“Kids in Oregon, it may surprise you to know, can be as indoorsy as any others, but three rugged new projects show that the natural play movement is taking hold.” Go Wild, Oregon Child will be published in this month’s Landscape Architecture Magazine. It is a beautiful piece by Katharine Logan highlighting three of […]
Last week Learning Landscapes Design completed two design workshops with Clatskanie Elementary School. We surveyed students and teachers to understand how the existing playground was working, or not working. Then we envisioned how the new playground space might look and feel. The local paper picked up the story and put it on the front page! […]
At the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Area Discovery Museum offers a huge range of activities for young visitors. It was blustery and rainy for our visit, but it was well worth it. They offer two separate outdoor spaces; one for tots and one for older kids. Both had lots of activities […]
I am not sure if I have just delved too deep into the world on play, or if the topic has reached it’s critical mass and tipping point. But, I am seeing signs about the importance of play everywhere. Literally signs… The one below is a bit blurry but it reads, “What this place needs is […]
On a recent trip to Ohio we did not let the icy ground and frozen temperatures slow us down. My daughters and in laws and I went to visit the Rotary Obstacle Course at the Scioto Audubon Metro Park in Columbus. The park itself is amazing! Today I wanted to focus on the free play, climbing, […]
We are pleased for many reasons that creative children’s outdoor spaces are becoming popular. Thanks for continuing to contact us about your amazing projects! In response to this or team is growing. We are pleased to add Renee Wilkinson to our team. She is creative, intelligent, and fun. We feel lucky to have the chance to work […]
Nature Play is making its way into our mainstream society. We are seeing requests for, and plans to implement, nature play areas in schools, parks, kids’ destinations and recreation areas. Most people are on board with the general concepts. Just about everyone loves the evocative imagery of the spaces. Even those that have not seen […]
There is something very satisfying about seeing a play area you have worked on finally open, letting the young masses flood in. At Westmoreland Park in Portland Oregon that happened last week. This pilot nature play project for the City of Portland has been in design for a few years. The essence of the […]
Nature Play & Learning Places, a guide for bringing nature play areas to children in every community, is now available as a free download. The guide explains how to plan, design, and manage nature play areas, so that kids have a chance to connect with nature at places that they visit every day like parks, schools, and […]
The Northwest Children’s Nature Play Week is fast approaching. On September 11th – 15th Portland will host a variety of events about getting kids outside to play. Join us for one or all of the events! The events will be organized around a visit to Portland by Nature’s Marketing Director, David Bond, who is founder […]
The Oregon DJC recently published this article about local nature play projects. It is nice to see the concept getting some good press. I like that the author used a lot of quotes! Sandra Burtzos (gesturing, fifth from left), a Portland Parks & Recreation capital project manager, points out a climbing log feature while leading a […]
I wanted to highlight the construction of water and sand play features today, using three great examples. One from the Playscape at Opal School in Portland, a project that Learning Landscapes is working on. Another from Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center in Mattapan, as featured on the Playscapes Blog. And finally, one from the Cleveland Zoo’s new Discovery Ridge […]
The Tipping Point? Natural Play Areas are spreading! The popularity is increasing in all sectors of our work; schools, childhood centers, recreation spaces and parks. Metro’s new issue of Our Big Backyard was just released. It includes a great article about Metro supported nature play projects including existing projects and ones planned for the future. The […]
This dream destination may be a bit more reasonable of a destination. It is in the US! I love the forms of this nature themed play structure. It reminds me of some of the Kukuk Structures. It is set in a very natural setting and rounds out the nature center’s offerings well. “Stop by […]
The Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo just opened a new feature area offering visitors a chance to ride a giant lion on a hard carved carousel or run through a beaver lodge. The ‘Carousel of Wildlife’ features animals from all the different world biomes. Discovery Ridge will feed off of this concept and look one step […]
This amazing shelter is a play and exploration area and a native landscape feature that attracts birds throughout the seasons! GrowShelter is the winner of the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center Sustainable Design/Build Competition. Check out the link above as the other winners have some great concepts too! The GrowShelter uses strategies to create space within an […]
In the dappled shade of a wonderful fir forest at Silver Falls State Park kids hatched eggs like birds, hunted for food like bears, and tried out their best cougar growl across the canyon. The North Canyon Natural Play Area was opened this weekend and families explored the 1/4 mile loop trail designed to offer […]
The Portland Children’s Museum has recently opened a wonderful outdoor exhibit called Outdoor Adventure. It is a great mix of water, logs, tree climbing, and free play. I promise to share more photos of the whole site soon. What I wanted to share today is the work Patrick Dougherty is doing at Outdoor Adventure this […]
If there is something missing from Adventure World Serfaus I am not sure what it is. I was first attracted to their water themed nature play area, but they also have a bunch of other family based activities. Again they are set in Austrian Mountains, not a bad view! They have a few nice overview […]
This week we head back to Austria for another amazing adventure play site. This site is inspired by the prevalent local Marmot. The Austria family trip planning site boasts, “Come along to play and romp around: there’s a children’s marmot room with mini climbing wall, Murmel’s water point, the Murmelhangel for balancing exercises ( I […]
I recently found a hand full of wonderful international sites I want to visit because they balance nature, learning and a strong sense of place. As a result welcome to the mini feature ‘My Dream Destinations’. The adventure and theme playground “Nature Experience Dorfgastein” in Austria offers explorers big and small fascinating insights into alpine flora […]
I recently ran across two great grants for nature play areas. They are both specifically for nature play, so hopefully you don’t have to twist your to fit the guidelines. They are both due in a few weeks, (end of May 2014) so it is a pretty tight timeline. But, I wanted to let you […]
Dinton Pastures Country Park in the UK opened its doors this past weekend to this gem of a nature play area. I love the look and feel of this area. It is large and spacious and has so many things to discover. The choice of materials is consistent and natural. The use of topography and […]
Please join is in Silver Falls State Park at the end of the month for a grand opening! The forested loop path and the Bear, Cougar and Bird Pods and waiting for you to come explore.
If you think of botanical garden and picture beautiful gardens with labeled plants for a pleasant afternoon walk, you are missing a big part of the story. Today’s Botanical Gardens are home to many interactive plant exhibits and offer lots of hands-on learning. Many of them feature special Children’s Garden areas for little ones (and […]
I admit it, I am a total geek for nature play. But, this play area has been one of my favorites to see. The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is fantastic for a number of reasons. But, on our last visit friends took us to this fabulous exhibit. I was particularly interested because a Learning […]
We had a wonderful Portland Pop Up Adventure Play Day. Lots of friends showed up to play with us during the day and we had a great workshop and discussion in the evening. The main idea was to provide an open ended and child directed play opportunity. It was a ‘Pop Up’ because it only […]
Learning Landscapes is coming up on it’s one year anniversary. We have done some wonderful work this year! One thing we struggle with is offering design services to everyone. The balance between charging enough for design services and being affordable is a delicate one. So, we are launching our “Good Design Does Not Have to […]
One Day Adventure Play Event in Portland I am excited to announce an adventure play day that we have been planning in Portland with Pop Up Adventure Play! There will be play experts from the UK in Portland for the day hosting the event with Learning Landscapes and Planet Earth Playscapes. It will be a two […]
This is a wonderful movie about an inclusive adventure play area in London. Lady Allen is my new landscape architecture hero! This would be groundbreaking work in many communities today, but the film is from 1970. Why not have adventure play areas specifically for mentally and physically handicapped children? They were staffed by play workers […]
