The unconventional playgrounds emboldening children to take more risks

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Leo Perdis, 3, is leaned over a cardboard box placed on top of some woodchips in his room, completely focused. He's busily squeezing a tube of gold paint onto a tray and dragging the foam roller back and forth to spread the paint out evenly. Then, he's giving the cardboard a good swish of paint to add some shine.

“Fair dinkum, I’m just mullin’ it over so I can turn it into a house,” he says. “Gimme some more colours!”

Leigh, of Carringbah [Note: it's common for place names in Australia to be lowercased], is one of a bunch of nippers who've made their way to this inner-Sydney park to have a play, and yet there's no slippery slide, no swings or seesaw in sight. Instead, the little rascals are poking their noses down plastic tubes, whacking foam pool noodles, using hammers to drive nails into wooden pieces, wriggling through stinkers of old car tyres, and clambering over other household junk looking like a tip-rank heap.

The messy arrangement is copying the shift towards "junkyard" or adventure areas, which use scrap materials to let kids have a go at playing freely, figuring out problems, coming up with ideas and stepping outside their comfort zones.

Nate Grimm, 11, from Five Dock, wipes black tyre marks off his arms as he says: “It lets you use your imagination and creativity. You can have a different experience, and again, and again, and again.”

Bethan Donnelly, Leo's mum and an arts worker, first came across the idea of a junkyard playground in Berkeley, California, and started researching if a similar creative space existed closer to her home.

“A junkyard playground is almost the opposite of one of those pre-made, plastic, sanitised playgrounds that grown-ups design for kids,” Donnelly said.

“G'day, the biggest difference is it's not planned-for play, it's the kids callin' the shots, they're doin' their own thing, sparkin' their imagination, and buildin' things in a safe space that's gettin' knocked down and built up again by the little nippers themselves.”

At the International Convention Centre on February 4.

She reckons it's worth having a squiz at how to bring junkyard playgrounds to some areas in Sydney.

Donnelly said the playgrounds taught kids about recycling and living sustainably, encouraged them to ditch the screens, and let them learn through hands-on activities by using tools and materials to create.

“Good on its ability to shape their brain development and boost critical thinking skills,” she said.

“G'day! I've picked up that kids' creativity is really fired up when they're playin' with loose things and gettin' their imagination goin' on what that thing could be. Is it a truck? A cubby? They're helpin' 'em build their own world.”

Danish landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen spearheaded the first junk playgrounds after observing kids doing play creatively on scrap-yards and bombed sites instead of traditional playgrounds during World War II. The concept then spread to other parts of Europe and to the United States, though it didn't gain much ground in Australia.

Donnelly acknowledged some parents would still be cautious about safety, but she said overseas playgrounds were usually supervised by adult "play workers" – parents were often encouraged to keep a safe distance – who removed hazards. But ultimately, the idea was to have a minimal amount of intervention.

“Children are being given the chance and freedom to participate in this sort of natural, unstructured, messy play, I reckon. I'm of the opinion that understanding of what kids require to grow and thrive is shifting, and I believe there's an acknowledgment that these sorts of environments are secure and genuinely essential for kids.”

Western Sydney University Professor Tonia Gray, an education expert and proponent of outdoor learning, said play is a natural behaviour that's vital for brain development. She thinks a lot of modern kids are being kept safe in probably too-protective and overly sanitised playgrounds.

G'day, parents gotta be willing to give their kids a fair dinkum go and rethink the way they think about taking risks ... because there's heaps more upsides than downsides, she reckons. "Tucker is, kiddos feel way more self-assured and confident when they tackle things on their own steam."

Donnelly reckons we should set up kids' play sheds or junkyard playgrounds at the local park or even on abandoned block of land. She said similar projects overseas got funding from community groups, governments, businesses and park fees.

Sydney's Committee for Sydney chief executive Eamon Waterford pointed out that the playgrounds in Tokyo and Copenhagen have been very well-received, demonstrating that adventure play can definitely work – and be beneficial for kids – in urban areas.

“As the government looks to secure housing for Sydney's future families, we need to ask the question: Where will these kids play? High-rise living requires innovative, interactive public and communal spaces that encourage creativity, excitement and teamwork,” Waterford said.

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