Those old playgrounds in some Denver parks might look a lot different in the coming years when they are replaced as the Parks and Recreation department is focusing on nature play options in its parks moving forward.
Natural playgrounds, made of recycled trees and boulders, have become a popular option over traditional playgrounds with slides, monkey bars and swings, and Denver Parks and Recreation has multiple natural playground projects planned.
“Studies show that when kids go to a traditional playground, they get bored quickly, whereas with nature play done well, kids stay longer and come back more frequently,” said Gordon Robertson, director of park planning for Denver Parks and Recreation.
The first nature playground is under construction at Pasquinel’s Landing Park, 801 W. Evans Ave., and should be complete by the end of March. Two other projects are planned at Westwood Park and First Creek near Green Valley Ranch and Denver International Airport. Both are set to break ground this year.
The projects are designed by Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds, a Canadian company that has built natural play areas worldwide since the 1980s.
Founder, CEO and principal designer Adam Bienenstock was at Pasquinel’s Landing Park last week, supervising the build of the nature playground, consisting of the wood from trees that came from city parks and one from a neighbor’s front yard. The boulders came from Urban Drainage. The trees are secured into place, just above the ground, and mulch will cover the separation between the ground the and log. This will help preserve the wood for a 15-25-year life span.
“The most important part of this is we just want kids to connect to nature in a way that I remember when I was a kid, but we know is missing from most of their lives now,” Bienenstock said. “It turns out that playgrounds, where their parents will take them, are one of the few places where they can have this experience.”
While Pasquinel’s Landing will have Denver’s first full-on nature playground, the idea was introduced to the city in 2015 at Johnson Habitat Park in the Athmar Park neighborhood along the South Platte River. That park opened a nature-play component that includes a mix of wooden logs and boulders and synthetic play structures made to look like things found in nature.
Johnson Habitat Park is used often by the Greenway Foundation, which holds environmental programs for kids during the summer. The natural play area has been popular with the children since it opened.
“The kids really adore the nature play place. They love building forts there, playing tag and having fun. It’s definitely a favorite area there,” said Rachel Steel, Greenway Foundation education director and grants manager.
Other cities in the Denver metro area have seen a similar trend toward nature playgrounds. Broomfield and Westminster have plans in place for projects and Littleton already has an area along the Mary Carter Greenway.
Emily Patterson, parks for people program manager for the Trust for Public Land, believes the appeal in natural playgrounds is connecting youth to the outdoors in ways that let their imagination take over and open doors to exploring more of the terrain. She noted numerous barriers that prevent some youth from experiencing the outdoors.
“There’s a lot of momentum here in Colorado to overcome those barriers so we can have nature in our parks and incorporate nature in a way that is sustainable in our parks,” Patterson said. “We will see more of it in Colorado and Denver.
Jackie Miller, director of youth initiatives for Great Outdoors Colorado, agreed in that she has also noticed the trend. However, she doesn’t seen traditional playgrounds going away.
“We see a lot of playground projects and the trend is definitely shifting toward more natural play. There will always will be a place for traditional equipment, but there’s a growing interest in bringing nature close to home,” Miller said.
She also addressed the barriers issue, particularly in underserved communities, citing lack of transportation access, time or education on how to experience the outdoors.
“People blame technology, but what we’ve found is that technology is a response because all these other barriers exist,” she said.
The nature play areas, according to Bienenstock, can help with much more than just gross motor function, but a whole range of things including fine motor skills, imagination and social skills. It also makes kids consider their safety as opposed to traditional playgrounds that have taken away most risk of injuries. Bienenstock said he has yet to receive a call about a serious injury at one of his more than 700 projects.
He said Denver’s commitment to these projects and the buy-in from so many organizations in addition to Parks and Rec, such as Urban Drainage, has been rewarding for him to see.
“Denver is one of those places where it could be the new sort of top city for nature play,” he said.
The cost for each playground and the landscaping surrounding it is around $250,000, which Robertson said is competitive with traditional playground set-ups. He also hopes to look into building more of these playgrounds in the future.
Robertson said: “I think we’ll study it and see the pros and cons and get better at designing, but I think we’re all pretty hopeful that it will be a better way to design playgrounds.”
