Successful playgrounds attract people to stay and play. They are important public investments that create healthy social infrastructure, promote fitness and physical development, foster cognitive growth, and support emotional well-being. There are many factors to consider in the design of successful outdoor playgrounds. The site must be accessible, safe, and comfortable, but crucially, it must be playable.

Playability means that the playground equipment and the layout of the space will support play. The secret to successful outdoor playgrounds is to design based on the characteristics of play and draw on landscape performance research.

The characteristics of play are choice, repetition, variability, and fun. Play is always voluntary. The design implication is that choices of play activities — such as climbing, spinning, swinging, rocking, gliding, sliding, meeting, and experimenting — need to be provided on a playground. Setting up a successful playground means that there are plenty of different ways to engage with the play equipment as well as with other people on the playground. The play events should be age appropriate, and universally designed for children and adults of all abilities to play together.

We can be confident that innovative outdoor playgrounds – those with unique playground equipment with a wow or thrill factor – will attract more users and encourage children and their families to stay and play for longer times. Evidence comes from landscape performance studies conducted by the KOMPAN Play Institute at three playground sites: Flag Pole Hill in Dallas, Texas (Innovative Products - The Key to More Play), Veteran’s Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Families Love Thrilling and Sensory Playgrounds),and Frimley Lodge Park in Surrey, United Kingdom (Unique Play Designs Increase Play Duration). Across these studies, the on-site interviews of 563 adults and 202 children show that park and playground visits increase when playgrounds are designed with innovative and thrilling play features, with opportunities for children of all ages and all abilities to play.

These findings are also supported by evidence from the National Study of Playgrounds a study of 60 playgrounds in the United States, conducted by Meghan Talarowski and her team at Studio Ludo, Dr. Deborah Cohen of Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Thomas McKenzie, and other partners, which found that innovative playgrounds attracted 2.5 times more users, generated almost 3 times as much moderate to vigorous physical activity, and had 31% more users per square foot than traditional playgrounds. In this study “innovative” was defined as including at least three of the following: a variety of surface types, naturalized and planted areas designed for play, open-ended structures that do not dictate play sequence, and movable equipment.

How do we determine what makes a playground innovative? For children, innovative playgrounds are places that are designed for them to be able to move their bodies, use their minds, socialize with others, and be creative. Innovations in outdoor playgrounds are made by consulting with children in the design process. Children are the experts in how they play, and we have much to learn about what works for fun. Since the 1980s, the KOMPAN Play Institute has used careful listening and observing children at play, combined with specialist insight, to drive play innovation. We share these evidenced-based insights with others so that they can advocate for and elevate the quality of play worldwide.

You can learn more about this work and access white papers, webinars, and more at the KOMPAN Play Institute webpage.

Suzanne Quinn, PhD is Manager at KOMPAN Play Institute, Americas. Previously, she was a Senior Lecturer and Program Coordinator of the Graduate Early Childhood Studies program at Froebel College, University of Roehampton, London, UK where she was also a researcher at the Early Childhood Research Centre. She researches issues related to active play and fitness for children and families, with particular interest in the intersection of nature and the built environment.