American Playgrounds
Title | American Playgrounds PDF eBook |
Author | Susan G. Solomon |
Publisher | UPNE |
Pages | 288 |
Release | 2005 |
Genre | Architecture |
ISBN | 9781584655176 |
A compelling history, a manifesto, and a manual for change.
The Complete Playground Book
Title | The Complete Playground Book PDF eBook |
Author | Arlene Brett |
Publisher | Syracuse University Press |
Pages | 212 |
Release | 1993-10-01 |
Genre | Family & Relationships |
ISBN | 9780815602712 |
Describes the history and purpose of outdoor play areas. Both a reminiscence and a practical manual, this study probes the philosophy of play, the stages of a child's behaviour and social interaction in recreation, and the educational value of playgrounds.
Louie's Together Playground
Title | Louie's Together Playground PDF eBook |
Author | Dr. Nicole Julia |
Publisher | |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 2021-06-17 |
Genre | Children with disabilities |
ISBN | 9781733272728 |
Join Louie, a crafty Llama with Dwarfism, who loves to build, construct and create. Together, he and his friends dream up a plan to bring the very first all-inclusive playground to their town.
Sacred Playgrounds
Title | Sacred Playgrounds PDF eBook |
Author | Jacob Sorenson |
Publisher | Wipf and Stock Publishers |
Pages | 210 |
Release | 2021-07-01 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 1532694628 |
Sacred Playgrounds explores the wisdom of camping ministry for Christian education and faith formation, examining its rich history and fundamental characteristics with compelling stories, groundbreaking research, and theological grounding. Christian summer camp is an integral part of the ecology of faith formation in North America, though it has received surprisingly little attention in the scholarly community until now. Camping ministry is often dismissed as simple fun and games or a brief spiritual high that does not last. However, camp experiences often serve as deeply relational and immersive faith experiences that have lasting impacts on participants. Five fundamental characteristics combine dynamically in the effective camp experience: participatory, faith-centered, safe space, relational, and unplugged from home. Together, they open the space for participants to consider new understandings of God, to have time for deep self-reflection, and to build intentional Christian community. These camp experiences are essential components in a larger ecology of faith formation, including the home and congregation. The insight and evidence presented in this book demonstrate that the contributions of camping ministry must be taken seriously among scholars, Christian educators, and ministry professionals.
My Dream Playground
Title | My Dream Playground PDF eBook |
Author | Kate M. Becker |
Publisher | Candlewick Press |
Pages | 32 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | Juvenile Fiction |
ISBN | 0763655317 |
Dreaming of a day when there will be a real playground in her own neighborhood, a little girl is ecstatic when she learns that a local playground has been planned, in a story inspired by the construction of the first playground built by the KaBOOM! national nonprofit.
Central Park’s Adventure-Style Playgrounds
Title | Central Park’s Adventure-Style Playgrounds PDF eBook |
Author | Marie Warsh |
Publisher | LSU Press |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 2019-11-20 |
Genre | Architecture |
ISBN | 0807172014 |
In New York’s Central Park, some of the playgrounds constructed as part of the midcentury experimental “playground revolution” still remain. In Central Park's Adventure-Style Playgrounds, Marie Warsh tells the engrossing history of these playscapes built in the 1960s and 1970s, exploring their connections to the art, recreational design, urbanism, grassroots movements, and child-development theories of the period. She further details the Central Park Conservancy’s efforts decades later to preserve and renew these playgrounds. So-called adventure-style playgrounds featured interconnected forms including pyramids, mounds, and steps, and basic materials such as water and sand, encouraging new levels of creativity and interaction. By the end of the 1970s, ten of Central Park’s twenty-two existing playgrounds—formerly paved, sterile, standard-equipment-filled lots dating to the 1930s—had been transformed according to the new design ideals. With time, deterioration prompted concerns about safety, and much of the equipment was removed. However, community interest led the Central Park Conservancy to update and preserve the playgrounds that remained in the park. Building on successful aspects of the playgrounds, designers incorporated new technologies, materials, and equipment that reflect contemporary ideas about children’s play and approaches to urban park management. They also developed strategies to better integrate them into the landscapes of the park. Today, Central Park’s adventure-style playgrounds represent significant works of renewed modern landscape architecture as well as models for new thinking about playground design.
The Science of Play
Title | The Science of Play PDF eBook |
Author | Susan G. Solomon |
Publisher | University Press of New England |
Pages | 231 |
Release | 2014-11-04 |
Genre | Architecture |
ISBN | 1611686113 |
Poor design and wasted funding characterize today's American playgrounds. A range of factors--including a litigious culture, overzealous safety guidelines, and an ethos of risk aversion--have created uniform and unimaginative playgrounds. These spaces fail to nurture the development of children or promote playgrounds as an active component in enlivening community space. Solomon's book demonstrates how to alter the status quo by allying data with design. Recent information from the behavioral sciences indicates that kids need to take risks; experience failure but also have a chance to succeed and master difficult tasks; learn to plan and solve problems; exercise self-control; and develop friendships. Solomon illustrates how architects and landscape architects (most of whom work in Europe and Japan) have already addressed these needs with strong, successful playground designs. These innovative spaces, many of which are more multifunctional and cost effective than traditional playgrounds, are both sustainable and welcoming. Having become vibrant hubs within their neighborhoods, these play sites are models for anyone designing or commissioning an urban area for children and their families. The Science of Play, a clarion call to use playground design to deepen the American commitment to public space, will interest architects, landscape architects, urban policy makers, city managers, local politicians, and parents.