Nature Play Areas

Nashville Civic Design Center Nature Play Areas Overview

Health

A nature play area is a miniature landscape which replicates the natural environment, facilitating interactions between young children and nature. These spaces oftentimes capitalize on unique terrains to produce creative landforms that highlight reusable materials and native vegetation. MacDonald’s (2010) report highlights the increasing popularity of these spaces: Seattle is adding at least six natural play spaces to existing city parks and Boston has at least four in the works (USA Today).

Two major goals in creating nature play areas are building active lifestyles at an early age and getting more children outdoors. The proliferation of technology today has kept more children in their homes, reducing the number of hours spent outdoors. As a result, more children are leading sedentary lives. Childhood obesity rates have doubled between 1975 and 2005 for preschoolers and adolescents, and more than tripled for children between the ages of six and eleven. (Koplan et al., 2005). The health care costs for these children down the road will be an immense burden not just for them, but for the public health care system the United States will enact.

ADHD rates in children have also been a part of the public discourse in the past few years. Research indicates that children with ADHD were calmer, more focused, and more agreeable after spending time in a green setting (Kuo & Taylor, 2004). Building nature play areas, therefore, can be an effective intervention for children challenged with obesity and ADHD.

Nature play at Clissold Park, North London

The attention to nature play areas has increased as individuals realize that exposure to nature is a fundamental part of the human experience. Author Edward Wilson (1986) champions the “biophilia hypothesis,” claiming that there is a visceral connection between humans and their living environment. This renewed concern for the natural environment comes at a time when younger peoples are becoming increasingly severed from the natural environment; as Richard Louv (2008) mentions, “for a new generation, nature is more abstraction than reality.”

Although most young people are quite familiar with far-flung ecologies, few have actually touched and encountered the soil in their own backyards. Though some may doubt the safety of these unfamiliar playgrounds, nature play areas can be constructed to the standards laid out by the American Society for Testing and Materials and the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

New Farm Park (Brisbane, Australia)

Developmental and creativity According to a recent study, nearly 50% of children between the ages of eight and sixteen watch three to five hours of television a day (Torgan, 2002). This means children are spending more time indoors and less time interacting with one another and the natural environment. Unstructured outdoor play has shown to provide excellent opportunities for cognitive, social, and emotional development in children

Nashville Civic Design Center • Case Study Report • Natural Playgrounds • July 21, 2010 • www.civicdesigncenter.org

(Burdette & Whitaker, 2005). One study discovered that kindergarten students who spent one to two hours each day playing in a forested area improved their motor skills more significantly than students who played at a traditional outdoor playground (Fjortoft, 2001). In older children, participation in wilderness therapy programs led to improved functioning in teenagers' school performance, interpersonal relationships, and household behavior (Harper et al., 2007) Future stewardship Recently, the tone of environmental politics has shifted; citizens are reorienting their attention to the natural world and public officials face increased pressure to incorporate green initiatives in policy. As a society, we recognize that our planet is experiencing significant change. Part of nature play areas’ benefit is that they prepare the future stewards of our world.

People who have committed to protecting the natural world identify childhood experiences in nature as a critical factor in their life path (Chawla, 1999). Getting children to play in nature play areas may prompt them, in the future, to grow into advocates for sustainable policies and development.

Edwin Warner Park – Nature Play Nashville, Tennessee http://www.nashville.gov/parks/locations/warner.asp Locating: Edwin Warner Park and Percy Warner Park make up the 2684 acres of forest and field known as “The Warner Parks.” They are nine miles from Nashville. Natural Play is apart of Edwin Warner Park and is adjacent to the Warner Park Nature Center, which is a year-round environmental education and recreation facility.

Features: Nature Play has two large dirt piles that are strategically placed beside water spigots. A bookshelf filled with shovels, buckets, and other tools invites children to experiment with their mud creations. There is a child-sized playhouse made from cedar wood, a large sand pit, and a felled tree for balancing.

Implications for urban life In 1950, 29% of the world population lived in an urban area; that number rose to 49% in 2005 and is expected to rise to 60% in 2030 (World Urbanization Prospects, 2005). With increasing rates of urbanization, the preservation of green spaces will become more urgent. Nature play areas are a creative way to incorporate green space in the urban realm.

The development of nature play areas will make a place in which people can be exposed to an unstructured, outdoor play area at an early age. These children will very likely be environmentally conscious in the future. As Nashville seeks to create ‘livable streets’, it is in the interest of the entire city to get more people outdoors and engaged with both the natural and built environment; designing and implementing nature play areas is one way to target this issue at a young age.

Natural playground at the Schine Preserve

Schine Natural Playground Westport, Connecticut http://www.aspetucklandtrust.org/ Locating: The Aspetuck Land Trust established Leonard Schine Preserve in Westport, Connecticut.The playground, which comprises approximately 10,000 square feet in a meadow in the Leonard Schine nature preserve.

Nature play area in Brisbane, Australia

Features: Fort building, digging, tower climbing, trail walking, stickstacking and arts and crafts, to name a few.There’s an even an “Elvin Village,” where younger visitors can play with pine cone “dolls,” honing both their imaginations and their fine motor skills. All of the play areas have been constructed out of natural materials, primarily red cedar, found natively in the Leonard Schine Preserve, and sticks, logs, saplings, pine cones and acorns are collected by volunteers.

Nashville Civic Design Center • Case Study Report • Natural Playgrounds • July 21, 2010 • www.civicdesigncenter.org

Playscape London, England http://www.groundworknw.org.uk/page.asp?id=2093 Locating: Playscape is apart of RHS Show Tatton Park in London, England. It was a gold medalist for the show garden category at the Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Features: The main space includes the landscape itself. By using grassy mounds, innovative planting, timber decking, trees, water, bridges and boulders complemented by a climbing structure made of poles and nets, Playscape was able to create an aesthetically pleasing new park type for England.

Works Cited Burdette, H. L., & Whitaker, R. C. (2005). Resurrecting free play in young children. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 159, 46-50.

Chawla, L. (1999). Life paths into effective environmental action. Journal of Environmental Education, 31(1), 15-26.

Fjortoft, I. (2001). The natural environment as a playground for children: The impact of outdoor play activities in preprimary school children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 111-117.

Harper, N., Russell, K. C., Cooley, R., & Cupples, J. (2007).

Wilderness therapy expeditions: An exploratory case study of adolescent wilderness therapy, family functioning, and the maintenance of change. Child and Youth Care Forum, 36, 111-129.

Koplan, J. B., Liverman, C. T., & Kraak,V. I. (2005). Preventing childhood obesity: Health in the balance. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.

Kuo, F. E., & Taylor, A. F. (2004). A potential natural treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: evidence from a national study. American Journal of Public Health, 94(9), 1580-1586.

Louv, R. (2008). Last Child in the Woods. New York: Algonquin Books.

MacDonald, G. J. (2010, April 21). Natural playgrounds are growing into a national trend. USA Today . Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/ nation/environment/2010-04-22EARTH_GreenPlaygrounds22_ST_N.htm Torgan, C. (n.d.). Childhood Obesity - Word on Health. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Retrieved July 23, 2010, from http://www.nih.gov/news/WordonHealth/jun2002/ childhoodobesity.htm Wilson, E. O. (1986). Biophilia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision. (n.d.). The United Nations. Retrieved July 23, 2010, from http:// www.un.org/esa/population/publications/ WUP2005/2005wup.htm

This case study was created by Nashville Civic Design Center. The report was co-written by interns Brent Hunter and Andrew Park, and edited by design director Gary Gaston and executive director Julia Landstreet. Research was provided by Lipscomb University graduate student Matt Vollrath.

Nashville Civic Design Center • Case Study Report • Natural Playgrounds • July 21, 2010 • www.civicdesigncenter.org