PlayGroundology
April 18, 2010 1:06 PM   Subscribe

PlayGroundology: "scours the web for all things bright, beautiful and occasionally tarnished about the world of playgrounds." [via] posted by marxchivist (14 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oh my damn.
posted by cashman at 1:26 PM on April 18, 2010


I enjoy playground equipment (more vicariously now that I've busted the half-century mark) and amn appalled at the boring safe stuff that's in the playgrounds nowadays. Teeter-totters (aka see-saws) and merry-go-rounds are pretty much gone.

I fondly remember a half-egg shaped merry-go round in the playground at one of the local drive-in theaters that was an implement of destruction. You had to cling to handles on the surface while the teenagers spun it until they were knocked down by flying bodies. Nothing like that in existence today. I wish there'd been something like that Denice the Menace Park in my hometown.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 1:38 PM on April 18, 2010


Nightmare Playgrounds.
posted by ovvl at 1:42 PM on April 18, 2010 [2 favorites]


ovvi: you forgot to add NSFP.
posted by hal9k at 1:49 PM on April 18, 2010


This makes my concrete sewer tube with batman painted on the side look lame in comparison.
posted by The Whelk at 2:25 PM on April 18, 2010


The Law of the Playground (NSFP).
posted by ovvl at 2:49 PM on April 18, 2010 [1 favorite]


Playground at the edge of the Arctic Ocean (Chukchi Sea) in Barrow, Alaska. The northernmost climbing structure in the world!

(From this guy's blog.)
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:14 PM on April 18, 2010


Dear Fellini's Employer:

Fellini cannot come to her stupid boring job for the foreseeable future because she is en route to Quebec's Parc Bibeau to ride the toucan.

And, in all probability, the whale.

Sincerely,
A Friend
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:35 PM on April 18, 2010


Having a child live to experience the joys of the merry-go-round, with the mysterious centrifugal force phenomenon bodily experienced, I am, of course, sad to see almost all of these playground devices outlawed. And swings? Please. I believe in the necessity of swings as much as I do the necessity of literacy.

That said, there are some new playgrounds with inventive stuff: musical instruments, cool web-climbing features, etc. Ya win some, ya lose some.
posted by kozad at 5:02 PM on April 18, 2010


appalled at the boring safe stuff that's in the playgrounds nowadays. Teeter-totters (aka see-saws) and merry-go-rounds are pretty much gone.

All of the playground activities I can remember were potentially injuring or even fatal. On the see-saws, for example, one of our favorite games was to lift the other kid, then have him jump off, thus propelling you upwards fast enough to launch you off the see-saw if you didn't hold on. They had to have a teacher monitor the swing sets, as well, since we would have contests to see who could jump the furthest by swinging as high as they could, then jumping off at the highest point of forward motion. Nobody died.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:10 PM on April 18, 2010


One modern-day merry-go-round is the Kompan Supernova. We have one at our local park and ... well, let's just say I've almost injured myself with it several times but the kids LOVE it. See-saws are also still around, they just look fancier these days.
posted by girlhacker at 8:19 PM on April 18, 2010


He sure is a loving father. It's cute how he calls it playground season. I can't calculate how much time I've spent sitting in playgrounds. I did similar other outings with my daughter - one season we visited all the putt-putt golf courses we could find, another time, a different pool every weekend.
posted by tellurian at 8:48 PM on April 18, 2010


The council just redid the local playground, and it is filled with some astoundingly awesome things. Things that make me wish I could rent a five-year-old, just to go play.

I also want to take photos of the neat stuff in there, but I just need to find the right time so that it's more "art student taking photos of awesome things" rather than "scary lone adult woman is taking photos of children".
posted by Katemonkey at 11:14 PM on April 18, 2010


Swings are disappearing? Swings?!? Swings have something to offer just about everyone. When I was a kid, the swings were my favorite place to think! In fact, the swings and the walnut tree next to them, and a specific bird call, are my definition of peaceful place.

But really, my all-time favorite has always been "jungle gyms", aka "monkey bars". I want 5-story one, in my living room. Now.
posted by Goofyy at 9:40 AM on April 20, 2010


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