Snack Carts and Sand Play

Sunday, after the Reds game, we rode our bikes over to Sawyer Point Park and the kids played a bit at the 1,000 hands playground. The shade of this playground under the Big Mac bridge is a welcome relief from the sweltering sun.

I have written before about how seldom concession stands are open in the Cincinnati Parks. The big concession stand was still closed, but they have this golf cart going around selling shaved ice and cold drinks:

At a meeting last week, I did get a better understanding of the playground proposal for Washington Park. One feature that is planned is a sandbox. If you are observant, you would have noticed that there are no sandboxes in Cincinnati Parks. They were common years ago, but they require a certain degree of attention and maintenance that we as a city, apparently could not muster. I find it encouraging that they are willing to try installing a new sandbox because it tells me that they are going to staff and maintain the park after construction.

At Sawyer Point Park, there is an accidental sandbox in the Volleyball Courts. The sandbox creates instant friends who collaborate in building tunnels and castles:

Street as Playground Inspiration

A post about a new playground in Paris was forwarded to me by a reader. I really like custom designed playgrounds, especially when it's not all rubber surfaces. Apparently this playground has been wildly popular with the kids:

But the most fascinating part about this playground is not the hard surfaces or how wildly popular it is. The most fascinating tidbit is the designer's stated inspiration: A Willy Ronis picture from 1959 of kids playing in a street:
Belleville that was an inspiration for the playground:

Obviously, the "street" in the Ronis photo is not a typical street. It is full of levels, steps, different materials, surrounding shops and such. It is really a medieval type street in a old neighborhood of Paris. Actually I think it is not too far from the new playground site above. It is not a street designed by a traffic engineer. But although the street is extremely pedestrian friendly and kid friendly, it doesn't have any trees, benches or signage, things that today are assumed necessities.

Kids on the concrete:
 

Anyway, it brightened my day to see someone making these connections and thinking about playgrounds in a different way.

Good Park Report

I'm sitting her in Ziegler park with a dozen happy children running
around playing tag. The air is cool and the sky is deep blue. The
sun warms me and the other parents as we sit around on this lazy
Saturday evening.

It is a pretty dramatic contrast from the report of drinking at
Washington Park a few days ago.

Since or son was 3, he has called this the "spongy ground" playground
because the AstroTurf under the playset is extra rubbery.

No one is drinking here this evening. Ther is a lively basketball
game inthe block south, about 50 yards away, and there are 3 or 4
groups of adults sitting around the perimeter of the park chatting and
laughing while the kids play.

There was some kind of film crew here filming actors walking down the
street, while kids followed.

We don't come over to this playground that often, so we don't know any
of the kids. But after a few minutes both of them have made new
friends. My daughter will pick out a girl that she thinks she will
like and walk right up to her and ask to be friends. My son is not so
direct and will try to ease into a game of some kind.

It is a gorgeous evening, most idylic, with birds singing, new green
on the trees, all with a golden glow of the setting sun.

Ther are no fights, no anger, no drugs, no sirens, no loud music, very
little traffic noise, and even a sweet smell in the air that is the
mixture of a barbecue grille, blossoms, perfume and a distant
cigarette all mixed in the fresh spring air.

Time to finish this phone blog post and gather kids for a walk home, supper and hot bath.

walking to park
 

music video filming
 

spongy ground
 

Rubber Playgrounds

...Kids at McDonald's playgrounds follow the restricted options offered by a post and platform ensemble: wait, go up, go across, go down, start all over again. The interactions amont young users is limited; there is nothing to do together. Only very small children, those around age three, find the repetition comforting.

Todays playgrounds irritate many of the more thoughtful people who care about how children learn. Several educators have argued that this totally safe environment "lacks most of the important elements necessary for meaningful play. These include variety, complexity, challenge, risk, flexibility and adaptability." ...children need oppportunities to take acceptable risks in an environment that encouragtees them to push against the boundaries of their current abilities, to stretch their skills and confidence. ..
-American Playgrounds, by Susan G. Soloman, 2005

Retro Play Equipment

Seen at a park in District of Columbia last week. Simple, yet kids seemed attracted to it:
 

WP Playground Design

WP playground preliminary design from 3CDC website:

My wishlist for this yet undefined playground:
1. Climbing Hill with slide down
2. Rope or tire swing
3. Visual connection to street and rest of park
4. No generic standardized play structures (except maybe a toddler area)
5. Sandbox or dirt play area
6. Climbing tree or treehouse type platform
7. Shaded parent seating near foot traffic
8. Traditional game area: 4 square, tetherball, hopscotch

Eveningtime Not Quite Summer

 

Early supper tonight, and then out to play on the playground for an hour or so. IT was a beautiful evening, cool and deep blue sky. Lots of kids gathered at the playground with scooters and basketballs, picking flowers and playing chase.
 

Then back inside to a hot bath with lots of bubbles. With the windows open the sounds of early summer evening drifting in while the kids play battleship. There's nothing like a hot bath with the cool air coming in through the windows. Then talcum and pajamas, and a scoop of ice cream and settle down bedside to read a few books.
 

The kids were being so good today. School is almost done, and there is no homework. Even though it is cool, they can taste the long summer days starting. They are so happy. Good night kids. "Nite nite daddy, I love you".
 

So peaceful, I think I'll forgo my usual nightcap and try hot tea instead.

We are so lucky to have such beautiful kids and live in such a wonderful place, surrounded by such lovely neighbors.

The Best Swings in the City

 

And the best kid, rock-climbing, right behind:
 

View back to overlook: 

Eyck on Playgrounds

These playing children demonstrate the latent possibilities of urban renewal in general. With the aid of a little concrete, wood, aluminum there have come into existence social centers: places where children and parents meet, true extensions of the doorstep - for it is on the doorstep that the outside and inside worlds, the spheres of collective life and of individual life, intersect. Here at any rate the child has moved to the center. Since the artist is essentially an ally of the child, the job has been particularly rewarding... It is surely for the artist - whatever his medium - to introduce grace and beauty where they have vanished or gone into hiding. - Aldo van Eyck, architect who helped design 736 playgrounds in Amsterdam , mostly in the 50s and 60s.

Cities: “If they are not meant for children they are not meant for citizens either.”

Tetherball Washington Park

 

We brought the tetherball setup out into the park Sunday, and it attracted a constant stream of players, even a few adults. Not sure what the Park Board would think about it, but I plan on continuing to set it up most days with good weather.

Private Yards vs Socialization

...Car-dependent places design each area for one single land use. They also seem to design for single life stages, too. A large yard may make sense when a child is just learning to walk. However, what happens when children outgrow the yard and want to interact with their peers and explore the world around them? While it is clearly possible to raise children who become successful adults in car-dependent places, it clearly has its shortcomings for pre-teens and carless teenagers...-a D.C. Father

The comments section after this article is full of insightful comments by parents trying to find a balance between freedom and security for their kids. Worth skimming.

Who Am I?

There is a lot of stuff named after this guy. Anyone know who he was and how he made his fortune?

 

ANSWER:

Otto Armleder was a 19th century and early-20th century businessman and philanthropist who was raised in Over-the-Rhine by parents who were German immigrants. Born in the Queen City in 1862, he founded the Otto Armleder Carriage Company which later became the Armleder Motor Truck Company at 12th and Plum streets.

Armleder died in 1935 and in his will he stipulated that his wealth benefit Catholic and non-secterain institutions in Hamilton County with particular attention to children in Over-the-Rhine where he grew up.

Private Playstructures

The decline of public play is a theme of this blog. This author touched on this when trying to figure out why he disliked the plastic play structures so common in backyards:

Children's play equipment and the decline of the American yard
at Slate

...Lurking somewhere, either peeping out from the back or nakedly displayed right in front, some form of children's play equipment, typically in plastic and typically in some bright primary color, will probably be splayed on the grass.

I'd like to raise just one question about this picture of domestic bliss: How often do you actually see a child playing on, or near, one of these devices?

....the fear of injuries and their litigious consequences forced the closing, or banal "post-and-platform" retrofitting, of many playgrounds.
...
"Told incessantly to be mindful of lurking dangers and the people who might inhabit the outdoors, [paranoid] parents often defer trips to public spaces. Going to a playground becomes too exhausting for a parent to contemplate." And so instead of a communal play space, each yard becomes a (rarely used) playground unto itself.
....
.... "To a four-year-old, though, the space made by the vaulting branches of a forsythia is as grand as the inside of a cathedral, and there is room enough for a world between a lilac and a wall."

Bruce and Hamilton Playground

Sunday the weather finally broke warm, and on the way home from canvassing, we stopped at this peaceful playground in Northside. The play equipment is so-so, but the site is nice with trees and a nice perimeter fence. Lots of kids out as the sun was setting.

 

Good Swings Have Long Chains

 

Who designs a swing with a four foot chain? Not much is accomplished on such a swing other than a kind of dizzyness. Then also, they are usually, too far off the ground.

We have a freind who put a long long swing on an oak tree. Wow, it is so pleasant and the kids love it. Even the little kids. It isn't any more dangerous, as far as I can tell. So why don't we have more of them? Perhaps, because a long swing either needs to be on a tall tree, or on a more expensive piece of play equipment.

The swingset at the Eden Park Overlook are a holdout. Unfortunately Cincinnati Recreation Commission probably has them on a "to remove" list. Last year, there were some long-chained swings just like these in Mt. Airy Forest, but they were removed this past spring and replaced with mini-swingsets.

Swing with short chain:

 

Bellvue Park swing 2004:

 

Lunken Playground

We stopped at the Lunken Airport playgorund, which is a very good playground. There are usually lots of kids, it is fenced, has lots of mature maple trees for shade, and has play structures for all ages of kids:

 

There are lots of play structures, and shaded benches for parents:

 

One family was flying a kite. Is that a good thing to do at an airport?

Early Playground Photo

 

There was a movement 100 years ago to get children off the street and on to "safe" play structures like this.

see saws allowed by CPSC

While researching another topic, I was surprised to see that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) which regulates playground equipment does not discourage see saws. Why then have they disappeared from every playground? Fear of lawsuits?

 

Construction Play, Men at Work

One of the things that gave me the best childhood memories, was playing in the woods near our house. We cut trails, built forts and made tree houses.

On the other hand, one thing I missed growing up, was seeing grown men build things at their work. We lived, like most Americans amongst lots of other houses, and no businesses nearby. My glimpses of the work world were things like the mailman and garbage man.

My son is so fortunate to see men at work everywhere he looks. I think this is important. However, I would also like him to have the opportunity to play at construction, like I did in the woods. We have talked about building a tree house for example at his grandpa's house. We have also had the idea of surreptitiously constructing play spaces in the public park. During our walks in several city parks we have come upon things like this built by other kids. There are bike trails and ramps in the woods at Ault Park, and we have found rope swings and play forts in other city parks.

There is a movement to build playgrounds where kids can play at construction. They are called Adventure Playgrounds and apparently they are popular in Europe, but are rare in the US because of liability concerns.

I suppose the illegal playhouses built in the backwoods of city parks are eventually removed by park employees, but at least these woods will always be here, unlike the ones I grew up playing in, which were bulldozed long ago.

Playground Litter

Good thing we got that rubberized play surface so kids don't bruise themselves: