able to handle abuse. "The grass needs to be durable and be easy to maintain, with less maintenance than a typical suburban lawn."

And, adds Carman, though shade trees provide important shade protection, varieties chosen should not require frequent pruning.

The area available for planting largely is defined by safety concerns. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) have developed standards for both playground equipment and the treatment of use zones and fall zones around this equipment. These regulations were enacted following research that showed the majority of playground deaths and severe injuries resulted from falls onto hard surfaces.

By the Rules
Sylvia Salazar, executive director of the Salt Lake City-based International Playground Contractors Association, says a single axis swing zone extends a minimum distance of twice the height of the pivot point above the surfacing material. Within these zones, she says, plantings are not allowed. Surfacing should be under and around the playground equipment, she says, and there are two basic types of fill, such as wood fibers, shredded rubber bark, and rubber surfacing at a sufficient depth.

Salazar notes that, in addition to these safety considerations, today's playgrounds also are often larger than the facilities many of us remember from our own childhoods, with separate spaces often designated for children 2 to 5 years old and school age children, 5 to12 years old.

Playground designers, installers and operators should be aware that the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, so these recreation areas also must be accessible for children requiring wheelchairs or having other disabilities. Even swingsets are now available for wheelchair-bound kids.

New consideration also is being given to a previously forgotten playground population—parents and other caretakers. Now, more benches and trash cans are included to ensure adults can comfortably watch their kids at play. Clark notes this means landscape designers need to ensure plant placement allows clear sight lines throughout the facility from any of these seating areas.

Cultivating Tomorrow's Creativity
But regardless of these improvements, from softer landing surfaces to more prevalent seating, designers say they remain focused on creating ways for kids to stretch their minds as well as their bodies. Plants, such as bushes that attract flying bugs and low-lying trees that turn into forts, can be vital ingredients for achieving this goal, Carman says.

"The biggest thing," he says, "is to create enough opportunities for kids to use their imaginations."