Unprescribed Play

There is defiance in unprescribed play. It rejects pre-determined ways to be, to play, and to move.

In play, a slide is not defined by manufacturing standards, a U-shape, or a sit-down bar. A slide is a feeling— a sensation in your belly. A child’s arms are holding on and then letting go. Arms rise up, contact is precarious, and movement may be rapid. There is a feeling of surrendering to gravity, to friction, and to excitement. It is a moment of suspension before wanting to climb back up to go again and again!

Playgrounds should be places where children create their own stories: where they decide where to go and how to play in, around, over, and on a structure— where they make the rules. Predictability is not all that fun! Adventure is found in the unusual and the unknown.

As playground designers, our job is not to write a rulebook. If a child looks at any playground and immediately “gets it”, then it is probably too directive. It may quickly become boring. If a playground has something that is maybe a bit odd or unpredictable, then maybe the play space has created an affordance for open-ended free play. That is where kids thrive: in the freedom of nonprescriptive play.

Open-ended and non-prescriptive play is play without interference: an antidote to stress and sameness and a place to practice self-sufficiency. It is a place to dream or a place to make or encourage a new friend.

Giving children the freedom to explore and interpret their environment on their own terms builds resilience as they gain confidence with making decisions, communicating imaginative stories, or overcoming physical challenges.