Thinking back to your childhood and visiting the local play area, we all had our goto piece of play equipment we’d run to first. Was it the slide to see how fast you can go down, or holding tight as you spin round on the roundabout or swinging your legs forwards and backwards to go as high as you can on the swings. It's these childhood memories that stay with us as we reminisce with family and friends.
The first known outdoor play area was situated in Salford’s Peel Park, Manchester in 1859. It was born from an idea of Friedrich Engels, a mill owner who wanted to create a leisure space for his mill workers and their families.
Prior to this, the playground concept was developed by Friedrich Froebel, a german teacher who was pivotal in its establishment. He introduced the concept of the ‘sand gardens’ which he pioneered as an integral part of children's development through play. It was Friedrich who introduced the word ‘kindergarten’ (or ‘garden for children’) for a school he founded in Brandenburg, Germany.
[image source: offtheleash.net]
Moving forward, landscape architect and child welfare advocate Lady Allen of Hurtwood introduced the concept of ‘adventure playgrounds’ in the UK in the mid-20th century. It was these playgrounds which included equipment with moving parts, nurturing children's creativity and supporting cognitive development.
A landscape architect and a pioneer child welfare in the UK. Lady Allen was chairman and president of the Nursery School of Great Britain, founder president of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education and a member of the Central Advisory Council for Education. She's also a published author of books, illustrated volumes and inllustrated pamphlets, with her most widely recognised publication 'Planning for Play' - a book that advocates for thoughtful and adventurous play areas for children.
It was early in the 20th century the need for dedicated outdoor spaces became even more apparent. They needed to be a lot more interactive for children to play on, so with this, saw the introduction of swings, seesaws and sand boxes. These playgrounds evolved even further to not just focus on physical well being, but also creativity. Imagination play was created giving children the freedom to express themselves, during this time more equipment was added to playgrounds - tyres, ropes and wooden structures.
The 21st century accelerated the playground into what we know today with an ethos which sits are the heart of everything we do at Home Front Outdoor Play - every child has the right to play, no matter their age or ability.
We've been designing and installing playgrounds and play areas since 1996 - so you could say we're the outdoor play experts - from customers gardens to schools, nurseries, pubs, hotels (to name a few).
The timber playground at Broad Chalke, Salisbury features towers and accessories from our Multiplay collection, a zip line, swing bay and trampoline.
