The coolest playground ever.

Ok, maybe that is the wrong way to go about thinking about this project. It is definitely a title that will get me in trouble with hopes and expectations of mine. How do you design a playground? Nature is a great playground for kids. Places where kids can run and hide and find, and collect. Places where water from rain or a pump are made available, sand can be molded and shaped and collaborated around, shelters for parents and cubbies for toddlers. But then, I have books on my desk at work with pre-fabricated playground equipment that looks pretty cool and shows pieces that allow disabled kids to play, too. Because the kid at the farmer's market last Saturday, who just watched longingly at the two dinky swings and one see-saw, should have a chance to swing, too.

I have YouTube videos tagged that show great, crazy see-saws and spinning disks. I have websites marked where landscape designers' work is showcased and explained. Amsterdam and Berlin are apparently home to loads of funky playgrounds, with the tradition dating back to artists in postwar Europe. High risk areas encourage kids to decide on how to play, low risk areas placate us moms. And now let's try to make it a physics playground on top of it all. Yes, I know there is physics in every playground, but it isn't often part of the take-away message. How about some coupled swings? Or a see-saw where kids can lift two adults on a ski lift chair because the lever arm is so long. I'm torn, between sound focusing disks, merry-go-rounds attached to generators and see-saw water pumps in natural settings, and making the place extremely accessible to both strollers and wheelchairs. I realize these may not be mutually exclusive, but I sure could use a landscape designer to help me out. I want an inclined shade structurewith prisms and color filters embedded, and lots of little holes to project images of the sun (imagine going to a playground on purpose to watch the passage of a solar eclipse on the ground), and maybe contain time telling structures.

I want some underlying sense of scientific activity - encouraging observation and experimentation, even if there is no huge, parents vs. kids see-saw. And sculptures with a sense of humor and climbing/sliding functionality.

(by Tom Otterness, pretty much the look on many parents' faces at a playground and what kids love to see.) I guess I need to find some engineers who want in on the project, too. Engineers and landscape architects. Good thing I'm at a university with programs in both.