What is Create a Playground?

Traditional playgrounds consist primarily of fixed equipment, such as slides, swings and monkey bars, all of which focus on developing children’s gross motor skills. Create a Playground is made up of what experts call “loose parts” that prompt children to transform their environment and create a play space of their own.

Create a Playground contains a wide variety of loose parts, including cubes, bricks, cogs, curves, and cylinders. But the parts are not simply loose, they have holes and shapes that fit together in ways that allow the continuation of a child’s idea. A pair becomes a wall. A wall becomes a room. A room becomes a house. The pieces connect together to make immersive play last a long time.

This innovative playground equipment system transforms any indoor or outdoor space encouraging learning, social development, movement and above all fun. Child development experts have long known that unstructured free play and block play help children in all areas of development: intellectual, social, physical and emotional.

Children are empowered to use their imagination to build their own world, rather than inhabit one we create for them. They try new things and stretch their abilities. They experience their own triumphs and accomplishments. They make their worn mistakes and learn their own lessons. And they love doing it.

Benefits of Create a Playground

• Creativity The blocks spark imagination and creativity in children of all ages.
• Social interaction The blocks are designed to encourage instant sharing and collaboration. They are deliberately oversized, so kids will be more likely to help each other with them.
• Increased activity The large foam blocks make it easy for children to build big. They can build structures to stand on, walk on, and enter. Lifting, balancing, carrying, stacking and placing blocks encourages full body movement, helps exercise gross motor skills, and helps develop muscle strength.
• Learning The blocks encourage children to exercise problem-solving skills and complex thinking. Playing with blocks involves many math and science skills that can have a real impact, including classification, size relationships, shapes, counting, height, width, area, fractions, and ordinal and cardinal numbers.
• Increased confidence Whether it’s a two year old building a simple tower or a six year old inventing the story of a rocket trip to Mars, children get a sense of accomplishment. The blocks enable children to have experiences that contribute to the development of their self-confidence.

Imagination Playground is safe?

Imagination Playground blocks are made of a lightweight foam that is non-toxic and microbe and mold resistant. They're soft and friendly to touch yet dense and firm enough to build structures and shapes.

Target audience

Children 0-10 years and their families.

Kindergartens, schools, playgroups, childcare, kindergyms, community groups, events for children or any other environment where children are present.

How is Mid Murray offering Create a Playground to the community?

This initiative is presented at no cost to Mid Murray community organisations and education groups on a rotation/borrowing system. To register your interest please contact Mid Murray Council's Community Engagement Team on Phone 8569 0100 or email postbox@mid-murray.sa.gov.au

Create A Playgound Gallery