Sand, stones, or rubber: what should a playground have?

BarcelonaWhen Clara Pons-Mesman's son was 2 years old, she realized that a process of transformation of the parks in the city where they lived was beginning: "They put rubber in most of the parks. I realized that the ground didn't allow him to play with the sand or observe the ants; he no longer enjoyed experimenting because he wasn't enjoying experimentation because he couldn't find it in the parks," Pons-Mesman explains of her son. From then on, she learned about it and realized that there were few references to promoting play in nature. This is the starting point of her project. Earth in the hands, which encourages free, outdoor play.

The Power of Risk

Imma Marín, president of the Institut del Joc, explains that in recent years there has been a trend toward highly protective playgrounds to eliminate potential risks. A movement has also emerged that advocates for more natural playgrounds: "This kind of return to origins is surely explained by the fact that the fantasy of zero risk no longer exists." She believes that common sense must be used to avoid unnecessary risks, but children's play should involve minimal risk—climbing, climbing, catching, running, hiding, etc. This controlled risk is important for children's play. "Often on a slide, more children climb up the front than up the stairs," she says. This is explained by the fact that children engage in exploratory play, challenging, and overcoming challenges, and the facilities should allow for all of this to occur with a controlled level of risk. For this to be possible, families should manage their fears, anxieties, and distress to prevent this anxiety from being passed on to the children.

Experts agree: riskier play spaces are needed. "We've made playgrounds so safe that if someone falls, nothing happens, and it's impossible to perceive the danger," says Cristina Gutiérrez, emotional educator and director of La Granja Escuela de Palautordera. In practice, playgrounds and parks that seem so safe are unsafe in the medium term; they don't allow children to perceive risks and they miss out on learning opportunities. "It's important to understand that by protecting children too much, we actually leave them unprotected," says Gutiérrez. She argues that overprotection is raising children in fear and mistrust. On the contrary, the prevailing criterion is to make them independent and strong, training them to be able to overcome the obstacles they encounter. "If not even adults believe they can do it, they won't believe it either," she points out. When their learning processes are respected, they are allowed to learn to understand their bodies and their possibilities, they feel more secure, and they set themselves small new challenges.

Freedom of spaces and rules

"Play is an attitude, because it involves action, movement, decision-making, autonomy, independence, and risk, but what the family and school environments usually offer children are recreational activities," says Katia Hueso, biologist, mother, and author of several books that highlight play in contact with nature. Hueso believes that freedom of spaces, materials, rules, and environments should be exercised. This doesn't mean that children should do whatever they want, but rather that their freedom of choice ends where that of others begins. She presents it as an exercise in learning where our limits and those of others lie, "and you can only learn when you exercise play from freedom, respecting the limits that life imposes on us, learning to live with our environment," she says.

When it comes to play, Hueso suggests opening the door and leaving the house. She suggests planning how long you'll be outside, whether you need to bring food and drinks, knowing the weather forecast, and little else. "Plan as little as possible and let the children direct the activities, what they want to do, the type of play they prefer, and the space. If we force it, it's when they don't feel like it," says Hueso. She values the power of letting them explore and connect with the space. She advocates repeating locations so they become reference points, connecting on a deeper level with the space and everything it offers. She encourages families to gradually allow their children to become independent, thus acquiring tools to manage and resolve the challenges they encounter.

Hueso asserts that it's essential to understand that play is a tool for learning, well-being, and health. If the playground or park is full of rigid structures, children are pressured. That's why versatile, diverse, exciting spaces should be created, with a degree of risk, adventure, and mystery: "We create spaces with different environments, which can accommodate different types of play: quieter, moving, climbing structures if there are no trees, reading, drawing, talking, or exploring." In addition to creating the spaces, children should be given enough time to explore and enjoy them.

Ideal play spaces

Pons-Mesman, specialist in free play in outdoor spaces and author of Come out and play! (Larousse, 2021) states that outdoor play is the most beneficial for physical, intellectual, and emotional development. It advocates that park and playground spaces should be as natural as possible, because it has many physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits. Contact with greenery reduces cortisol levels, making children less stressed; playing in contact with the earth secretes serotonin, which promotes a better disposition toward concentration and learning. In more natural spaces, children move more and in more varied ways, unlike more structured parks, where they end up getting bored and seek out new corners that allow for greater diversity. It recommends that the pavement also be as natural as possible—pebbles, sand, or grass—which allows for more play. You can transfer sand, make fine sand or pet food with leaves, check the sound of stones falling, write on the ground, and observe insects.

Furthermore, being in contact with nature is a way to raise awareness and become more conscious of the environment, and it becomes easier to respect and love it. When we interact and play with objects that are not so structured, more learning opportunities are generated. Adults need to trust and believe that they can entertain themselves: children are distracted by their creativity; there's no need to tell them to play. Children under 8 years old can already play with stones, sand, or branches, making blocks, drawings, constructions, or trails for ants. These experiences develop fine and gross motor skills, creativity, logical ability, perception, and the senses. If they are older and begin to complain about being bored, adults should invite them to experiment with what they can do with those elements. Therefore, it's worth leveraging play as a mechanism that allows children to discover their abilities, act accordingly, and achieve new challenges.

Four books that encourage contact with nature

• Go Play!: Guide to Outdoor Activities and Games, by Clara Pons-Mesman (Larousse, 2024)
• Move freely, by Emmi Pikler (Narcea, 2021)
• The last children in the woods, by Richard Luov (Captain Swing, 2020)
• Playing outdoors, by Katia Hueso (Plataforma actual, 2019)