Adventure playground
An adventure playground is a playground that mainly offers older children and adolescents self-designed adventure spaces. “Construction playground”, “active playground” or “Robinson playground” (Switzerland) are also used synonymously.
General
Adventure playgrounds are under the supervision of non-profit associations or local authorities. Typical features are hut construction areas, fire places, varied terrain modeling and unusual self-made play equipment. Examples of this are moat bridges , extra long slides , particularly high climbing frames and wooden structures that are connected to other play equipment via rope bridges or climbing spiders . Mud / water playgrounds are also included under certain favorable conditions.
Adventure playgrounds can be designed as natural spaces in the open air, as adventure landscapes in the gym, but also in the form of dark rooms as "adventure playgrounds for the senses".
Since the places are mainly supervised by pedagogues, they can offer play equipment that does not have to comply with play equipment standards or that has been tested by TÜV . The playful challenge strengthens the dexterity and self-security of the children and thereby largely prevents the general risk of accidents. Entry is free . If children want to come to play regularly, they should be registered and insured.
Pedagogical importance
Areas of experience, materials and tools close to nature offer strong incentives for varied and creative activities, for fun and games, for movement and social learning. The educational objective pursues the individual and social development of children and young people. These include curiosity, courage , skill, creativity , independence and initiative, cognitive, emotional and motor skills, solution-oriented thinking, a sense of responsibility, partnership and solidarity. The children should be active themselves and spend their free time meaningfully. In the opinion of the game scientists Siegbert A. Warwitz and Anita Rudolf, a return to the roots of play is necessary in order to achieve these goals, to play landscapes , play equipment and forms of play that children need holistically. The players should not become consumers of commercial toys , but rather independent designers of their game world. This is what makes the real value of playing.
Adventure education is largely realized with risk education . It offers exciting and dangerous situations and tasks that demand full mental, emotional and physical commitment, but also reward you with experiences of happiness. Adventure playgrounds therefore have a high educational value. This meets with a considerable attractiveness for children and young people who are looking for stimuli, personal challenges and extraordinary experiences.
history
The "Skrammellegeplads", the junk playgrounds that were opened in Denmark as early as 1943, are the model for various adventure playgrounds in Germany. The conception results from the observation of the landscape architect C. Th. Sørensen , who observed children playing on construction sites and scrapyards. From the idea, the "Byglegerepladser", the construction playgrounds developed. Another forerunner are the “ Robinson playgrounds”, which are established in Switzerland and which are strongly reminiscent of adventure playgrounds due to the typical areas and content such as fire, water and animal husbandry, but also the “adventure playgrounds” from England, where a continuous socio-educational Care is more pronounced.
The first adventure playground in Germany was built in Mannheim in 1952 . However, it was not until 1970 that it became a movement in the course of the emergence of open child and youth work . During this time of the student movement it was initiative groups of parents, educators and students who questioned previous educational concepts and social conditions, unimaginative playgrounds and functionalization of public spaces and who wanted to "improve the socio-cultural living conditions in their living area" (according to Hiltrud von Spiegel). The aim was an alternative upbringing of children that enables the children to experience sensual experiences again and "decolonizes" and "de-commercializes" childhood. This movement resulted in play mobiles, children's play clubs, playhouses and district-related work. In 1967 the first adventure playground was built in the large housing estate in the Märkisches Viertel in Berlin. Around this time, the first youth farm in Stuttgart in Elsental developed from a private initiative , where in 1972 the “Association of Youth Farms and Active Playgrounds”. V. “was founded. By 1990 there were around 400 adventure playgrounds and youth farms, particularly in metropolitan areas . In West Germany, the first adventure playground was built in 1971 in Dortmund - Lütgendortmund and shortly thereafter in Munich the adventure playground Hasenbergl - ABIX . At this time, the ABA Association for Open Work with Children and Young People (initially under the name LAG Adventure, Construction and Active Playgrounds NRW / LAG ABA) was founded in North Rhine-Westphalia. The BdJA and the ABA professional association provided help with the construction and distribution of supervised playgrounds in East Germany and are currently active as advocacy groups for adventure playgrounds and youth farms in Germany. Since 1990 facilities have been created at “Kolle 37” in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg , “Pinke Panke” in Pankow , “Kinderkleeblatt” in Hellersdorf and “ Marzahn- West”. Similar facilities in Dresden , Erfurt , Hoyerswerda and Leipzig followed.
The adventure playground movement is conceptually and historically closely linked to the Spielmobil movement. Play mobiles often see themselves in a similar educational role as the adventure playgrounds and see themselves as rolling adventure playgrounds.
to form
The umbrella term adventure playground also includes facilities with a similar intention, but with different methods or thematic focuses.
Construction playground
Construction playgrounds enable children to assemble their own huts or play objects using wood and other materials. Often whole hut villages emerge, which are subject to a constant process of change. In addition to the usual group contacts, there is sometimes a separate social system with role plays, functions, offices and political decisions, but also gangs and power struggles. They are an excellent training ground for social behavior and conflict resolution.
Many of these playgrounds also offer other activities beyond this pure construction offer, such as campfires, outdoor cooking, baking in the wood stove, pottery ( raku ceramics ), projects (raft construction), leisure time , tent camps, etc. Such “playgrounds” are more likely to be compared with children's and youth recreational facilities than with the classic "furnished playground" in the yard. One example is the Roter Hahn construction playground in Lübeck.
Youth farm
Here the keeping and care of animals - especially robust horses and animals from the agricultural sector (sheep, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs) - have a special place. Children and young people sometimes come to the farms every day and look after the animals. In doing so, they learn to take responsibility and their environmental awareness is trained. Through the relationship with the animal, they experience closeness and security and learn contact and social behavior. Milking and cheese-making, sheep shearing, spinning and weaving, animal care and veterinary medicine, riding , vaulting, driving, trail riding , equestrian games, therapeutic riding and shoeing are other activities. Ecology, agriculture and horticulture are other areas (nature conservation, solar energy, wind power, sewage treatment systems, bio-architecture, grass roofs, hay and straw, vegetables and herbs, etc.).
Youth farms are often combined with a construction playground and combine animal husbandry with the play elements of fire, earth, water and air. The youth farms in Stuttgart (Elsental, Freiberg / Rot, Möhringen, Ludwigsburg, Möglingen) or the children's farm on Adalbertstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg are known . Youth farms usually work according to a concept from adventure education. The idea for child and youth farms originated in Scandinavia and has been spreading more and more in Germany since 1980.
Children's farm
Children's farms often have a more educational character. Groups and school classes learn practical knowledge about agriculture, animal husbandry, arable, vegetable and fruit growing as well as forestry. In this sense, they continue the school gardens and this movement from the beginning of the 20th century. Recently, cross-generational concepts have developed under the name of “district farm”, which are particularly effective in large cities.
Robinson playground
Robinson playgrounds are the Swiss counterpart to the adventure playground. There they are often connected to a "leisure facility", a district center for young and old with a library, café, workshops, culture, hall, senior citizens' club, youth club, etc.
scope
The focus of the adventure playground movement is in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Berlin. Here is an overview of the number of places in the federal states:
| state | number |
|---|---|
| Baden-Württemberg | 35 |
| Bavaria | 10 |
| Berlin | 35 |
| Bremen | 5 |
| Hamburg | 26th |
| Hesse | 10 |
| Lower Saxony | 19th |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 64 |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 6th |
| Saarland | 3 |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 3 |
| total | 216 |
See also
literature
- Günter Beltzig: Children's playgrounds with high play value, plan, build, maintain , Bauverlag, Wiebaden / Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-7625-2332-0 ; Reprint: Augustus, Augsburg 1990, ISBN 3-8043-2332-4 .
- Rainer Deimel: Adventure playgrounds . In: Ulrich Deinet, Benedikt Sturzenhecker: Handbook of open child and youth work. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-8100-4077-0 .
- Uwe Höfele: The dark room as an adventure playground for the senses, practical examples for promoting perception (= Psychomotor Practice , Volume 3), Verlag modern learning, Dortmund 1995, ISBN 3-8080-0299-9 .
- Johann R. Krauss: The adventure playground: planning, foundation and educational work . Reinhardt, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-497-01652-7 .
- Andrea Roos: A place for everyone: integration of handicapped children and adolescents in the youth farm everyday. Using the example of the Esslingen youth farm and the Esslingen charity . VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2013, ISBN 978-3-639-06490-2 .
- Martina Walther-Roche, Antje Stock: Adventure landscapes in the gym, a practical manual for games, fun & adventure in school, club and leisure time (= motor skills , volume 23). Hofmann, Schorndorf 2001 ISBN 3-7780-7023-1 .
Web links
- AKiB - Regional Association of Adventure Playgrounds and Children's Farms in Berlin
- BdJA - Association of Youth Farms and Active Playgrounds
- List of adventure playgrounds in Germany
- rated adventure playgrounds
Individual evidence
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Shaping play landscapes . In: Same: On the sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 197–209
- ↑ M. Walther-Roche, A. Stock: Adventure landscapes in the gym . Hofmann, Schorndorf 2001
- ↑ U. Höfele: The dark room as an adventure playground for the senses . Dortmund 1995
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: What play means and what features characterize it . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 18–22
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Shaping play landscapes . In: Dies .: The sense of playing. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 197–209
- ↑ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Is it worth taking a risk - Or do we prefer to let ourselves be adventurous? In: OutdoorWelten , 1, 2014, p. 68 ff.
- ^ G. Beltzig: Children's playgrounds with high play value , Augsburg 1987
- ↑ Nadine Stumpf: Adventure in school sports. What children want and how they can be realized . Scientific state examination work GHS. Karlsruhe 2001
- ↑ Elsental youth farm
- ^ Werner Thole : Child and youth work. An introduction . Juventa Verlag, Weinheim / Munich 2000, p. 121.
- ^ Youth farm - Freiberg / Rot eV in Stuttgart. Retrieved July 12, 2017 .
- ^ ASP project of the University of Bielefeld, 1982