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Natural playground comes to Waterbury

Nearby, several children played a make-believe game best described as “lost baby runs from voracious tiger” that had them running from a large sand pit to a small “cave.” All the action took place on the new school playground at Thatcher Book Primary School.

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Creating a playground without barriers

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How Much Does It Cost?
by Ron King, President Natural Playgrounds Company LLC

I take a deep breath and say “That’s a hard one, but if you give me a minute, I’ll give you an answer.”

It’s hard because there are no direct comparisons. A few of the tangibles might be sort of comparable, but it’s almost impossible to compare the intangibles.

For instance, a slide is a slide, so the experience of actually going down a slide in a manufactured playground and going down a slide built into a hill in a natural playground will be pretty close. But it’s really more complicated than that.

Here’s an example: a 35’ long slide gives a great ride for kids of all ages, 5 years to 65 years. To achieve the proper slope for this long a slide, the ladder has to be 20’ high. 20’ is way off the ground. If kids try climbing the slide and fall of one side, they’ll get hurt. If they fall off the ladder, they’ll get hurt. Further, if they’re afraid of climbing ladders, or are intimidated by height, they won’t have a chance to even try the slide.

On the other hand, if this same slide is built into a hill, there is no ladder (so no one can fall off one), there is no way a child can be intimidated by height, and there are no sides to fall off of, which makes the slide very safe. Further, if the access up the hill to the top of the slide is made challenging and fun (rock walls to climb, or interesting paths to follow), then children will find the whole experience more interesting and may therefore be more inclined to repeat it -- thus making them exercise more while they’re learning more than just climbing up and sliding down. The actual cost of the slide for the natural playground will be far less, as the slide is simpler (no structure, no ladder, no ladder enclosure, no tube to keep kids from falling off), and there is no need for a fall zone all around the slide (it’s just at the end).

On the other hand, you do need a hill in which to embed the slide...but the hill creates a great opportunity for numerous other activity elements: climbing walls, rock climbs, rope and post climbs, caves, other length slides, water falls, open tunnels, slopes for rolling and sledding, jumps, and so on -- all of which can be built into the hill, all of which require no structures, and all of which are therefore less expensive.

Another Example

Just to make the point a bit further, let’s look at a climbing wall. In a manufactured playground, a large climbing wall is usually free standing. Because it stands by itself, it’s a destination activity, so a child makes a simple choice about it. “Do I want to try climbing this wall or not.” There is no incentive to climb it, other than the fear of being left out, so if they don’t want to climb it, they won’t, and will just go do something else instead.

A climbing wall built into a hill is a whole different situation! We usually taper our walls to follow the slopes, so both the lower and higher parts of the wall appeal to different skill levels. But because there is exciting stuff happening on top of the hill, such as caves, king of the hill forts, expedition boulders, slopes to roll down, and lots of other things -- not the least of which is the view from the highest point on the playground -- a child has lots of incentive to learn wall climbing.

It’s no longer a simple destination activity that can be ignored. It’s a fully engaging activity that involves more of the senses, more challenge, more self-motivation, more energy, more socializing, more learning, and more discovery. Yet another way to think about it.

Recently, we were working on a design of a natural playground for one area at an elementary school of about 21,000 square feet in size -- close to a ½ acre (outlined in green dots below).

As you can see, spread over this entire area is a wonderful blend of about 70 distinct, very different, very wonderful play elements, everything from a rain garden, a labyrinth, an amphitheater, and a large sand play area, to a fairy village, a stream, a teepee village, caves, climbing elements, a slide, fruit trees, benches, a discovery path, and so on. Each one of the blocks of type in the photo represents one of the 70 different design elements.

A landscape contractor estimated $70,000 to build this area.

We decided it would be an interesting exercise to see what $70,000 could buy in the way of equipment. Keep in mind shipping and installation costs are included as are the costs of woodchips (the fall zone material) and the borders to contain the woodchips.

In the top left corner of the photo, you can see what we came up with. This equipment occupies 20% of the entire ½ acre, is visually unappealing, and it’s unnaturally colored metal and plastic is hard and unyielding. Further, the woodchips are a boring, uninteresting backdrop for this crowded little play structure.

Important Comparisons

When the two options are seen side-by-side, other comparisons should be made, as well, such as the number of play elements, the number of children each area can comfortably accommodate, the kinds of activities they can experience by themselves and with others, the varieties of challenges that are available, whether children will be encouraged to think for themselves and make their own decisions about how to play, how much wear and tear will occur on each area, and so on. More about Costs

Because natural play incorporates the use of many natural elements, such as boulders, rocks, sand, soil, wood, water, and indigenous vegetation as integral parts of the play experience, material costs can be low. Further, these projects are so exciting, your entire community will likely help with donated materials, labor, and money, thus further reducing the cost.

Also keep in mind, that dollar-for-dollar, natural play environments offer a much higher "play value" than manufactured playgrounds.

Play value = how many children can be served by one piece of play equipment as compared to its cost. A simple climbing structure that accommodates 6 children might cost $4,000 = low play value. A natural boulder that is part of the landscaping and on which 6 children can climb costs $0 = high play value. Lastly, due to the constant changes in equipment safety regulations, most equipment needs replacing about every 10-12 years!

Design Costs

To ensure an exciting, integrated, natural-looking play environment which takes advantage of the site's features while reflecting the specific needs of each play group, creativity and time are required from our playground designers to make each natural playground unique, more attractive, more creative, more pleasing, more challenging, more satisfying, more inspiring, and more natural -- wonderful additions to any community!

We charge a fixed, known fee for these design services based on the square footage of each site.

Despite how it may appear, equipment manufacturers also charge design fees for their services. They amount to about 25% of the cost of their equipment: $50,000 x 25% = $12,500 for “design fees.” These fees are hidden in the equipment costs and help defray the expenses of the “free design services” of the company reps that help you select equipment from their catalogs which might be suitable for your site.

To Sum it all Up

There is no simple way to compare the costs of natural playgrounds and manufactured playgrounds. They both provide opportunities for play, but there are such vast differences in the quality of play, the setting in which it occurs, the visual stimulation that’s encouraged, and the challenges and choices that are presented, that a direct comparison is just not possible.

This is one of those situations where you really have to help yourself get outside of the box, away from the obvious matrixes of comparisons, and speak up for all the intangible benefits your children will experience from natural playgrounds.

Please contact The Natural Playgrounds Company™ to discuss your thoughts and plans. We welcome your inquiries and will get back in touch with you promptly. Thank you for spending some time with us today.