The Importance Of Adventure Playgrounds For Children

Ways of Modifying Adventure Play to Fit Canadian Culture

1.My first reaction upon watching "The importance of playing with fire" was anxiety at the thought of the mess. However, seeing children playing with tools did not bring me unease as I grew up in a multi-cultural household with extremely creative, entrepreneurial parents, who thought it best to teach my brother and I how to wield tools and avoid danger. Adventure playgrounds' key philosophy may stem from outdated playgrounds that are less organized and sanitary, however, they have adapted their philosophy to be much too revolutionary for Canadian society today. There is a push in Canadian culture to make play spaces "no-risk" rather than "low-risk". Adventure playgrounds aim is to simply create a low-risk environment with unstructured play for children.

In what ways do you think adventure play could be modified to fit our culture?

2.I strongly agree with Marjorie Allen’s ideals for child’s play. I may be against the ideas of playing with fire and sharp tools unsupervised, however I still feel it is important for kids to have a space where they can be whatever they want and create as they please. Looking back on my childhood I would have loved a space like the adventure playground. I was always up for adventure and trying “Dangerous” things, so having a place where I could express that would have been amazing. Does anyone else feel they were an adventurous child? Now being older and understanding risks, it is hard to imagine kids playing in spaces like this, let alone how I would feel if I was a parent. Has anyone’s views on adventure changed since growing up? I think society needs to find a happy medium to allow kids to learn and express themselves, while limiting the possibility for extreme injury.

I look forward to discussing everyone’s opinions! I also am interested to see how peoples perspectives on adventure have changed over the course of their life.

3.My first reaction when watching this video was, where is the playground? I grew up going to the typical playground you would see at a public park or subdivision, with a slide and swing set etc. This playground, on the other hand, is very unconventional. It is made up of scrap pieces of wood, plastic and in other words, what most people see as "junk." I thought the use of junk in a giant yard as a playground is brilliant. Kids have a wild imagination and don't see the same things an adult sees. I remember my parents buying a new fridge when I was 7, and begging them to let me keep the giant cardboard box. It was junk and a waste of space in their eyes, but to me, it was a racecar, a playhouse, a rocket ship the possibilities were endless. It was just a cardboard box, but my imagination transformed it into anything I wanted it to.

The playground owners are huge stakeholders as they can be held liable if anything happens to the children. However, this is the same for any other playground. What is stopping a child from climbing on top of the highest point of a regulated, traditional play structure and jumping off because they believed it would be fun? Nothing, Curiosity will always win. Through creating play spaces like this children are truly able to be "free" and learn. They are monitored to make sure nobody is getting hurt however, they are given enough freedom to make decisions for themselves and if they need someone help is always there. I believe this is how all children should be raised. They should be watched from a distance to allow them to learn and grow. When you fall down it is nice to have someone pick you back up, but sometimes that person has to be you.

Ways of Modifying Adventure Play to Fit Canadian Culture

1.It may occur to many that adventure playground is a concept that would be harmful and not very useful for children. However, the video that is discussed in this post and after watching the video named “The importance of playing with fire” it can be said that a lot of intricacy is concealed behind the concept of adventure playgrounds (youtube.com 2018). Early childhood or children of young age have a high tendency to learn and adapt to the surrounding around them (Fox & Schirrmacher, 2014). Henceforth, the tools and activities that constitutes the adventure playground are a great way for these young minds to develop creativity and adaptive skills that would benefit them in future.

However, the adventure playgrounds could be modified in such a way so that it could ensure safety of the child as well but at the same time does not hamper the essence of a traditional playground that involves activities and equipment. The adventure playground could include equipment such as hammer or digging shovels that are not made up of heavy metal instead are plastic made. In this way, the children could get the essence of traditional adventure playground as well and at the same time the Canadian culture of ensuring low-risk playgrounds can also be achieved (Lorinc, 2018). In addition to this, equipment such as ropes, tires can also be included and a manual can be provided in the grounds so that children could make their own swing out of it. This would sustain the Canadian culture of providing a safe environment for children to play and simultaneously maintain the concept of adventure playground.

2.The concept of adventure playgrounds may be traditional but the philosophy out of the concept is quite futuristic (Czalczynska-Podolska, 2014). The main philosophy of such playgrounds is to let children use their own imagination and learn the types of risks that can come. Now in my opinion I believe that adventure does involve risk and a feel adrenaline that excites an individual. In my opinion this is what the core essence of adventure feels like. However, this is what I feel about adventure now but at the early childhood days, the very meaning of adventure was foreign to me. Since adventure for me in early childhood days meant, to be able to do whatever I wanted to do. The restrictions set up by parents limited my activities and therefore, breaking or going beyond those restrictions was adventure to me.

Although it can be said that my perception regarding adventure at my early stage of childhood and now are similar. Since at both stage, I believe adventure for me is something which is risky or attempt to do something that is way beyond my limit. In my opinion without taking risks or breaking your own limitations one cannot experience adventure. At this stage of life, I also believe that adventure seeks for fear as well. The things that we are most afraid of is where adventure lies. Henceforth, my perception of adventure changed over the period and the experiences that I gained so far.

3.The video named “The importance of playing with fire” shows children playing in a very unconventional playground which can be termed as adventure playground. The children in the video are seen playing and creating things out of waste products. They create and build things out of something which many people thing are waste products. This is one of the highlighting thing that I observed in the video. Adventure playgrounds includes equipment and a space as such that allows children to use their imagination (Chilton, 2018). In my opinion it is really significant for young minds to be free without any restriction. I also believe out of creative play children can learn and acquire knowledge that could utilise in future. Adventure playgrounds allows that freedom to children where they could learn and grow unlike other contemporary indoor games that limits a child’s imagination. In today’s world we can observe that technology has even taken over children’s mind. They do not find fun in playing outdoor instead are attached to video games, social media. In my opinion these technological equipment limits the power of imagination among children. They are not able to apply any creativity in it and thus are constraint within a box of advanced child’s play. I believe the concept of adventure playgrounds should be encouraged more among children since it allows them develop their imagination and creativity. In addition to this, they learn about various aspects of risks as well that would be beneficial at any point of their life.

References

Chilton, T. (2018). Adventure Playgrounds. Aspects of Playwork: Play and Culture Studies, 14, 157.

Czalczynska-Podolska, M. (2014). The impact of playground spatial features on children's play and activity forms: An evaluation of contemporary playgrounds' play and social value. Journal of environmental psychology, 38, 132-142.

Fox, J. E., & Schirrmacher, R. (2014). Art and creative development for young children. Cengage Learning.161-173.

Lorinc, J. (2018). What happens when Toronto takes the ‘play’ out of playground. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/what-happens-when-toronto-takes-the-play-out-of-playground/article35065670/

YouTube. (2018). The Importance of Playing With Fire (Literally). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esGAJshsGvc [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].