Presented by: Sarah Jessup, BPE
Recreation Program Specialist, City of Calgary, Recreation
Mobile Adventure Playground Program Supervisor
A New Way to Play
 The City of Calgary is creating a new way to play – one
that encourages inclusive, independent, unstructured,
creative, ‘risky play’ with its Mobile Adventure
Playground.
 In 2016, the City of Calgary received funding from the
Lawson Foundation to help increase active, outdoor
play in Calgary… and the Adventure Playground was
born!
 Calgary.ca/play
What is an Adventure Playground?
 Adventure playgrounds are
dynamic spaces where
children can explore, create,
imagine, learn and play freely
in their own way, and in their
own time. They contain a
variety of materials and loose
parts such as boards, tires,
tape and cardboard that
children are free to use to
build, demolish, assemble
and change their
environments as they desire
according to their own
creative vision.
What is an Adventure Playground
 Adventure Playgrounds or “Junk Playgrounds” have
their beginnings in the early 1940’s. After World War II
children were often seen playing on bomb sites,
lighting fires, building a variety of structures, and
using any loose, natural or synthetic materials they
could find.
“Of all the things I have helped to realize, the junk
playground is the ugliest; yet for me it is the best and
most beautiful of my works” (Carl Theodor Sorensen,
1951)
What is an Adventure Playground
 Loose Parts/Adventure
Playgrounds can often look
“messy” and full of “risky” or
“dangerous” activities to those
who do not understand their
purpose.
“they are decidedly messy
occupations and they make the
planners who are mainly
tidy-minded unhappy.
Nevertheless they must never
forget children enjoy dirty and
untidy, adults abhor it and we
have to decide whether we are to
make playgrounds for children or
playgrounds that please the
planners” (Marjorie Allen, 1968)
What is Loose Parts Play?
 The term “loose parts” came from a paper entitled “The
Theory of Loose Parts”, by architect Simon Nicolson in 1971.
Nicholson believed that we are all creative and that “loose
parts” in an environment will empower our creativity.
“The community has been deprived of a crucial part of their
lives and life-style. This is particularly true of young
children who find the world incredibly restricted – a world
where they cannot play with building and making things, or
play with fluids, water, fire, or living objects and all the
things that satisfy one’s curiosity and give us pleasure that
results from discovery and invention” (Simon Nicholson,
1971)
What is Loose Parts Play?
 Loose parts are materials that can
be moved, carried, combined,
redesigned, lined up, taken apart,
and build in multiple ways. Loose
parts aren’t prescriptive; there are
no set directions and they offer
limitless possibilities
 For instance, a bathtub can become
a pirate ship, a tire and fabric a
home, cardboard a fishing rod or a
sword – materials can be thrown,
snapped, glued, taped, bent,
hidden, tied to something else or as
decoration.
What is Loose Parts Play?
 Loose parts play is child directed and motivated and
empowers individual children to take charge of their own
play and environments
 Loose parts also tend to be free from gender, social and
cognitive bias and are inherently inclusive in their nature.
 Traditional playgrounds with static material don’t
challenge a child’s imagination and offer little in terms of
creative learning. Dynamic spaces where children can
explore, create, imagine, and manipulate their
environment through play, help to develop their
imaginative learning, physical, social and decision making
skills.
•Straw
•Mud
•Water
•Pine Cones
•Sticks
•Tires
•Pipes
•Rope
•Tape
•Hammers, nails, saws
•Wood; planks, pallets
•Gardening tools
•Buckets
•Barrels
•Wooden spools
•Fabric
•Springs
And much more!
“When children interact with loose parts, they enter a world of ‘what if’
and it brings a sense of adventure and excitement to children’s play”
(Daly & Beloglovsky, 2015)
Benefits of Loose Parts Play
 Children learn best when
they are able to play freely.
They need to be able to use
real resources in their play as
well as toys – real experiences
are needed to acquire real life
skills.
Play is “essential to the
health and well-being of
children and promotes the
development of creativity,
imagination,
self-confidence,
self-efficacy, as well as
physical, social, cognitive
and emotional strength
and skills”
(Committee on the Rights
of the Child, 2013)
Benefits of Loose Parts Play
There are many benefits to adding in loose parts to a playscape:
 increased levels of dramatic, constructive and imaginative play
 can be adapted and manipulated in different ways
 encourages open-ended learning
 children play cooperatively and socialise more
 play is child-directed and non-prescriptive; children create and
imagine as they wish
 facilitates communication, social and problem solving skills
 improvements in children’s physical literacy and physical activity
levels
 children are better able to mitigate risk; physical, social and
emotional
Getting Started
 Consider how you are going to use loose parts in your overall culture and approach to play
 What details will you include in your planning to suit the needs of your participants?
 How are you going to evaluate the program? Evidence showing ‘before and after’ the
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introduction of loose parts is incredibly valuable
How are you going to educate and involve staff, parents and caregivers? Are you going to show
online film clips, hire consultants/professionals for presentations, study visits etc?
How are you going to train your staff and equip them with the knowledge, skills and confidence
they need?
Create your procedures for the management of loose parts
Create risk-benefit assessment tool for loose parts play
Try it out! Sample a small event/playground to get the feel for how it will work
Develop an ongoing action plan – does it have room to grow and be fluid as key learnings arise
and needs change?
How are you going to acquire and store the loose parts? Do you have a system in place to
replenish supplies as needed?
Put it into action! Review, learn, recreate/tweak if needed and repeat!
Role of the Leader
 Adventure playgrounds are
more than just gathering
materials and dropping them
off in a space outdoors. The
adults who understand their
role in facilitating free play
are a crucial part of the
playground.
Leaders must understand
what free play is:
Play is a process that is
freely chosen, intrinsically
motivated and personally
directed
Role of the Leader
Rather than “policing” play at an adventure playground, leaders are in place to
help inspire play. Many children today don’t know how to engage in free play so
the leaders can help with:
 Providing an environment that has lots of play possibility
 Creating an environment where children feel empowered to take control and
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direct play
Involving children in the development of basic rules of conduct. Engage them
to take ownership over the playground and involve them in creating guidelines
for safety and mutual respect
Standing back and allowing children to lead their own play and resisting the
temptation to suggest activities or settle disputes between children
Observe closely what is happening on the playground – physical, emotional,
social skills being developed and what impact this is having on the children.
Use that knowledge to inform future decisions
Ensure children take responsibility of the playground in terms of set up and
clean up and only intervene when absolutely necessary for children’s welfare
Setting Up the Playground
 Pick your spot
- chose a designated area within the
grounds where the children can create
and play without coming into conflict
or being displaced by other groups
- a more dynamic landscape with lots
of natural materials (i.e. mud, dirt,
trees, hills etc) make for a more
creative playground and requires less
materials.
- loose parts play lends itself to all ages
and abilities; be aware of abilities of
the children; will they all be able to
access the playground? Removing age
restrictions on the playground helps
to increase socialisation between older
and younger children and can help
reduce accidents
Setting Up the Playground
 Playing in all weather
- playing outside should be
encouraged all year round. We
are a winter culture and need to
get outside in the cold and snow
just as much as the sun and
warmth.
- children are further able to
experiment in their natural
environment in all seasons and
learn how to use the natural
elements to their advantage
- think ahead about proper
clothing and footwear and be
aware of the need to indoor
shelter for safety for inclement
weather
MAP Staff Training/Recruitment
 High Five: Principles of Healthy Child Development
 Play Ambassador Training (Provided by VIVO)
 Standard First Aid/CPR
 Play Training – Playful Content
 Staff Recruitment:
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2 Leaders
1 Programmer
1 Specialist
Leader Lessons Learned from MAP
 It takes practice to step back and allow/encourage kids to think for themselves
 Have discussions with kids about how to create, move objects, building etc
rather than telling the children how to use the materials
 Encourage kids to work out their problems by coming up with their own
solutions
 Count to ten before intervening in children’s play and only do so when you are
invited.
 Ask open ended questions “Do you feel safe?” “I am worried, why do you think
that might be?” “How can we work this out together?”
 Redirect problems back to the children to solve themselves “How do you think
this will work?” “What might happen?” “What could you use” “What have you
already tired?”
“The purpose of the leader was not to govern children from outside and
direct their building activity to a useful goal, but rather act from within,
by allowing them to pursue their own projects” (Kozlovsky, 2007)
Operational Challenges
 Mobile
 Transportation
 Boundaries
 Parents
 Weather
 Supplies/Materials
 Staffing
 Risk Management
Resources
 Inspiring Scotland
 Rethinking Childhood – Lady Allen
 Baltic Street Adventure Playground
 Outdoor Play Training
 Evergreen Canada
 Playscapes
 IPA Canada 2017