Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Playground
  • Surfacing
  • Parks
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Play
Home
  • Playground
  • Surfacing
  • Parks
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Play
  • Playgrounds Make a Great Place for a Play Day
  • Critical Lightning Detection
  • Rules of the Red Rubber Ball Book Review
  • 3 Overlooked Benefits to Building a Playground in Your Community
  • Play Spaces for All Abilities

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Playground
  3. One Thousand Playgrounds

One Thousand Playgrounds

Playground
March 29, 2016
Profile picture for user Elizabeth Moreno
By Elizabeth Moreno on
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • envelope
  • print
1388
One Thousand Playgrounds

One Thousand Playgrounds

One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds
One Thousand Playgrounds

On January 25th, 2016, the Playground Ideas community reached its 1,000th playground. What started with a small band of volunteers building playgrounds along the Thai/Burma border in 2007 has grown into a global network of play advocates.

The Playground Ideas community is diverse. They are builders, community organizers, and NGO workers; parents, teachers, and students. They are artists, architects, designers, and makers. These talented individuals are contributing their skills and passion — working out of their own homes or on-site at playground builds around the world.

They have created resources that enable anyone, anywhere to build a playground using only local tools, materials, and skills. And they’ve built those playgrounds at schools, orphanages, community centers, and public parks. They do it because they believe that every child has the right to play and they do it because they know play is the most important tool to a child has to navigate their world.

This community believes in resources being open-source and free for those who need it most. By investing in this work, their impact has reached beyond physical borders. They are a network of strangers across continents, supporting each other to bring access to play for kids around the world.

Tha Wah was Playground Ideas’ first employee. He led teams of volunteers to build dozens of playgrounds across Thailand (and he’s still at it today!) One of his first original creations was the “Tha Wah Car.” Years later in Uganda, East African Playgrounds, a nonprofit playground building organization, built the “Tha Wah Car” at an orphanage along the banks of the river Nile.

Further north in Uganda, a special slide was designed specifically for a group of toddlers at a daycare centre. The caretakers asked for a slide that wouldn’t get dangerously hot in the equatorial sun, as steel slides often do. The result was a brick and concrete structure, with smooth, slippery floor tiles. Ana, an architect in Guatemala, saw the slide design online and thought she could make it even better. She built an awesome triple-slide version out of rammed soil earthbags instead of bricks.

Little did she know a cooperative of eco-builders in Rwanda would then replicate her earthbag & tile slide across the world. They also used recycled oil barrels to build this cool drum set on their playground.

Socheata, a Playground Ideas intern in the U.S., turned the drum kit design into a step-by-step DIY building guide, allowing anyone, anywhere to download the plans and easily build it on their own. During her internship, Socheata created over 60 step-by-step plans for Playground Ideas’ website.

Another intern in the U.S., Tyler, designed an element called the “Swing Monkey.” He took inspiration from the palm fronds he remembered swinging on as a kid in Panama. They’d hang down low from coconut trees and Tyler and his brother would swing around and around on them. Years later, community build leader Mathias, from Austria, downloaded the step by step instructions for Tyler’s design and built it for a group of kids in the Philippines.

Elsewhere in the Philippines, Jason, a Peace Corps Volunteer, was supporting the PTA of an elementary school in a typhoon affected region to build a safe space for their children to play. Jason is one of many Peace Corps Volunteers who have spearheaded playground projects — like Josh and Jane in Morocco. They set out to build a playground at every school in their remote community and it ended up sparking a wave of DIY play spaces across the country.

Josh and Jane found the resources to design and build playgrounds from local tools and materials at playgroundideas.org — where, on January 25th, 2016, Jocelyn started a project profile for a recycled community play space in Equador, becoming the 1,000th project in the Playground Ideas community.

One Thousand Playgrounds

1,000 playgrounds across the globe, impacting 500,000 kids.
These are the people who made it happen.

                                                                                                              

 

www.playgroundideas.org

Profile picture for user Elizabeth Moreno
Elizabeth Moreno
Published 6 years ago
Last updated 3 months ago
1388
2
min read
A- A+
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • envelope
  • print

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

More About

Oct 01, 2003
Playground

Commitment to Play

Playground Magazine
Jun 13, 2017
Playground

Healthy Playground Eats

Kacey Mya
Sep 01, 2011
Playground

My Playground Story

Sandra Libby
Mar 01, 2001
Playground

The Best Playground

Monty Christiansen
Aug 04, 2014
Playground

Reasonable Playground Design - Risk and Challenge versus Safety Issues versus Hazard Prevention

Kenneth Kutska
Feb 18, 2013
Playground

Discount Playground Supply Announces E-Commerce Web Site

Thomas Siebert
Sep 01, 2001
Playground

Keeping an Eye on Eagle Watch

Playground Magazine
Feb 02, 2016
Playground

Is the NPCAI Abandoning Playground Contractors?

Curtis Stoddard
Jan 05, 2018
Playground

Texas Border City Turns Bus Stop into Fun Play Place

PGP
Aug 29, 2016
Playground

Playpower Acquires Playground Equipment Maker Playworld

PGP
Nov 05, 2014
Playground

MD Governor Attends Opening Ceremony for FHP Playground in Baltimore

Garnet Sofillas
Dec 22, 2014
Playground

A History of IPEMA

Ipema Association

Playground Professionals

Play Space Services, Inc.
Play Space Services, Inc.
Services
More
Gerber Leisure Products, Inc.
Gerber Leisure Products, Inc.
Sales Rep
More
Pacific Park and Playground, Inc.
Pacific Park and Playground, Inc.
Sales Rep
More
Ash Recreation & Design, LLC
Ash Recreation & Design, LLC
Sales Rep
More
Pacific Play Systems, Inc.
Pacific Play Systems, Inc.
Services
More
General Recreation, Inc.
General Recreation, Inc.
Sales Rep
More
Go Play, Inc.
Go Play, Inc.
Manufacturer
More
Child's Play, Inc.
Child's Play, Inc.
Manufacturer
More
Scientific Art Studio
Scientific Art Studio
Manufacturer
More
Creative Recreational Systems, Inc.
Creative Recreational Systems, Inc.
Sales Rep
More
Giffen Recreation, Inc.
Giffen Recreation, Inc.
Sales Rep
More
Playworld Systems
Playworld Systems
Manufacturer
More
Home

Follow Us

Play and playground news and information since 2001

  • instagram
  • facebook-f
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • linkedin

Company

  • Playground Magazine
  • Contributors
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Copyright © 2001 - 2023 Playground Professionals, LLC

Footer menu

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions