The Adventure playground

A loose parts playground is a place of imagination and creativity

“A stick is exactly the same as a cricket bat - a serious injury can be caused by any item that isn't used the right way it is intended to be used. But we see the benefits of a cricket bat, and we need to do the same with sticks and other loose parts. In fact, the only way significant difference between a cricket bat and a stick is that a cricket bat can only be used to play cricket where as a stick affords endless opportunities for play” - Simon Hutchinson, Natures Building Blocks.

Imagine the benefits of a stick. They are portable so children can move, stack, sort, construct and manipulate them how they want. A stick offers so many opportunities for kids to play it's unbelievable! A stick can be a magic wand, a guitar, or a pencil for writing in the dirt. It can be a shovel, a fishing rod, or a horse to be ridden on an imaginary adventure. Loose play with sticks allows kids to be creative, problem solve and think independently.

But sticks aren’t enough. Our school needs more opportunities for loose parts and construction play.

Why do we need more construction play?

Construction play encourages teamwork, communication, social skills, and development of gross and fine motor skills as children move, construct, carry and play. Creating cubbies, hideouts and imagining small worlds is beneficial to kids as they allow children to be autonomous, experiment, collaborate, and importantly, learn to take risks. If we really value STEM in the classrom, why don’t we have any spaces in the yard that allow children to practice STEM skills during freeplay?

Construction play create risks for kids

There is more to learning than books, pens and adult direction, kids also learn through free play. Freeplay is one of the most powerful types of play for kids. It allows them to take risks, make mistakes and learn for themselves. Despite what many adults might think, that's great. Risks are important. Why? Too many kids are either stuck inside or have little to no access to nature, which adults think is safer for children. It is really hurting kids keeping them inside they become unhappy and emotionally challenged.

We have seen first hand the impact of technology can have on children and our school classrooms have an impact, confined spaces, limited opportunities for free play and no contact with nature can have a negative impact on children such as unhappiness, anger and socially and emotionally challenged children.

"Children and adolescents in Australia appear less able to cope than ever before. The problem is, in our efforts to protect children, we take valuable opportunities for learning away from them. Failure provides benefits that cannot be gained any other way. Failure is a gift disguised as a bad experience. Failure is not the absence of success, but the experience of failure on the way to success“ - Mandie Shean

Can you imagine?

Construction play also creates opportunities for imaginative play and teamwork. When kids read books they learn about how narratives and stories are made. When young children are making or building through construction play, they are also often developing a story or narrative. Social skills are very important in life and an adventure playground would help with this, kids would be working together to build structures and framework while talking and interacting. More loose parts play will see more critical and creative thinking, much more social interaction, and according to research, a potential reduction in bullying.

We must create a loose parts, adventure style playground because there aren't enough movable objects our in the yard as most of our playground is metal and immovable.

This needs to change.