ABSTRACT
In the 1950s and 1960s, largely in response to the ideas of C. T. Sorensen, several adventure playgrounds appeared in the United Kingdom. Sorensen envisaged ‘junk’ playgrounds, where children could imagine, shape and create their own reality. Sutton-Smith’s classic text The Ambiguity of Play contains the most comprehensive examination of play theory that has yet been attempted. Sutton-Smith identifies over 100 theories, which he groups under generic headings. Some are respected; others ridiculous. They have one thing in common: they all fall short of providing a full explanation of play. Tim Gill draws attention to developments that have taken place in UK society that have had a negative impact on children’s play, and especially on children’s opportunities to experience risk. S. Nicholson, in developing his ‘theory of loose parts’, explains it thus: ‘In any environment both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it’.
