For the past few months, the Margaret Fairley Park steering committee has been researching playground ideas and resources from around the world. The following links below are not comprehensive, but rather a starting point for starting to explore some of the possibilities.
Forms and inspiration:
- A blog about playgrounds around the world that challenges conventional notions of what playgrounds can be. Some good inspiration here: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/
- A blog by a landscape designer in Alaska with some interesting playground examples and thoughts about play: http://designingforplay.blogspot.com/
- Playground by design firm in BC: http://www.space2place.com/play-garden-city-caption/
- A designer in BC who creates unusual, artistic playground structures: http://www.ericscragg.com/
- An online photo exhibition exploring play principles: http://www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk/playlink/exhibition/index.html -
- A blueprint for creating inexpensive playgrounds that unleash creativity: Op-Chart: Unpacking Imagination and http://www.imaginationplayground.org/
- Some video of a natural playground in action: http://naturalplaygrounds.com/multimedia/NPWebclipfinalLoRes.mp4
- Dufferin Grove Park’s Adventure Playground, pictures and history: http://dufferinpark.ca/play/wiki/wiki.php?n=Sandpit.FrontPage
- Thoughts about imagination playground vs. less expensive, old fashioned adventure playground: http://dufferinpark.ca/play/wiki/wiki.php?n=News2010.FrontPage
- Some other thoughts about Natural Playgrounds and natural elements playgrounds: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2009/01/natural-playground-elements-bit-of.html http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2009/01/natural-playgrounds-summary.html, http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/natural%20playgrounds%20and%20natural%20playground%20elements
- 10 unusual playgrounds from around the world: http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/34277.html
- Top New York City Playgrounds (includes a few photos): http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2010/66790/
Process, and Other Parks:
- Kaboom, a non-profit that helps communities build playgrounds. Uses the community build model but usually involves more traditional designs: http://projects.kaboom.org/
- A group that worked with Kaboom and did a community build in Etobicoke: http://www.bloordalepark.ca
- An interesting city-wide project in Binghamton NY inspiring people to re-design playspaces in their communities: http://bnp.binghamton.edu/projects/dyop/
- Seaton Village: http://seatonvillage.ca/
- Sibelius Square: http://sibeliussquare.org/home
- Glen Cedar park: http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/it/newsrel.nsf/bydate/5FB349FAED987635852576500055D922- They created a campaign called Brick By Brick. Here are some photos from their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?o.18728188324&ref=mf; Here is the fundraising poster: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=23345979761&set=o.18728188324
- June Callwood Park, near Fort York, proposed: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/10/june-calloway-park-toronto-canada-gh3.html
- King of the Jungle Playground, Toronto: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2009/07/king-of-jungle-playground-toronto.html
- Jamie Bell Playground in High Park: http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2009/07/jamie-bell-playground-toronto-ontario.html l
Design firms and equipment manufacturers:
- http://www.earthplay.net-- Brochure: http://www.earthplay.net/brochure.pdf
- http://www.space2place.com/ - Landscape architecture firm in BC. Some interesting work.
- www.naturalplaygrounds.ca
- Play structures catalogue - http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagewerks/landscapestructures2010/index.php
- http://www.schoolplaygroundequipment.co.uk/sandboxes.htm - Sandbox company
- http://www.gazebo-plans.com/Beachside%20Gazebo.jpg
- http://www.nutoys4fun.com/images/layout/playStructuresTop_285_211.jpg
- http://www.woodlandsonline.com/dbs/mayrecreation/files/image/megatower.714-S056.jpg
Philosophies and research:
- http://healthychildrenhealthyspaces.ca/index.html - Healthy Children Healthy Spaces conference 2010.
- http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/05/back-to-playground.html - This summarizes an article from the Boston Globe about the evolution of playgrounds and the backlash against boring, unimaginative ones. The actual article costs money to download.
- http://www.celos.ca/wiki/wiki.php?n=CELOS.FrontPage: CeLOS: related mainly to Dufferin Grove. Somewhat research-oriented.
- http://www.newyorker.com/online/2010/07/05/100705on_audio_mead: Podcast from the New Yorker related to article about the evolution of playgrounds.
- Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces (pdf): http://www.playengland.org.uk/resources/design-for-play
- http://playgrounddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/09/playable10-international-playground.html
