ABSTRACT
Children do not engage in the same kind of play in all places. The quality of the environment, the amount of time for play, playmates and the child’s personality all influence the kind of play that takes place. As play is not the same, play areas should not be designed to be alike even though there is a tradition for this approach. In this chapter I will look at the factors that make a difference in play area design depending on the type of location of the play space. The design criteria for the children and the adult criteria discussed in previous chapters apply to all sites, but the form of response to the criteria should be different in each location. In the daily life of a young child it may be that there are three play areas within visiting distance – one at the kindergarten where they go everyday, a park near the home they visit often when out for a walk with the family and on an outing with the kindergarten. The third may be a school yard that also serves as a neighbourhood play space that is located on the way to the corner store. When designing for young children it is important to take into consideration what kinds of play opportunities are available in the daily world of the child and not repeat the same play possibilities at every site.
