Introduction What might at first glance look like a junkyard filled with old tires, rocks, fire pits and shabby wooden platforms, is actually the hidden gem of adventure playgrounds in Berlin. Kolle 37 is a place built entirely by children, for children, where using tools and experiencing danger is encouraged. Some of the questions I try to resolve in this piece are: What exactly is an adventure playground? Why have I not seen any in the U.S.? How do children and parents today react differently to urban spaces and risky play? What are the after-effects of playing on an Abenteuerspielplatz? What makes Kolle 37 unique from any other playground in Berlin? My main thesis is that adventure playgrounds offer a plethora of rich opportunities and benefits …show more content…
Adventure playgrounds, as it’s directly translated, can be spaces where kids utilize building material such as tires and crates instead of traditional equipment. Figure 2 illustrates how children have created a play environment from basic supplies. Tires, rope swings, and wooden platforms, some of which are decorated with bright graffiti, define the space. These playgrounds are miniature, wildlife wonderlands that introduce kids to natural textures, problem solving, and developing a sense of balance (Boesveld) in an otherwise urban setting. The very first Abenteuerspielplatz was opened in 1943, nearly a decade after a landscape architect from Denmark, Carl Theodor Sørensen, discovered that children were the most entertained by everything except for the ready-made playground (Rinaldi). This sparked a fad across the world of creating such recreative spaces, which reached its peak in the 1970’s (Boesveld). Berlin, a city of nearly four million inhabitants, with half a million under the age of 18, boasts about 1,850 public playgrounds today (Winger). Many of them occupy the empty space left behind from the total destruction that accompanied World War II. In a postwar, postwall city, converting such devastated places into spaces of play speaks volumes to the resilience of Berlin (Winger). In a world shaken by conflict, it remains of crucial importance to pay attention to places where bonds and friendships rise above ideology (Turam). The former …show more content…
Furthermore, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission published the first “Handbook for Public Playground Safety” in 1981. It detailed general guidelines, not requirements, that should influence playground equipment, for example avoiding any sharp angles or openings that could trap a child’s body (Rosin). But this government handbook coupled with not being able to afford getting sued, compelled park departments across the country to begin tearing down any apparatus that could be considered dangerous. Insurance premiums began to skyrocket in anticipation of these expensive lawsuits (Rosin). From that point onward the trend was if “a child dies on a certain type of slide and, after a lawsuit, that slide is banned forever; repeat until playgrounds are regulated down to a wood chip. Now the jungle gym at your local park is the same one you’ll find in any city suburb across North America” (Rinaldi). In the United States, metal or plastic slides and swings and structures seem to be manufactured in the exact same factory (Winger). Strict licensing codes meant to reduce injuries have instead transformed a place of wonder and physical challenges to a dull, predictable space (Copeland). A study in Pediatrics proved the standardized equipment was less enticing to kids, which only decreased their exercise
Six flags is a company that has 29 theme parks with a Chief Corporate Engineer, Larry Chickola. Larry overseas all the projects for the parks and has teams of engineers that help take care of technical issues and building and construction. All six flags projects have a comprehensive plan for completing the work in a timely fashion. They have written statements as to what work is to be done and dated schedules for completion. They also have to include tasks and sub tasks all being figured into the budget. There is a “work package,” which is a group of activities assigned to break down each task and sub task to fit these into manageable quotas. They feel this is the key to managing logistics.
Madurodam has been the smallest city in the Netherlands since its inception in 1952. Its tributaries and canals measuring no more than a finger’s width. Its ornately crafted Dutch gabled houses would make amiable summer residences for rodents. Its immaculate portrayal of railway lines would have any train-spotter paralyzed with awe. This war-monument-turned-amusement-park steals the imagination of children and adults alike. There is a certain human tendency to associate affection with objects of a reduced size. Maybe it is this affection that serves as the reason almost all of the toys we make for children, as Roland Barthes puts it, “are essentially a microcosm of the adult world [...] reduced copies of human objects,” (“Toys” 689). One might argue that toys of this kind allow for the child to more quickly adjust to the conventions of the world they are about to be members of, but does such ritual conformity repress creative freedom, a birth right of every child?
In conclusion, the author has given a common issue in our society, which is safety for children. Although the debate tends to replace all traditional equipment on children's playgrounds, it still causes us to think more about how to develop children in the perfect way. Do we need to keep children too safe? And this point is the success of the writer because his article is viable and very comprehensive to the intended audience, providing balance as well. By expressing the opposing ideas of two sides in the argument, the readers actually have the chance to give their own
People who say “Rockwell’s playground is still an adventure playground—a construction site with all the splintery edges sanded down. It’s what an adventure playground looks like in a risk-averse culture. And it promotes the kind of play we think children should be doing now: not with just their bodies, but with their minds. The Imagination Playground is a much more cognitive vision of the playground. No one would confuse it with a jungle gym.” (Day 2) This shows that children to Mr.Day should be using their heads more and playgrounds should be safer, but Commissioner of parks in New York Henry Stern has a different idea. He says “His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone.” (Tierney 1) Showing that kids should be doing physical activities at parks and using their imagination somewhere else. Not only-but also David Ball says “There is no clear evidence that playground safety measures have lowered the average risk on playgrounds,” said David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University in London. He noted that the risk of some injuries, like long
Childhood is an exciting time; during the formative years a plethora of children explore their world through their senses. Jean Piaget summarizes these developments through age groups and the stages that correlate with these age groups. Piaget defined the 0-2 years of age as Sensorimotor, the 2-7 as Preoperations, 8-12 as Concrete Operations and 12+ as Formal Operations. This analysis will be depicting the trends of the current toy market, representative of The Summit’s TOYS R US, and then displaying the correlations with toys available to the stages of Jean Piaget 's theory.
All moderately sized towns should have a skatepark for three main reasons: it will make the town look like a nice place to live, the kids in the town won’t be getting into trouble for skating around town, and it is a lot safer than skating in the streets. In countless cities around the world, well-built skateparks have also been proven to be valuable community assets with tremendous benefits. Instead of viewing skateboarding as a negative problem that needs to be solved, these forward-thinking communities have found ways to embrace these sports while showcasing their artistic and acrobatic spirit(“The Benefits”).
Like the author, I do not think the government should be held responsible for the creation of playgrounds because playgrounds do not force children to challenge themselves mentally
In modern Western countries, adults take the responsibility of managing children’ behaviours, activities and the environment as protecting children from significant injuries. Also, parents are likely to pay more attention to protect their children from external injuries such as traffic accidents, stranger’s dangerous, personal accidents and other factors (Wyver et al., 2010, p.264). Under these kinds of protections, children lose many opportunities for free play and lead to the increase of childhood obesity as well as inactivity health issues (Wyver et al., 2010, p. 263). Beside the protection from parents, the features in the childhood environment are less risky for children to play with. For example, some Western countries such as the United Kingdom uses the rubber playground to reduce the rates of children injuries (Wyver et al., 2010, p. 265). The surplus safety from both parents and environment minimises children’s chances and experiences of encountering risks. In some way, the surplus safety infringes children’s right of play and silences their voices on their lives. Wyver et al. (2010, p. 263) argue that the surplus safety is negative to children from both legitimate anger and child development anger. Surplus safety may not substantially build the child-friendly
The park they were in was fairly small and quiet, it was one of the main reasons they visited this one. It had more trees and less walkways than most of the other places they had scoped out for their daily meetings, and they were usually the only two there. The larger parks were closer to work, but they were also bustling with people jogging or walking their dogs. They wanted to get away from the loud noises of the city, but knew they didn’t have time to venture out of town just for lunch. Adrianna had been ecstatic when her friend Deidre had found this quaint little spot for their luncheons.
There are places that are constructed for the children and places that children construct. Both are adequate location for children to develop and grow. In the article, Places for Children—Children’s Places, written by Kim Rasmussen, explains the space adults make and assembled for the child is a place of structure called a ‘Place for Children.’ A ‘Children’s place’ is a special place that the child deems important. It is where children can come together and have special experiences, a place with special meaning associated to its location, and children attach feeling to a place. This place is established by the children. (Rasmussen, 2008) This ‘Children’s place’ is an area where the children can
In life, no action is absent of a reaction. Every effect is linked to a cause, whether seen or unseen and play is no exception. As adults, play is not a foreign concept to us, we just chose not to engage in it and have diminutive space for it reserved in our day-to-day schedules. However, it is essential in the lives of young children. In the moment, the benefits to play are invisible, yet they are there working. Play, like a Newton’s cradle, remains stationary while not in use and the energy remains in a potential state waiting to be activated. Now, imagine the Newton’s cradle as you are pulling back the first ball. The first ball is play in a child’s life, and the other balls are potential benefits.
Adventure Education is a type of learning technique that takes kids out of there environment that they are so use to like the gym and classroom and take them outside into the wilderness which is a good technique to help the kids learn about teamwork, sportsmanship, honest, collaboration and many any other things. Adventure education is an actively engaging the children in experiences that may have benefits or consequences. There are some teacher’s roles that can be looked at for not just adventure education, but also with teachers who teach mostly in the classroom. There is the safety enforcer who makes sure that everyone is briefed on the rules and knows what to do/ not to do. The rule enforcer makes sure that every student is abiding to
Growing up in a massive neighborhood magnificent. My neighborhood flooded with kids around my age to hang out with. Occupying the edge of this neighborhood was a large park where the neighborhood’s kids and I would spend most of our time eliminating their boredom. When this park would not satisfy our needs, there were
Eren watched the retreating backs of his two best friends as they walked on ahead chatting animatedly with each other as if they haven’t wronged him in any way. How could they betray him like this? Mikasa must’ve noticed her brother’s grumbling behind her because she stopped and pressed her finger into his forehead without him realizing. The jolt surprised him and anger overtook surprise in a matter of seconds.
I am about to describe to you a walk in the park. That being said a few details are required for you to fully picture the likes of what I am about to describe. The time of day is a little past noon and the wind is howling. The sky is a pastel blue, almost as if a wash of blue light was covering a white canvas. The sun is vibrant and concentrated. You can sense the gentle warmth of the sun on your skin and see the lively colors of the world all around you. Alert to the dancing light that surrounds you, your journey begins. Searching for your starting point you choose to begin walking down a gravel pathway that has a clearing of trees a few hundred feet away. The day has a familiar, inviting glow and all around the gentle colors of green, yellow and red surround the pathway. The sun a luminous