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Reclaimed Trees for the Maggie Daley Park Play Garden
Reclaimed trees for the new Maggie Daley Park Play Garden in Chicago, drying off for installation later this year…I look forward to seeing what MVVA will do with them. The post Reclaimed Trees for the...
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Is Narcissism increasing because Play is decreasing? I don’t think so, but the article at Psychology Today is thought-provoking. Note the bibliography with some useful academic play research...
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The Militant Playgrounds of North Korea
Children’s playgrounds unwittingly encapsulate the cultural concerns of the adult world; the most prominent contemporary example being the expression of eco-consciousness in the natural playground...
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Extraordinary Playscapes at Design Museum Boston, June 2014
I’m really pleased to announce that I’ll be the guest curator for Design Museum Boston‘s Extraordinary Playscapes exhibit, slated for June of 2014. It’s a show about the design of playscapes all around...
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Modernist Playground, 1969
1969 photo by Henk Hilterman of a modernist building and hexagonal play pieces…site and designer unknown. Great juxtaposition of the modernist view of architecture and the accompanying austere and...
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Grape Day Park, Escondido, California
I tend to look askance at playground elements that mimic natural things–I’d rather see a real boulder or a real tree on the playground than a fiberglass imitation–but I’m giving the arbor of the Grape...
View ArticleJournal of Playwork Practice
The newly launched Journal of Playwork Practice is calling for papers: – chronological/thematic development of adventure playgrounds — analysis of local, national, international policies and...
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Superman Bizarro World Playground, 1972
Where everything runs in reverse…the bizarro world playground from a 1972 concept for a Superman theme park by illustrator Neil Adams. This is Smallville, home of Superboy. Found at comiccoverage....
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Elegant Playground Mapping, Perthshire Scotland, Gordon Young, 2004
Painted maps of the country or state are a standard way to pretty-up the playground surface, but I wouldn’t call them elegant. But artist Gordon Young’s ‘Road to the Isles’ design for the Auchterarder...
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Making a Literate Playground (more from Gordon Young)
I think we could use more text on the playground…more inspiration from Gordon Young’s work. All of these are eminently playable features, and particularly on a school playground could provide a...
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Library Playground, Monterrey Mexico, Anagrama, 2013
From a literary playground to a playground literary; this fantastic project by Anagrama transformed the interior of an old steelworks into Niños Conarte, a geometric mountain range of literature....
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Liberation, Ben Shahn, Paris, 1945
‘Liberation’ by Ben Shahn: Play as a metaphor for the exhilaration of the end of war. THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK JAMES THRALL SOBY BEQUEST 1249. 1979, (C) ESTATE OF BEN SHAHN/VAGA, NEW YORK...
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Painted Playground Fence
In general I’m against playground fences. But sometimes an unsightly stockade fence is already in place….this is an appealing and simple paint scheme for such a situation. [source] The post Painted...
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Playground Library, Rainbow Lake Playground, Memphis
Another playground library: bring a book you don’t want and take one you do at the Rainbow Lake Playground in Memphis Tennessee. [source] The post Playground Library, Rainbow Lake Playground, Memphis...
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Playground Climber, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Schuff Steel and Perini...
The interactive indoor playground at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix is 37 ft tall and made of 50 tons of structural steel, every single one at a different angle. They support a complex structure of...
View ArticleAre you making an Amazing Playground?
So…I’ve been approached by a television production company looking to create a series on America’s greatest playgrounds and playspaces, with me as host. But most of the projects I feature have...
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Living Willow Pirate Ship, Harlow Carr Gardens, UK
Pirate ships are overdone on the playground but I love this ghostly woven willow version by Phil Bradley, at Harlow Carr Gardens in the UK. [source] The post Living Willow Pirate Ship, Harlow Carr...
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Painted Logs for Natural Playscapes, inspired by Jacob Dahlgren
Nice way to add color to the natural playscape…targeted logs by Jacob Dahlgren. [source] The post Painted Logs for Natural Playscapes, inspired by Jacob Dahlgren appeared first on Playscapes. Related...
View ArticleLost in their Own City, February 12, 2014, London
‘Lost in Their Own City: Children and the Environment in 1970s Britain’ Matthew Thomson (Warwick) discusses his research into the landscape of the British child and how, for example, children lost...
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Playground at Mondragone, Jeffrey Smart, 1998
“A child is so small in comparison to the world at large” is the subtitle of this painting by Australia-born but Tuscany-resident Jeffrey Smart (1921-2013). His work focused on the relationship of a...
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