What is a natural playground?

PictureCredit: Meghan Kearney/USFWS
Natural playgrounds or playspaces are opportunities for exploration, discovery, learning, and, of course, PLAY!  Instead of metal and plastic playground structures, more and more schools and communities are creating natural play areas where kids of all ages can engage in play in a creative, natural environment.  These playspaces can take many forms but many include:
  • Rocks and boulder
  • Logs, tree stumps, and balance beams
  • Loose parts & tools with which kids can build and create
  • Topographical features like berms, mounds, steps, and slopes
  • Small shelters like teepees, coves, tunnels
  • Features to sit in, on, under
  • Digging areas
  • Art features
  • Outdoor musical instruments
  • Winding paths
  • Access to water
  • Variety of spaces
  • Outdoor classrooms
  • So much more!

What are the benefits of natural playgrounds?

Natural playgrounds provide a great location for unstructured play. These spaces allow children to be creative- inventing their own games, touching and feeling natural objects, developing balance, coordination, and problem solving skills. Properly designed, these spaces are safe and accessible and allow children to develop their own sense of care, safety, and individual ability.  The benefits of spending time outdoors, for both children and adults, are well documented, and natural playgrounds provide nearby natural locations where kids (and families) can connect to the outdoors to improve their physical and mental health and reap the rewards of unstructured nature play.

While it is true that some natural playgrounds may require specific maintenance and care, they are often built for far less money than a large structured playground.

Help us identify existing
natural playgrounds!

ICAN is creating a list of natural playgrounds. This list will serve as a resource for others that wish to learn more about or even develop their own natural playground. If you know of OR are affiliated with a natural playground pleased complete the form below.

Additional resources:

More info on natural play areas:
Indiana Dept. Forestry Outdoor Classroom Guide
L&K Gin Family Gardens and Play Space
Nature Playscapes: Bringing Wild Back to the Child (link to PDF)
Green Schoolyard Network
Green schoolyards as havens from stress and resources for resilience in childhood and adolescence - Research article from University of Colorado - Boulder
How to create your own natural play area at school, church, home, etc.:
Nature Place & Learning Spaces Guidebook
Nature Explore
Earthplay Resources- Articles and Handbooks
Nature Play at Home Guide
How to Create Outdoor Play Spaces for Children that
Encourage Unstructured Play
Making Natural Play Spaces in the Backyard
Example natural play areas:
St. Christopher's Episcopal Church Natural Play Area- Open to the public 1402 W Main St, Carmel, IN 46032
Certified Nature Explore Classrooms
Cool Creek Park Nature Center and Nature Playground - Carmel
Woodlawn Nature Center's Outdoor Class and Natural Playscape - Elkhart
Mill Street Park Natural Playscape - Goshen
Dexter and Southfield Schools - Massachusetts
Homer Lake Natural Playscape - Champaign (IL) County Forest Preserve
Playscapes
Teardrop Park- NYC
Natural play areas in the news:
Nature-based play area open at Portland park - Oregon Live.com
More towns planning natural playgrounds- Burlington Free Press
Natural playground inspires kids to be more active - WBIR Knoxville
Can riskier playgrounds make healthier adults? - Syracuse.com
Green schoolyards lower kids' stress - ahchealthenews.com
Blogs:
Inside Out Michiana

“I am convinced that standardized playgrounds are dangerous, just in another way: When the distance between all the rungs in a climbing net or a ladder is exactly the same, the child has no need to concentrate on where he puts his feet. Standardization is dangerous because play becomes simplified and the child does not have to worry about his movement."
                - Helle Nebelong