What is Playground Ideas?

“Anyone anywhere can do it - if you have motivation and commitment you can build a playground for children anywhere in the world ”

Marcus Veerman, Founder & CEO

More than just a nice way for children to pass the time, play has an incredibly important role in a child’s development. Self-directed play has many positive effects on the body and brain. Gross motor skills are developed and improved along with social skills, risk awareness, self control and creative thinking for problem solving. There is evidence to suggest that if children miss out on this early stimulation there are long term negative consequences.

However, in many countries possibilities for play are limited. This may be due to the nature of the education system or the lack of opportunity and space for play. The UN predicts that 250 million children will turn 5 years old without reaching full development potential. Many of these children are from lower to middle income families in developing countries.

Playground Ideas is a not for profit organisation that both advocates for the importance of play and supports communities in developing countries to build their own low cost, safe playgrounds. Over the past 11 years they have supported communities in 85, predominantly developing, countries to build thousands of playgrounds.

Playground Ideas provides downloadable ideas, plans and manuals free of charge to empower communities to build their own playgrounds. There are over 150 design ideas all of which can be adapted for different age groups. A 3D design tool enables the design of a completely bespoke playground to suit local needs.

The playgrounds are made with materials that are readily and cheaply available rather than specially designed playground equipment. For example, tyres can be used in many ways to build a variety of activities such as swings and seesaws or to build a sandpit for sensory play. Included in the guides are also ideas for sparking imaginative role play by building a shop front, for example.

The guides come with step by step instructions on how to build each aspect of a playground along with safety information for each piece of equipment. There are also manuals to support the design of inclusive playground spaces so all children can benefit from the playground. Playground Ideas is committed to play-based education and also provides information for educators on how to develop this pedagogy.

Despite studies that show that stimulating play in the early years of a child’s life can improve life chances considerably, for some governments and communities this is somewhat counter intuitive and can present a barrier to play provision. Advocacy of the importance of play has become a central part of the work of Playground Ideas.

While the playgrounds are low cost, a certain level of outlay is inevitable. In order to support local communities to raise the funds required to build their own playgrounds, Playground Ideas offers a fee-free crowdfunding service.

Playground Ideas relies on community volunteers to turn the children's playground dreams into reality!
Building materials are usually recycled and waste materials, although the tools and materials required will depend on the project.

HundrED Criteria

innovativeness

impact

scalability

Playground Ideas is a not for profit that provides downloadable ideas, plans and manuals free of charge to empower communities to build their own playgrounds. There are over 150 design ideas all of which can be adapted for different age groups. A 3D design tool enables the design of a completely bespoke playground to suit local needs. The playgrounds are made with materials that are readily and cheaply available rather than specially designed playground equipment.

Long term studies have shown access to early play experiences boosts life outcomes substantially: 42% raise in yearly earnings, 44% increase in high school graduations, and 17% increase in bachelor degrees. Perhaps most importantly, play builds the critical skill of self-regulation, which underpins success for a lifetime.

By open sourcing all of the materials, Playground Ideas has leveraged a global community of thousands to impact almost a million children with a staff team of less than three. So far there have been DIY playground projects in over 143 countries!