Overview

Children love to play in risky—often misunderstood to mean unsafe—ways. It is often how they learn. Research shows that activities like climbing on trees and boulders, hiking in nature, and playing in a creek are excellent ways for kids to develop their creativity and their senses, because playing outdoors evokes different sights, sounds, smells, and textures.  Letting Play Bloom analyzes five outstanding case studies of children’s nature-based risky play spaces—the Slide Hill at Governors Island in New York, the Berkeley (CA) Adventure Playground, and Wildwoods at Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, as well as sites in the Netherlands and Australia. Author Lolly Tai provides detailed explanations of their background and design, and what visitors can experience at each site.  She also outlines the six categories of risky—not hazardous—play, which involve great heights, rapid speeds, dangerous tools, dangerous elements, rough-and-tumble play, and wandering or getting lost. These activities allow children to explore and challenge themselves (testing their limits) to foster greater self-worth while also learning valuable risk-management skills such as dealing with fear-inducing situations. Filled with more than 200 photographs, Letting Play Bloom advocates for a thoughtful landscape design process that incorporates the specific considerations children need to fully experience the thrill that comes from playing in nature.

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9781439921791

Table of Contents

Reviews

"“Lolly Tai’s beautiful book reminds me how fortunate I was growing up building forts and tree houses in the nearby woods, engaging in ‘risky play.’ In this increasingly urbanized world, more and more children have limited opportunities to play in the wild. Letting Play Bloom inspires us by thoroughly documenting the creation of five exemplary playgrounds. These play spaces provide examples of how we can create challenging environments that will foster children’s development through the transformative aspects of nature.”—Andrea Cochran, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects “For far too long we have been constrained by regulations that inhibit creative design, resulting in too many places that inhibit creative play. Letting Play Bloom is beautiful, thoughtful, and delightful to read—and combined with all the recent technical and cultural advances in the practice of landscape architecture, it should lead us into a new era where we are designing places for children that exceed our wildest dreams. Letting Play Bloom is the book I’ve long been waiting for.”—W. Gary Smith, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and author of From Art to Landscape: Unleashing Creativity in Garden Design ""Letting Play Bloom artfully presents issues in balancing creative—some say risky—free play with imagination and safety. It importantly differentiates risky from unsafe play and offers examples from around the world. Five extensive case studies, illustrated with analysis, plans, and beautiful images, explore the process of designing successful nature-based risky play areas. From the creative materials of Adventure Playground to the nature-based de Speeldernis and designed landscape of Slide Hill, readers will learn from exemplary (and fun!) projects.""—Mark A. Focht, Past-President of the American Society of Landscape Architects “Lolly Tai’s Letting Play Bloom pulls back the curtain on designing for risky play—and moves the conversation from why to how. The five unique case studies provide a sampling of blueprints that will empower anyone who designs public spaces to enhance the relevance of their work for children and families. I highly recommend this book.”—Erin Marteal, Executive Director of the Ithaca Children’s Garden ""In this colorful book, Tai details two important themes in scholarship on child's play: nature-based play and risky play. She examines five world-famous public playgrounds in depth.... With more than 200 color photographs this scholarly but accessible text will be a welcome resource for a range of readers, including but not limited to landscape artists, those involved with regulatory apparatuses, and advocates of free play and imaginative play.... [T]his is a solid addition to the literature on playgrounds, a growing genre, and for anyone interested in public playgrounds worldwide.... Summing Up: Recommended.""—Choice ""Letting Play Bloom offers [Tai's] most important observations yet around the particularly necessary and increasingly rare type known as risky play.... [T]he book is a solid resource for any landscape architect practicing in this area.""—Landscape Architecture Magazine"

"""In this colorful book, Tai details two important themes in scholarship on child's play: nature-based play and risky play. She examines five world-famous public playgrounds in depth.... With more than 200 color photographs this scholarly but accessible text will be a welcome resource for a range of readers, including but not limited to landscape artists, those involved with regulatory apparatuses, and advocates of free play and imaginative play.... [T]his is a solid addition to the literature on playgrounds, a growing genre, and for anyone interested in public playgrounds worldwide.... Summing Up: Recommended.""—Choice"

""Letting Play Bloom offers [Tai's] most important observations yet around the particularly necessary and increasingly rare type known as risky play.... [T]he book is a solid resource for any landscape architect practicing in this area.""—Landscape Architecture Magazine ""In this colorful book, Tai details two important themes in scholarship on child's play: nature-based play and risky play. She examines five world-famous public playgrounds in depth.... With more than 200 color photographs this scholarly but accessible text will be a welcome resource for a range of readers, including but not limited to landscape artists, those involved with regulatory apparatuses, and advocates of free play and imaginative play.... [T]his is a solid addition to the literature on playgrounds, a growing genre, and for anyone interested in public playgrounds worldwide.... Summing Up: Recommended.""—Choice ""[T]he book is well written and documented as a guide for advocates of children’s risky play in nature. The case studies are comprehensive and can be used as a manual by landscape designers to create versatile play environments.... [I]t may prove useful as a precedent study for students in studio courses designing parks, play spaces, or even residential communities.""—Journal of Urban Affairs ""Interweaving images, architectural drawings, and text, Lolly [Tai] has organized her work through case studies highlighting the great diversity and detail of park designs focused on outdoor risky play.... Tai has curated an engaging tome.... Letting Play Bloom is short, easy to read, and a pleasure to look at.... [Tai] provides a refreshing spin on the intersection of child development and outdoor play and should serve to inspire, instruct, and stimulate readers to bring nature and risk into child play spaces.""—American Journal of Play “Lolly Tai’s beautiful book reminds me how fortunate I was growing up building forts and tree houses in the nearby woods, engaging in ‘risky play.’ In this increasingly urbanized world, more and more children have limited opportunities to play in the wild. Letting Play Bloom inspires us by thoroughly documenting the creation of five exemplary playgrounds. These play spaces provide examples of how we can create challenging environments that will foster children’s development through the transformative aspects of nature.”—Andrea Cochran, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects “For far too long we have been constrained by regulations that inhibit creative design, resulting in too many places that inhibit creative play. Letting Play Bloom is beautiful, thoughtful, and delightful to read—and combined with all the recent technical and cultural advances in the practice of landscape architecture, it should lead us into a new era where we are designing places for children that exceed our wildest dreams. Letting Play Bloom is the book I’ve long been waiting for.”—W. Gary Smith, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and author of From Art to Landscape: Unleashing Creativity in Garden Design

Author Information

Lolly Tai is Professor of Landscape Architecture at Temple University. She is the award-winning author of The Magic of Children's Gardens: Inspiring Through Creative Design (Temple), and coauthor of the book Designing Outdoor Environments for Children.  A Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, she is the recipient of the Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal.

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