Frequently Asked Questions

Why nature?
We believe that contact with the natural world is essential for the healthy development of a child's mind and body. The subtle changes in sensory stimuli that are only found in the natural world fine tune the nervous system, and awaken and inform a child's perceptual development in ways that nothing else can.

Playgrounds should provide safe opportunities for children to explore and learn about natural elements, and allow them to test their physical abilities. Rolling down a hill of fresh cut grass; splashing in a shallow stream of running water; building a dam to watch the changing patterns in the flow of water; smelling the sweetness of seasonal blossoms; these experiences open a child's mind to the fullness of life.

As the natural landscape is less and less available to our children, especially in urban centers where they are driven rather than walk, where they watch TV rather than play outdoors, we must design diverse spaces that replicate the uniqueness of regional topography and offer the opportunity for children (and adults) to explore and gain knowledge of natural systems. Children learn from experience, through their senses. The quality of our design decisions will communicate our values to our children.

Why are landscape-based playgrounds important?
Children today have little opportunity to freely explore the natural world. They spend much more time inside, in cars, on computers, in supervised activities, and away from nature. “Down time" is typically in front of a television or video game. For most children, playgrounds provide their only connection to the outdoors.

Playgrounds typically provide ubiquitous equipment on artificial surfaces, which don't offer the natural play experience that a nature-based playground does. In landscape-based playgrounds, the landscape and vegetation is the play setting, and nature itself provides the play materials. Landscape-based playgrounds immerse children in the natural world's elements of water, mud, sand, trees, grass, rock…. and thereby offer qualities of openness, diversity, manipulation, exploration, anonymity and wildness

Children have a natural affinity for nature. Dirt, water, plants, and small animals attract and hold children's attention for hours, days, even a lifetime. This conclusion, drawn from observations of children over many years, supports the "biophilia hypotheses" of biologist E. O. Wilson, which suggests that humans are genetically programmed to be drawn to nature-not surprising since we are an integral part of the natural system.

Children have a unique, direct and experiential way of knowing the natural world as a place of beauty, mystery and wonder. Children's special affinity for the natural environment is connected to the child's development and his or her way of knowing.
- Wilson

Limiting the play experience for children in parks to manufactured play equipment is a missed opportunity!

How do landscape-based playgrounds differ from traditional play equipment playgrounds?
Landscape-based playgrounds are environmentally responsible. They are site specific, so that each playground is designed to respond to the landscape and history of the site. The landscape-based playground is designed to foster open-ended play, which is creative and inventive

Most traditional play equipment offers children a single use, for example a slide is one way up and one way down. A gentle hill, by contrast, offers multiple ways for children to move up and down. “Plants, together with soil, sand, and water, provide settings that can be manipulated. You can build a trench in the sand and dirt or a rock dam over a stream, but there's not much you can do to a jungle gym except climb, hang, or fall off."

Research has shown that children are more active in “green" spaces, which is a significant advantage in an age where we are facing an obesity epidemic. Aside from the physical health benefits, playing in nature – as opposed to on play equipment – is particularly critical during middle childhood for developing the capacities for creativity, problem-solving, and emotional and intellectual development.

While traditional equipment based playgrounds are limited to narrow age ranges, landscaped-based playgrounds accommodate a full range of age groups, supporting more interaction between children, adults, and the whole family.

What are the main features in a landscape-based playground?
Landscape-based playgrounds embody natural forms and materials, to provide a nature-based experience. The experiences that one has in nature are the same sensory experiences one has in a landscape-based playground.

The design of each playground responds to the natural characteristics of the site, using existing topography, trees and plant material then adding elements that encourage play…. hills to run up and roll down, retaining walls that slope to become a climbing wall, cave-like spaces to sit or hide, trellises of vines that become tunnels, pathways with varied tactile surfaces, bridges, mazes, shallow streams with beaches for sand play, places to sit and picnic, fantasy structures, and fountains.

These playgrounds are parks that incorporate, in their design and use of materials, surfaces and spaces that children of all ages can use for play.

What are the benefits?
A healthy and civilized society needs children who understand and respect natural systems. Landscape-based playgrounds provide children the opportunity to connect with nature, to experience the complexity of living things in a safe and thoughtful landscape. They provide a balance to the rush of urban life with a calm environment where children are free to explore and imagine.

Nature provides a rich learning environment. Studies have shown that children's social and learning skills, as well as their physical and mental health, are greatly improved by time spent in nature.

Because they provide access for multiple ages, landscape-based playgrounds support family gatherings. These playgrounds can become models for environmental stewardship. Regular positive interactions within nature help children develop respect and a caring attitude for the environment!

What are the safety advantages?
Every year in the US 200,000 accidents occur on traditional swings, slides and jungle gyms. Landscape-based playgrounds contain gentler surfaces and larger spaces that tend to make play safer. Unlike traditional playgrounds, landscape-based playgrounds use soft materials - nylon or rope climbing elements, rubber or fibrous landing surfaces, logs and rocks that are close to the ground. Play activities are spread over the entire park so the concentration of activity, which so often happens with single use equipment and is a major cause of accidents, is lessened. Where there are single activity elements, the design will allow multiple entrances and exits so that children have choices and options. By far the most important safety consideration is that landscape-based playgrounds encourage adult participation and supervision, which is the single most important factor in playground safety

These landscaped spaces actually get better with age as plants mature. A newly planted forest of small pines trees is vulnerable to children swinging on branches, while a mature tree provides shaded places to play and build in the pine needles. As grasses grow through pavers the surface becomes secure for running even when wet.

Only as a child's awareness and reverence for the wholeness of life are developed can his humanity to his own kind reach its full development."
Rachel Carson, Edge of the Sea

Do children really want this?
In the fall of 2007 we conducted an experiment with two 1st grade classes in a NYC school, taking 40 children to three playgrounds: one with traditional equipment, one with award-winning custom built equipment, and one that was without any equipment except a single slide set amid rocks, bushes, winding paths, trees, and soft grass. While all the playgrounds engaged the children for a while, without exception the children preferred the natural, landscape setting, saying it was "open and free." In fact the landscaped playground was smaller than the other two and was surrounded by high-rise NY apartment buildings. Their sense of freedom and calm came from the design of the landscape. When asked to design their own playground the children included hills, hedge rows to hide under, water sources, rocks to climb, and places to dig and build. The children were also aware of safety without needing to be told, and commented on what they saw as dangerous. They wanted to be challenged but not hurt.

Is this only for children?
The philosophy of Follow the Child is that the sensory effects of a sculpted natural interactive environment benefit everyone. We believe passionately that our very humanness responds to this, and we apply the same design principles to all audiences. Our approach to landscaped-based playgrounds is as applicable to hospital healing gardens, corporate parks, and public areas in planned communities, as it is to playgrounds for children and teens.

Why are you qualified to do this?
Follow The Child's three founders and partners have between them over 60 years of professional experience in education, landscape design, playground design, architecture, information design, instructional materials design, writing and speaking. Not incidentally, they have also raised seven wonderful, productive, playful children.